International Launch Services (ILS) is a U.S.-Russian joint venture with exclusive rights to the worldwide sale of commercial Proton rocket launch services from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

ILS was formed in 1995 as a private spaceflight partnership between Lockheed Martin, Khrunichev and Energia.

Proton (Прото́н) (formal designation: UR-500) is an expendable launch system used for both commercial and Russian government space launches.

The first Proton rocket was launched in 1965 and the launch system is still in use as of 2012, which makes it one of the most successful heavy boosters in the history of spaceflight. All Protons are built at the Khrunichev plant in Moscow, and then transported for launch to the Baikonur Cosmodrome, where they are brought to the launch pad horizontally and then raised into vertical position for launch.

The launch capacity to low Earth orbit is about 22 tonnes. The geostationary transfer capacity is about 5–6 tonnes.

The commercial launches are marketed by International Launch Services (ILS). In a typical launch of a commercial communications satellite destined for geostationary orbit, a Proton M/Briz-M can place a spacecraft with mass at separation of 4,140 kg into an orbit with an apogee of 35,786 kilometres, a perigee of 6,257 kilometres and an inclination of 19.7°.

Like many Soviet boosters, the names of recurring payloads became associated with their launchers. Thus the moniker "Proton" originates from a series of large scientific Proton satellites, which were among the rocket's first payloads. 

Khrunichev Research and Production Space Center is a Moscow-based producer of spacecraft and space-launch systems, including the Proton and Rokot rockets.

The company's history dates back to 1916, when an automobile factory was established outside Moscow. It soon switched production to airplanes and during World War II produced Ilyushin Il-4 and Tupolev Tu-2 bombers. A design bureau, OKB-23, was added to the company in 1951. In 1959, the company started developing intercontinental ballistic missiles, and later spacecraft and space launch vehicles. The company designed and produced all Soviet space stations, including Mir. OKB-23, renamed to Salyut Design Bureau, became an independent company in 1988. In 1993, the Khrunichev Plant and the Salyut Design Bureau were joined again to form Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center.

In the 1990s, the company entered the International Launch Services joint-venture to market launches on its Proton rocket. Khrunichev subsequently became a successful launch service provider on the international space launch market.

The Rokot (Russian: Рокот meaning Roar), also transliterated Rockot, is a Russian space launch vehicle that can launch a payload of 1,950 kilograms into a 200 kilometre high Earth orbit with 63° inclination.

It is a derivative of the UR-100N (SS-19 Stiletto) intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).

It is supplied and operated by Eurockot Launch Services. The first launches started in the 1990s from Baikonur Cosmodrome out of a silo. Later commercial launches commenced from Plesetsk Cosmodrome using a launch ramp specially rebuilt from one for the Kosmos-3M rocket.

Galaxy (previously Guardian) was a prototype space habitat designed by the American firm Bigelow Aerospace. It was intended to be the third spacecraft launched by the company in their efforts to create a commercial space station. Like other modules made by Bigelow Aerospace, Galaxy is based on the inflatable TransHab design by NASA, and was to be used for advanced systems testing before the company launched human-rated vehicles.

This project was cancelled in 2007.

The Astrophysics Research Institute (ARI) is a research centre in astronomy and astrophysics at Liverpool John Moores University (United Kingdom). The institute was formed in 1992.

The Astrophysical Journal is a peer-reviewed scientific journal covering astronomy and astrophysics. It was founded in 1895 by the American astronomers George Ellery Hale and James Edward Keeler. It publishes three 500-page issues per month.

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) is an intergovernmental organization with a membership of 189 Member States and Territories.

It originated from the International Meteorological Organization (IMO), which was founded in 1873. Established in 1950, WMO became the specialised agency of the United Nations for meteorology (weather and climate), operational hydrology and related geophysical sciences. It has its headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, and is a member of the United Nations Development Group.

The Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie (Max Planck Institute for Astronomy) is a research institute of the Max Planck Society.

It is located in Heidelberg, Germany, adjacent to the historic Landessternwarte Heidelberg-Königstuhl astronomical observatory.

The institute was founded in 1967. 

The Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics (MPA) is a Max Planck Institute, located in Garching, Germany (North of Munich). The institute is one of many scientific research institutes belonging to the Max Planck Society.

The MPA is widely considered to be one of the leading institutions in the world for theoretical astrophysics research.