A launch vehicle is a rocket that is used to launch a payload into space. It usually will place this payload into orbit. This article is about the rocket. ... Apollo 15 was the ninth manned mission in the Apollo program and the fourth mission to land on the Moon. ... A Redstone rocket, part of the Mercury program The traditional definition of a rocket is a vehicle, missile or aircraft which obtains thrust by the reaction to the ejection of fast moving fluid from within a rocket engine. ... In physics, an orbit is the path that an object makes, around another object, whilst under the influence of a source of centripetal force, such as gravity. ...
The term derives from the American term "Satellite Launching Vehicle".
In the English language, the phrase "carrier rocket" was also used, and is still used by some circles in Britain. A translation of that phrase is used in German and Russian. The US Air Force adopted the term because they thought the term "carrier rocket" sounded too navalised.