Displaying items by tag: launcher
Sea Launch
Sea Launch is a spacecraft launch service that uses a mobile sea platform for equatorial launches of commercial payloads on specialized Zenit 3SL rockets. It has assembled and launched thirty-one rockets, with two failures and one partial failure.
The sea-based launch system means the rockets can be fired from the optimum position on Earth's surface, considerably increasing payload capacity and reducing launch costs compared to land-based systems.
Sea Launch was established in 1995 as a consortium of four companies from Norway,Russia, Ukraine and the United States, managed by Boeing with participation from the other shareholders. The first rocket was launched in March 1999.
All commercial payloads have been communications satellites intended for geostationary transfer orbit with such customers as EchoStar, DirecTV, XM Satellite Radio, and PanAmSat.
The launcher and its payload are assembled on a purpose-built ship Sea Launch Commander in Long Beach, California, USA. It is then positioned on top of the self-propelled platformOcean Odyssey and moved to the equatorial Pacific Ocean for launch, with the Sea Launch Commander serving as command center.
Stratolaunch Systems
Stratolaunch Systems is a space transportation venture specializing in air launch to orbit, with its corporate headquarters located in Huntsville, Alabama, USA.
It was founded in 2011 by Microsoft co-founder Paul G. Allen and Scaled Composites founder Burt Rutan, who had previously collaborated on the creation of SpaceShipOne. The newly envisioned launch system will use similar components to that of Virgin Galactic though it will be made for orbital launch instead of sub-orbital.
The start up will build a mobile launch system with three primary components; a carrier aircraft to be build by Scaled Composites, A multi-stage launch vehicle built by Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX), and a mating and integration system to be built by Dynetics.
Long March rocket
A Long March rocket (simplified Chinese: 长征系列运载火箭; traditional Chinese: 長征系列運載火箭; pinyin: Chángzhēng xìliè yùnzài huǒjiàn) or Chang Zheng rocket as in Chinese pinyin is any rocket in a family of expendable launch systems operated by the People's Republic of China. Development and design falls under the auspices of theChina Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology. In English, the rockets are abbreviated as LM- for export and CZ- within China, as "Chang Zheng" means "Long March" in Chinese pinyin. The rockets are named after the Long March of Chinese communist history.
Soyuz rocket
Soyuz is a family of expendable launch systems developed by OKB-1, and manufactured by TsSKB-Progress in Samara, Russia.
The launch services are commercialised by the company Starsem.
The Soyuz launch vehicle family has provided reliable and efficient launch services since the birth of the space program. Vehicles in this family, which have launched both the first satellite and first man into space, have been credited with more than 1000 launches. Today, this vehicle is used for manned and unmanned flights to the International Space Station and commercial launches.
