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Loading contentRockets that carry missions to orbit and beyond.
Russia's modular heavy-lift launcher built from common URM core boosters and burning kerosene/LOX, intended to replace the Proton.
A medium-lift rocket operated by Northrop Grumman that launched Cygnus cargo spacecraft to the ISS; the flown Antares 230+ retired in 2023 after its Russian/Ukrainian first-stage supply was cut, pending the U.S.-built Antares 330.
Europe's first launcher, which established independent access to space and orbited the Giotto probe to Halley's Comet.
An uprated single-payload development of Ariane 1 with a more powerful third stage.
An Ariane variant adding two solid strap-on boosters and dual-payload capability for commercial satellites.
A highly successful and flexible Ariane variant with multiple booster configurations that dominated the commercial launch market in the 1990s.
Ariane 5 was a European heavy-lift launch vehicle operated by Arianespace, notable for launching the James Webb Space Telescope in 2021.
Europe's successor to Ariane 5, designed for greater flexibility and lower cost.
Atlas V is an expendable launch vehicle operated by United Launch Alliance that has launched numerous NASA science and planetary missions.
A highly reliable medium-lift workhorse that launched GPS satellites and many NASA planetary missions, including the Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity and the Kepler telescope.
A heavy-lift expendable rocket by United Launch Alliance, retired in 2024, used for national-security and high-energy science launches such as Parker Solar Probe.
A small-lift orbital rocket by Rocket Lab for dedicated small-satellite launches.
The Soviet super heavy-lift rocket that launched the uncrewed Buran shuttle, flying only twice before the program ended.
A Japanese solid-fueled small-lift rocket derived from the H-IIA's booster technology, launched from the Uchinoura Space Center for small scientific satellites.
SpaceX's first rocket and the first privately developed liquid-fueled launcher to reach orbit, in 2008 — the proving ground for the Merlin engine.
Falcon 9 is a partially reusable two-stage orbital launch vehicle developed and operated by SpaceX.
Falcon Heavy is a partially reusable heavy-lift launch vehicle derived from the Falcon 9 and operated by SpaceX.
A small-to-medium-lift two-stage rocket operated by Firefly Aerospace for dedicated small-satellite launches.
ISRO's launcher for heavier payloads to geostationary transfer orbit, used for Chandrayaan-2.
Japan's first entirely domestically developed launch vehicle, using cryogenic LH2/LOX stages.
A Japanese launch vehicle that flew JAXA science missions including Hayabusa2 and the Akatsuki Venus orbiter.
JAXA's new-generation launch vehicle with the expander-bleed LE-9 engine, designed for lower cost and higher flexibility than the H-IIA.
An air-launched, two-stage small rocket released from a modified Boeing 747; it reached orbit before Virgin Orbit ceased operations in 2023.
China's only human-rated launch vehicle, which carries the Shenzhou spacecraft with crews to the Tiangong space station.
A Chinese launch vehicle widely used for geostationary satellites and several Chang'e lunar missions.
Long March 5 is a Chinese heavy-lift launch vehicle that has launched missions including the Tianwen-1 Mars probe and modules of the Tiangong space station.
A modern kerosene/LOX medium-lift Long March that launches the Tianzhou cargo spacecraft to the Tiangong station.
A super heavy-lift launch vehicle in development for China's planned crewed lunar and deep-space missions.
ISRO's most powerful operational rocket, which launched Chandrayaan-2 and Chandrayaan-3 and is being human-rated for the Gaganyaan program.
A family of solid-fueled small launchers built from surplus Minuteman and Peacekeeper missile motors for U.S. government payloads.
PLD Space's orbital small-lift rocket in development, following the suborbital Miura 1, with plans to recover the first stage.
The Soviet super heavy-lift Moon rocket; all four launch attempts (1969–1972) failed and the program was cancelled. The flown vehicle used Kuznetsov NK-15 engines; the improved NK-33 (for the never-flown N1F) flew decades later on other rockets.
Rocket Lab's reusable medium-lift methane/LOX rocket in development, with a reusable first stage and integrated fairing.
A heavy-lift, partially reusable rocket developed by Blue Origin.
Blue Origin's fully reusable suborbital vehicle for research payloads and crewed flights above the Kármán line; it lands its booster propulsively.
An air-launched, three-stage solid-fueled small rocket dropped from a carrier aircraft to place small satellites into low Earth orbit.
A Russian heavy-lift rocket used to launch interplanetary probes, large satellites, and space-station modules.
The PSLV is an expendable launch vehicle operated by ISRO that has launched many Earth observation satellites as well as the Chandrayaan-1 and Mangalyaan missions.
The world's first intercontinental ballistic missile, which in 1957 launched Sputnik 1 and founded the most prolific rocket lineage in history.
NASA's first heavy-lift rocket and the first designed for spaceflight rather than as a missile; it flight-tested Apollo hardware and clustered eight engines in its first stage.
A NASA medium-lift launch vehicle used for early Apollo Earth-orbit tests, the Skylab crews, and the Apollo–Soyuz Test Project.
The Saturn V was a NASA super heavy-lift launch vehicle that carried the Apollo missions to the Moon and launched the Skylab space station.
Soyuz is a family of expendable launch vehicles operated by Roscosmos that has long carried crews and cargo to orbit, including to the International Space Station.
The Space Launch System is NASA's super heavy-lift launch vehicle developed to carry the Orion spacecraft and crew under the Artemis program.
NASA's partially reusable crewed launch system — a winged orbiter with an external tank and two solid rocket boosters — that flew 135 missions building the ISS and servicing Hubble.
A small-lift two-stage rocket developed by Germany's Isar Aerospace for the European small-satellite market.
ISRO's small-satellite launch vehicle, designed for low-cost, on-demand launches of small payloads to low Earth orbit.
Starship is a fully reusable super heavy-lift launch system being developed by SpaceX for crewed and cargo missions to Earth orbit, the Moon, and Mars.
Relativity Space's reusable heavy-lift methane/LOX rocket, built largely by large-scale additive manufacturing.
The human-rated Titan II Gemini Launch Vehicle, adapted from an ICBM to carry the two-person Gemini spacecraft into orbit.
The largest and last of the Titan family — a heavy-lift launcher for large U.S. national-security satellites and the Cassini–Huygens mission to Saturn.
Europe's small-lift launcher with three solid stages and a liquid upper stage, for small scientific and Earth-observation satellites.
An upgraded, more capable Vega with larger solid motors and a common booster shared with Ariane 6.
United Launch Alliance's successor to the Atlas V and Delta IV families.
A Ukrainian-designed medium-lift kerosene/LOX rocket whose first stage traces to the Energia boosters, flown from Baikonur and the Sea Launch ocean platform.