Rockets (including missiles) can be launched from the following: A Redstone rocket, part of the Mercury program A rocket is a vehicle, missile or aircraft which obtains thrust by the reaction to the ejection of fast moving exhaust gas from within a rocket engine. ... A missile (British English: miss-isle; U.S. English: missl) is, in general, a projectile—that is, something thrown or otherwise propelled. ...

• for a launch into an orbital spaceflight and beyond:
  • a launch pad, including a floating platform (see San Marco platform, Sea Launch)
• for the launch into a suborbital flight also:
  • a missile silo
  • a mobile launcher vehicle
  • a submarine
  • air launch:
    • from a plane (e.g. Scaled Composites SpaceShipOne, Skybolt Ballistic Missile)
    • from a balloon (Rockoon, da Vinci Project ( under development))
  • a surface ship (Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense System)
• for launches not into space also:
  • the shoulder

If a rocket is launched to deliver a payload from a planetary surface into space it is called a launch vehicle. An orbital spaceflight (or orbital flight) in the general sense is a spaceflight where the trajectory of a spacecraft reaches the height of, and through having an appropriate velocity enters into, orbit around an astronomical body. ... A launch pad is designed and built to meet a launch vehicles special needs and requirements. ... Scout launcher on the San Marco platform San Marco platform is an Italian launch platform anchored before the coast of Kenya that was used from 1964 to 1988. ... Sea Launch is a unique spacecraft launch service that uses a specially modified floating oil drilling platform, positioned in the equatorial Pacific Ocean, for its launch platform. ... A sub-orbital spaceflight (or sub-orbital flight) is a spaceflight that does not involve putting a vehicle into orbit. ... A missile silo is a underground vertical cylindrical container for the storage and launching of ICBMs. ... A mobile launcher vehicle is a type of military lorry on a multi-wheel-drive or crawler-tread chassis carrying one or more ground-to-ground or ground-to-air explosive missiles, along with the personnel and equipment needed to prepare, organize, and execute a launch of such missiles. ... USS Los Angeles A submarine is a specialized watercraft that can operate underwater. ... A Boeing X-43 being air launched from under the wing of a B-52 Stratofortress. ... SpaceShipOne has a 5-meter wingspan and a 3-person cabin. ... The Douglas GAM-87A Skybolt was an air-launched ballistic missile (ALBM) developed during the late 1950s. ... Balloons are often used or given on special occasions, like greeting cards or flowers. ... A rockoon (derived from the terms rocket and balloon) was an extension to the rocket, which allowed the rocket to achieve further distance. ... The da Vinci Project is a privately-funded, volunteer-staffed attempt to launch a reusable manned suborbital spacecraft. ... The Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense System is a US Department of Defense Missile Defense Agency program to develop a rudimentary missile defense system, covering the US, by 2005. ... M136 AT-4 rocket launcher A shoulder-launched missile weapon is a weapon that fires a rocket-propelled missile at a target, yet is small enough to be carried by one man, and fired whilst held on his shoulder. ... In cargo transport, payload is the valuable contents of the vehicle. ...

There are several broad categories that launch vehicles fall under, including:

• Expendable launch system
• Reusable launch system
• Single stage to orbit
• Two stage to orbit

"Rocket launch technologies" generally refers to the entire set of systems needed to successfully launch a vehicle, not just the vehicle itself, but also the firing control systems, ground control station, launch pad, and tracking stations needed for a successful launch and/or recovery. An expendable launch system is a single-use launch vehicle usually used to launch a payload into space. ... A reusable launch system (or RLV: reusable launch vehicle) is a launch vehicle which is capable of launching into space more than once. ... A single-stage to orbit (or SSTO) launcher describes an as-yet theoretical class of spacecraft designed to place a load into orbit as a self-contained vehicle without the use of multiple stages. ... A two stage to orbit (or TSTO) launch vehicle is a spacecraft in which two distinct stages provide propulsion consecutively in order to achieve orbital velocity. ... Categories: Military stubs ... A launch pad is designed and built to meet a launch vehicles special needs and requirements. ...

For the launch vehicles currently in use for human spaceflight, see that article. Human spaceflight is space exploration with a human crew, and possibly passengers (in contrast to dog-manned space missions, which are remotely-controlled or robotic space probes). ...

Commercial launch service providers include:

• Boeing Launch Services Inc. (BLS) - Delta rocket
  • Sea Launch - Zenit-3SL (Zenit rocket stages 1 and 2 with Energia Block DM-SL upper stage)
• EADS SPACE Transportation / Arianespace SA - Ariane rocket
• International Launch Services (ILS) [1] - Atlas rocket and Proton rocket
• Starsem - Soyuz launch vehicle

There were ca. 46 launches into space in 2004. Categories: Stub | Defence companies | Boeing | U.S. aircraft manufacturers ... Delta EELV family of launch vehicles (US Govt) Delta rocket (sometimes retroactively called Delta I) Delta II rocket Delta III rocket Delta IV rocket The Delta family of expendable launch vehicles has been a mainstay of the United States space launch capability since 1960. ... Sea Launch is a unique spacecraft launch service that uses a specially modified floating oil drilling platform, positioned in the equatorial Pacific Ocean, for its launch platform. ... Zenit rocket - Wikipedia /**/ @import /w/skins-1. ... Energia on the launch pad Energia on the launch pad Energia on the launch pad Energia lifting off with the Polyus military payload The Energia (or Energiya, Энергия in Cyrillic) rocket was a Soviet rocket that was designed by NPO Energia to serve as a heavy-lift expendable launch system as... EADS SPACE Transportation (acronym: EADS-ST) was formed in June 2003 from the Space Infrastructure division of Astrium (whose core was originally ERNO) and the EADS Launch Vehicles division (formerly Aerospatiales Space division). ... Founded in 1980, Arianespace SA undertakes the production, operation and marketing of the Ariane 4 and Ariane 5 rocket launchers as part of the Ariane programme. ... The Ariane Family The name Ariane refers to a series of a civilian European expendable launch vehicles for space launch use. ... International Launch Services (or ILS)is a partnership between American defense contractor Lockheed Martin, and the Russian firm, Khrunichev, and RSC Energia for the purpose of co-marketing their respective rocket launch services. ... Mercury Atlas 9 rocket and capsule on pad The Atlas is a venerable line of space launch vehicles built by Lockheed Martin. ... The Proton rocket (formal designation: UR-500) is a Russian unmanned space vehicle design first launched in 1965 and still in use as of 2005. ... Starsem is a European-Russian company that was created in 1996 to commercialise the Soyuz launcher. ... Soyuz rocket on launch pad. ...

Term launch vehicle

The term derives from the American satellite program, Project Vanguard, as a contraction of the phrase "Satellite Launching Vehicle" abbreviated as "SLV" as a term in the list of what the rockets were allocated for: flight test, or actually launching a satellite. The contraction would also apply to rockets which send probes to other worlds or the interplanetary medium. Project Vanguard was the name of the United States program that was to have launched the first artificial satellite of the Earth. ...

In the English language, the phrase carrier rocket was used earlier, and still is in some circles in Britain. A translation of that phrase is used in German and Russian. The U.S. Air Force detested the term carrier, which would refer to their competition, the aircraft carriers of the U.S. Navy. For this reason they called one airplane which carried another a conveyor. An aircraft carrier is a warship whose main role is to deploy and recover aircraft—in effect acting as a sea-going airbase. ...

See also

• launch mechanisms
• gravity drag
• list of rockets

A remote camera captures a close-up view of a Space Shuttle Main Engine during a test firing at the John C. Stennis Space Center in Hancock County, Mississippi Spacecraft propulsion is used to change the velocity of spacecraft and artificial satellites, or in short, to provide delta-v. ... In astrodynamics, gravity drag is inefficiency encountered by a spacecraft thrusting while moving against a gravitational field. ... This is a list of rockets. ...

External links

• Scheduled and past launches, in principal all orbital launches ever
• Scheduled and past launches, in principal all from 1999