Launcher

The largest launch vehicle ever built, the American Saturn V

An orbital launch vehicle is a multi-stage rocket that is used to transport people or payloads into earth orbit or an escape path and is thus a system for operating space travel . The payload is almost always located under a payload fairing that protects it from external influences before and during take- off.

distribution

Nations that have their own launch vehicles or are researching them

Using launch vehicles such as the American Atlas , Titan , Saturn , Falcon , as well as the Soviet Vostok , Voschod , Soyuz and the Chinese Long March 2E , people were and are being transported into space . The American space transportation system , consisting of a space shuttle , tank and boosters , was also a launch vehicle.

The most famous European launcher is the Ariane in the current Ariane 5 ECA . It is one of the few missile types that have a double launch device and are designed for the launch of two large payloads.

The most powerful launch vehicles ever built were the American Saturn V and the Soviet Energija . The most powerful launch vehicle currently in use is the Falcon Heavy , developed and built by SpaceX , which made its maiden flight from Kennedy Space Center on February 6, 2018 . The most powerful Russian launch vehicle in use is the Proton-M . The most powerful European launcher is the Ariane 5 ECA , and the most powerful Chinese launcher is the Langer Marsch 5 .

Overview of today's launch vehicles

This table contains all currently available orbital launch vehicles as well as rockets that will with sufficient certainty complete their first flights in the near future or for which launches have already been booked.

Status: January 2021

Payload capacity ( Low Earth Orbit (LEO), 200 km altitude)
country	up to 0.5 t	0.5 to 2 t	2 to 8 t	8 to 15 t	15 to 30 t	over 30 t
Australia	Eris	-	-	-	-	-
People's Republic of China	Kuaizhou-1A , Hyperbola-1 , Jielong-1 , Ceres-1	CZ ‑ 6 , CZ ‑ 11 , Kaituozhe ‑ 2 , Kuaizhou ‑ 11	CZ ‑ 2C , CZ ‑ 2D , CZ ‑ 3A , CZ ‑ 4 , CZ ‑ 7 , CZ ‑ 8	CZ ‑ 2F , CZ ‑ 3B , CZ ‑ 3C , CZ ‑ 7	CZ ‑ 5B	-
Europe	Prime	-	Vega , Vega C.	Ariane 62	Ariane 5 ECA , Ariane 64	-
India	-	SSLV , PSLV	PSLV , GSLV 2	GSLV 3	-	-
Iran	Safir , Ghased , Simorgh	-	-	-	-	-
Israel	Shavit	-	-	-	-	-
Japan	SS-520	epsilon	H3-30	H ‑ 2A , H3‑22	H ‑ 2B , H3‑24	-
New Zealand	Electron	-	-	-	-	-
North korea	Unha-3	-	-	-	-	-
South Korea	Naro	-	-	-	-	-
Russia	-	-	Soyuz ‑ 2.1 , Angara 1.2	Soyuz ST	Proton-M , Angara A5	-
United States	Pegasus , Electron , LauncherOne , Rocket	Minotaur I , Minotaur-C , Firefly Alpha , RS1 , Terran 1	Minotaur IV , Antares	Atlas V , Falcon 9	Atlas V , Delta IV Heavy , Falcon 9 , Falcon Heavy , Vulcan	Falcon Heavy , New Glenn , SLS
Payload capacity ( geotransfer orbit (GTO))
country	up to 1 t	1 to 2 t	2 to 4 t	4 to 10 t	10 to 20 t	over 20 t
People's Republic of China	-	CZ ‑ 4	CZ ‑ 3A , CZ ‑ 3C , CZ ‑ 8	CZ ‑ 3B , CZ ‑ 7A	CZ ‑ 5	-
Europe	-	-	Soyuz ST	Ariane 62	Ariane 5 ECA , Ariane 64	-
India	-	PSLV	GSLV 2 , GSLV 3	-	-	-
Japan	-	-	H3-30	H ‑ 2A , H ‑ 2B , H3‑22 , H3‑24	-	-
New Zealand	Electron	-	-	-	-	-
Russia	-	-	Soyuz ‑ 2.1 , Soyuz ‑ ST	Proton-M , Angara A5	-	-
United States	Minotaur IV , Minotaur V , Minotaur ‑ C , RS1 , Electron	-	Atlas V 501	Atlas V , Falcon 9 , Falcon Heavy , Vulcan	Delta IV Heavy , Falcon Heavy , New Glenn , Vulcan	Falcon Heavy , SLS

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u} Rocket not yet flown with booked payloads
2. ↑ ^{a b c d} So far only false starts
3. ↑ So far only suborbital test flights; Payloads have already been booked.
4. ↑ ^{a b} Not yet flown rocket with no published payloads
5. ↑ ^{a b} With the additional level " interplanetary photon " currently being developed, GTO or GEO missions are just as possible as interplanetary flights; a first start is planned for mid-2021 with the lunar orbiter Capstone .
6. ↑ ^{a b} Rocket not yet flown, payloads so far only booked for LEO flights, also takes part in tenders for GTO missions.

Launch vehicle providers

• Antrix, marketer of the Indian launch vehicles PSLV , GSLV and SSLV
• Arianespace , marketer of the Ariane 5 launcher , the Soyuz at Kourou and Vega launches
• Boeing Launch Services , marketer of Delta IV to commercial customers
• China Great Wall Industry Corporation , marketer for Chinese carriers
• Eurockot (participation by Germany and Russia ), marketer of the Rockot launcher
• International Launch Services , marketer of the Proton launcher and in the future also Angara
• ISC Kosmotras , marketer of the Dnepr launcher
• Mitsubishi Heavy Industries , marketer of the H-2A and -B launch vehicles
• Northrop Grumman Space Systems , marketer of the Minotaur launch vehicles (not available for commercial launches), Pegasus , Minotaur-C and Antares
• Rocket Lab , developing, operating and marketing the Electron launcher
• Sea Launch , marketer of the Zenit launcher
• SpaceX , development, operation and marketing of the Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy
• Starsem (participation of France and Russia ), marketer of the Soyuz launcher for launches from Baikonur and Plesetsk
• United Launch Alliance , marketing and launch of the Atlas V , Delta IV and in the future also Vulcan
• Virgin Galactic , development, operation and marketing of the LauncherOne

Reusability

Most launch vehicles built today can only be launched once. Therefore, they are referred to as disposable rocket or disposable rocket . The rocket stages are detached after burnout, fall back to Earth, and are destroyed when re-entering the atmosphere. Upper grades often remain in orbit as space debris for long periods of time .

An exception was the space shuttle , where the solid fuel boosters and of course the orbiter were used several times. Only the external tank was lost. The boosters of the Soviet Energija rocket were also designed to land on parachutes, but the program was discontinued before this could be tested.

Landing of two Falcon Heavy boosters

SpaceX is pursuing a different approach with the launchers Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy . Here the stage separation takes place before the first stage is burned out. It then lands, controlled by grid fins , on a floating platform in the ocean ( autonomous spaceport drone ship ) or flies under its own power to the landing zone and lands softly there . This was achieved for the first time on Falcon 9 Flight 20 in December 2015. Reusability was demonstrated in March 2017 when a first stage that had already been flown was used for the first time.

Various manufacturers are now developing systems similar to SpaceX. The New Glenn and the Chinese Langer Marsch 8R and Hyperbola-2 rockets are said to have a reusable, vertically landing first stage. The ArianeGroup is also working on such a project under the name Themis . In the case of the Vulcan and Prime , however, only the engine unit of the first stage should be dropped and used again.

With the new two-stage large rocket Starship and Super Heavy , SpaceX is aiming for complete reusability for the first time.

Use statistics

Starts by year

As of January 4, 2021

year	Start attempts	successes	Quota
2008	69	67	97%
2009	74	71	96%
2010	74	70	95%
2011	84	80	95%
2012	76	74	97%
2013	82	77	94%
2014	92	90	98%
2015	87	83	95%
2016	85	83	98%
2017	90	84	93%
2018	114	111	97%
2019	102	97	95%
2020	114	104	91%

The relatively low success rate in 2020 can be explained by the relatively high number of first flights of new rocket models. The frequency of failures is many times greater than with tried-and-tested rocket types.

The launches were distributed among countries, launch vehicles and launch sites as follows:

Starts by country

As of January 2, 2020

country	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019
Russia and Ukraine , including Soyuz starts from the CSG and Zenit starts	26th	26th	30th	31	33	26th	33	36	29	19th	21st	20th	25th
China	9	11	6th	15th	19th	19th	15th	16	19th	22nd	18th	39	34
United States	20th	15th	24	15th	18th	13th	19th	23	20th	22nd	29	31	21st
Europe ( ESA )	6th	6th	7th	6th	5	8th	5	7th	9	9	9	8th	6th
India	3	3	2	3	3	2	3	4th	5	7th	5	7th	6th
Japan	2	1	3	2	3	2	3	4th	4th	4th	7th	6th	2
Israel	1	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	0	1	0	0	0
South Korea			1	1	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
International ( Sea Launch )	1	6th	3	0	2	3	2	1	0	0	0	0	0
Iran		1	1	0	1	1	0	0	1	0	0	0	2
North korea			1	0	0	2	0	0	0	1	0	0	0
New Zealand											1	3	6th
total	68	69	78	74	84	76	81	92	87	85	90	114	102

Rocket model launches

As of January 2, 2020

rocket	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019
Angara A5								1	0	0	0	0	0
Antares							2	3	0	1	1	2	2
Ariane 5	6th	6th	7th	6th	5	7th	4th	6th	6th	7th	6th	6th	4th
Atlas V	4th	2	5	4th	5	6th	8th	9	9	8th	6th	5	2
CZ-2	2	4th	3	3	7th	6th	5	6th	4th	8th	6th	14th	2
CZ-3	6th	4th	2	8th	9	9	3	2	9	7th	5	14th	12th
CZ-4	2	3	1	4th	3	4th	6th	7th	4th	4th	2	6th	7th
CZ-5										1	1	0	1
CZ-6									1	0	1	0	1
CZ-7										1	1	0	0
CZ-11									1	1	0	3	3
Delta II	8th	5	8th	1	3	0	0	1	1	0	1	1
Delta IV	1	0	3	3	3	4th	3	4th	2	4th	1	2	3
Dnepr	3	2	1	3	1	0	2	2	1	0	0
Electron											1	3	6th
epsilon							1	0	0	1	0	1	1
Falcon 1	1	2	1
Falcon 9				2	0	2	3	6th	7th	8th	18th	20th	11
Falcon Heavy												1	2
GSLV 1/2	1	0	0	2	0	0	0	1	1	1	1	2	0
GSLV 3											1	1	1
H-II	2	1	3	2	3	2	2	4th	4th	3	6th	4th	1
Jielong-1													1
Kaituozhe 2											1	0	0
Cosmos 3M	3	3	1	1
Kuaizhou-1							1	1	0	0	1	1	5
Minotaur I	1	0	1	0	2	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
Minotaur IV				2	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0
Minotaur V							1	0	0	0	0	0	0
Molnija	1	1	0	1
Naro			1	1	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
OS-M1													1
Pegasus	1	2	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	1	0	0	1
PSLV	2	3	2	1	3	2	3	3	4th	6th	3	4th	5
proton	7th	10	10	12th	9	11	10	8th	8th	3	4th	2	5
Rockot	0	1	3	2	1	1	4th	2	2	2	1	2	2
SS-520											1	1	0
Safir	0	1	1	0	1	1	0	0	1	0	0	0	1
Shavit	1	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	0	1	0	0	0
Shian Quxian-1													1
Simorgh													1
Soyuz	11	9	13th	12th	19th	14th	16	22nd	17th	14th	15th	16	18th
Space shuttle	3	4th	5	3	3
Strela	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	0
Great strypi									1	0	0	0	0
Unha-2	0	0	1
Unha-3						2	0	0	0	1	0	0	0
Taurus / Minotaur-C	0	0	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0
Vega						1	1	1	3	2	3	2	2
Zenith	2	6th	4th	0	5	3	2	1	1	0	1	0	0
Zhuque 1												1	0
cyclone	0	0	1
total	68	69	78	74	84	76	81	92	87	85	90	114	102

Starts by starting place

As of January 2, 2020

Launch site	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019
Baikonur , Kazakhstan	20th	19th	24	24	24	21st	23	21st	18th	11	13th	9	13th
Cape Canaveral , USA	13th	7th	16	11	10	10	10	16	17th	18th	19th	20th	16
Center Spatial Guyanais , French Guiana	6th	6th	7th	6th	7th	10	7th	11	12th	11	11	11	9
Xichang , China	6th	4th	2	8th	9	9	3	2	9	7th	8th	17th	13th
Jiuquan , China	1	3	2	4th	6th	5	7th	8th	5	9	6th	16	9
Vandenberg Air Force Base , USA	4th	4th	6th	3	6th	2	5	4th	2	3	9	9	3
Taiyuan , China	3	4th	2	3	4th	5	6th	6th	5	4th	2	6th	10
Satish Dhawan Space Center , India	3	3	2	3	3	2	3	4th	5	7th	5	7th	6th
Tanegashima , Japan	2	1	3	2	3	2	2	4th	4th	3	6th	4th	1
Kagoshima , Japan	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	1	2	1
Jasny Cosmodrome , Russia	1	1	0	1	1	0	2	0	1	0	0	0	0
Plesetsk , Russia	5	6th	8th	6th	7th	3	7th	9	7th	5	5	6th	8th
Palmachim , Israel	1	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	0	1	0	0	0
Naro Space Center , South Korea			1	1	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
MARS , USA	1	0	1	0	1	0	4th	3	0	1	1	2	2
Pacific Spaceport Complex - Alaska (until 2015: Kodiak Launch Complex), USA	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Platform Odyssey, International Waters ( Sea Launch )	1	5	1	0	1	3	1	1	0	0	0	0	0
Yellow Sea Platform ( Long March 11 )													1
Omelek , Marshall Islands	1	4th	1	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Kapustin Jar , Russia	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Semnan , Iran	0	1	1	0	1	1	0	0	1	0	0	0	2
Sohae , North Korea	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	1	0	0	0
Musudan-ri , North Korea	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Barking Sands , USA	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0
Vostochny Cosmodrome , Russia										1	1	2	1
Wenchang Cosmodrome , China								0	0	2	2	0	1
Mahia , New Zealand											1	3	6th
total	68	68	78	74	84	76	81	92	87	85	90	114	102

See also : List of space stations

All-time statistics according to the rocket model

• Ariane 4
• Ariane 5
• Atlas V
• Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy
• H-II
• Long March 2
• Long March 3
• Long March 4
• Mu
• Pegasus
• PSLV
• Scout
• Soyuz and other R-7 derivatives (Molnija, Woschod, Wostok)
• Vega

Launcher projects

The following orbital launch vehicles have been in active development for several years, and information on the structure and payload capacity as well as planning for the first flight are already available; however, they do not yet meet the criteria for inclusion in the overview of today's launch vehicles .

In addition, there are numerous projects for new launch vehicles that are still at an early stage or no longer show any progress.

Last updated: January 2021

rocket	Manufacturer	stages	Additional booster	Max. Payload (t)		First start at the earliest
				LEO	GTO
Angara A5V	GKNPZ Khrunichev	2-3	4th	37.5	12th	2027
CZ-9	CALT	3	4th	140	66	2030
Hyperbola-2 ♲	iSpace	2	-	1.9	-	2021
KSLV-II	KARI	3	-	2.6	-	2021
Nebula-1	Deep blue	2	-	20.7 2	-	2021
Pallas-1 ♲	Galactic Energy	2	-	4.0	-	2022
Ravn	Aevum	3	-	0.1	-	2021
RFA One	OHB	2	-	1.1	-	2022
Skyrora XL	Skyrora	3	-	0.3	-	2023
Soyuz-5	RKZ Progress	2	-	9	2.3	2023
Soyuz-6	RKZ Progress	2	-	17th	5	2025
Spectrum	ISAR Aerospace	2	-	1.0	-	2022
Starship - Super Heavy	SpaceX	2	-	> 100	321 3	2021
Vulcan Centaur Heavy	ULA	2	6th	34.9	16.3	2023
Zhuque-2	LandSpace	2	-	4.0	-	2021

¹ Estimated based on the specification of 0.3 t for a 500 km equatorial orbit.

²Estimated based on the specification of 0.5 t for a 500 km sun synchronous orbit (SSE).

³ In a later version with refueling in orbit> 100 t.

♲ Rocket with reusable first stage

Most powerful launch vehicles

→ Records of unmanned space travel # Most powerful launch vehicles

See also

• List of missile types
• List of launcher lists

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Australia's Gilmour Space Partners with Momentus for In-Orbit Transfer on Future Launches . Via Satellite, December 4, 2020.
2. ↑ Proof of the keyword disposable rocket in an ESA press release
3. ↑ ArianeGroup, CNES Launch ArianeWorks Acceleration Platform to Develop Reusable Boosters. In: Parabolic Arc. February 26, 2019, accessed February 28, 2019 . 
4. ^ ^{A b} Gunter Krebs: Orbital Launches of 2007. In: Gunter's Space Pages. November 26, 2010, accessed January 2, 2011 . 
5. ^ ^{A b} Gunter Krebs: Orbital Launches of 2008. In: Gunter's Space Pages. November 26, 2010, accessed January 2, 2011 . 
6. ^ ^{A b} Gunter Krebs: Orbital Launches of 2009. In: Gunter's Space Pages. January 9, 2011, accessed January 11, 2011 . 
7. ^ ^{A b} Gunter Krebs: Orbital Launches of 2010. In: Gunter's Space Pages. December 30, 2010, accessed January 1, 2011 . 
8. ^ ^{A b} Gunter Krebs: Orbital Launches of 2011. In: Gunter's Space Pages. February 2, 2012, accessed February 3, 2012 . 
9. ^ ^{A b} Gunter Krebs: Orbital Launches of 2012. In: Gunter's Space Pages. December 27, 2012, accessed on January 9, 2013 (English, two further, not officially confirmed false starts of the Iranian Safir rocket are listed here). 
10. ^ ^{A b} Gunter Krebs: Orbital Launches of 2013. In: Gunter's Space Pages. January 3, 2014, accessed on January 12, 2014 (English, a Safir start is incorrectly stated in the statistics.). 
11. ^ ^{A b} Gunter Krebs: Orbital Launches of 2014. In: Gunter's Space Pages. January 2, 2015, accessed January 2, 2015 . 
12. ^ ^{A b} Gunter Krebs: Orbital Launches of 2015. In: Gunter's Space Pages. February 9, 2016, accessed February 10, 2016 . 
13. ↑ ^{a b} Gunter Krebs: Orbital Launches of 2016. In: Gunter's Space Pages. September 13, 2017, accessed September 30, 2017 . 
14. ^ ^{A b} Gunter Krebs: Orbital Launches of 2017. In: Gunter's Space Pages. January 2, 2018, accessed on January 2, 2018 (English, another, not officially confirmed false start of the Iranian Simorgh rocket is listed here). 
15. ↑ ^{a b} Gunter cancer: orbital launch of 2018. In: Gunter's Space pages. December 29, 2018, accessed December 30, 2018 . 
16. ↑ ^{a b} Gunter Krebs: Orbital Launches of 2019. In: Gunter's Space Pages. December 31, 2019, accessed January 2, 2020 . 
17. ^ Ed Kyle: 2007 Launch Vehicle / Site Statistics. In: Space Launch Report. May 6, 2009, accessed January 11, 2011 . 
18. ^ Ed Kyle: 2008 Launch Vehicle / Site Statistics. In: Space Launch Report. May 6, 2009, accessed on January 11, 2011 (English, source does not list Iranian false start, it is included here for the sake of comparability). 
19. ^ Ed Kyle: 2009 Launch Vehicle / Site Statistics. In: Space Launch Report. December 30, 2009, accessed January 11, 2011 . 
20. ^ Ed Kyle: 2010 Space Launch Report. In: Space Launch Report. January 21, 2011, accessed on February 3, 2012 (English, the launch of the Kodiak Launch Center was correctly listed in the individual list, but incorrectly assigned to Cape Canaveral in the statistics). 
21. ^ Ed Kyle: 2011 Space Launch Report. In: Space Launch Report. December 31, 2011, accessed February 3, 2012 . 
22. ^ Ed Kyle: 2012 Space Launch Report. In: Space Launch Report. December 26, 2012, accessed on January 9, 2013 (English, two further, not officially confirmed false starts of the Iranian Safir rocket are listed here). 
23. ^ Ed Kyle: 2013 Space Launch Report. In: Space Launch Report. December 30, 2013, accessed on January 12, 2014 (English, two more, not officially confirmed false starts of the Iranian Safir rocket are listed here). 
24. ^ Ed Kyle: 2014 Space Launch Report. In: Space Launch Report. December 31, 2014, accessed January 26, 2015 . 
25. ^ Ed Kyle: 2015 Space Launch Report. In: Space Launch Report. December 29, 2015, accessed on February 10, 2016 (This list does not include the suborbital flight of the Intermediate Experimental Vehicle ). 
26. ^ Ed Kyle: 2016 Space Launch Report. In: Space Launch Report. December 31, 2016, accessed September 30, 2017 . 
27. ↑ Ed Kyle: 2017 Space Launch Report. In: Space Launch Report. December 27, 2017, accessed January 4, 2018 . 
28. ^ Ed Kyle: 2018 Space Launch Report. In: Space Launch Report. December 29, 2018, accessed December 30, 2018 . 
29. ^ Ed Kyle: 2019 Space Launch Report. In: Space Launch Report. December 27, 2019, accessed on January 2, 2020 . 
30. ↑ Launch Vehicle on the manufacturer's website, accessed December 9, 2020.
31. ↑ Китайские ракетостроительные компании, за которыми стоит наблюдать . Alpha Centauri, August 28, 2020.
32. ↑ Pallas-1 on Galactic Energy's website, accessed November 30, 2020.
33. ↑ British Launch Company Skyrora Completes Testing On Rocket Upper Stage - And Hopes To Reach Space This Year . Forbes, January 11, 2021.
34. ↑ Skyrora XL Rocket . Skyrora, accessed January 11, 2021.
35. ^ Andrew Jones: China rolls out Long March 8 rocket for weekend test flight. December 18, 2020, accessed December 18, 2020 .