"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.
For the launch vehicles currently in use for human spaceflight, see that article.
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.
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.
The satellite was the 3rd stage of a three-stage rocket in a launch from Al-Anbar.
Currently, Titan rockets are launched from pads 40 and 41, Delta from 17A and 17B, and Atlas Centaur from 36A and 36B.
Rockets are not launched from Stennis, which is responsible for NASA's rocket propulsion testing and for partnering with industry to develop and implement remote sensing technology.
Although the launch came in the aftermath of last week's terrorist attack on the United States, sabotage was not under consideration.
The rocket also carried the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's QuikTOMS satellite, one of a series of NASA instruments that have kept tabs on ozone levels in the upper atmosphere since 1978.
The oddest bedfellow in the rocket's mixed payload was provided by the Celestis Corp. The Houston company sells, at $5,300 a pop, the opportunity to launch small portions of cremated remains into orbit.
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