Vehicles
11 articles
ArianeAriane is a family of European launch vehicles operated by the European Space Agency (ESA) together with the company Arianespace. Since 1979 it has given Europe independent access to space, launching from the Kourou spaceport in French Guiana near the equator. The family's most successful member was the heavy-lift Ariane 5 (1996–2023), which among other things launched the James Webb Space Telescope and Europe's ATV cargo ships to the International Space Station; its successor is the more modern Ariane 6, whose first flight took place in 2024.open article →
Falcon 9Falcon 9 is a partially reusable launch vehicle built by the American company SpaceX that has transformed spaceflight since 2010. It was the first orbital rocket able to return its first stage to Earth and land it after launch — and then fly that same stage again. This radically lowered the cost of reaching orbit and has made Falcon 9 the most frequently flown rocket of our time; it launches Starlink satellites and the Dragon spacecraft carrying crew and cargo to the International Space Station.open article →
Long MarchLong March (Chinese 长征, Chang Zheng; abbreviated CZ) is a family of Chinese launch vehicles built by the CASC corporation and flown under the auspices of China's space agency CNSA. The family has flown since 1970, when the Long March 1 rocket placed China's first satellite into orbit, and has since made more than 500 launches. Its key variants include the crew-rated Long March 2F, which has carried Shenzhou crewed spacecraft since 2003; the heavy-lift Long March 5 for large probes and modules of the Tiangong space station; and the reliable Long March 3B for telecommunications satellites. Today the Long March rockets are the backbone of the Chinese space programme.open article →
OrionNASA crew spacecraft for missions to the Moon and beyond.open article →
R-7 / SputnikOriginally an intercontinental ballistic missile, adapted as a launch vehicle. It carried the first Sputnik and Vostok into orbit, and its descendants still fly today.open article →
Saturn VThe most powerful launch vehicle of its era, developed for the Apollo program. It carried crews and hardware on the journey to the Moon.open article →
SoyuzSoyuz is a family of Soviet and Russian launch vehicles and spacecraft that has flown from the 1960s to the present day. The Soyuz rocket descends from the legendary R-7, and the Soyuz spacecraft has carried crews into orbit for over half a century — today to the International Space Station. It ranks among the longest-serving and most reliable space systems in history.open article →
Space Launch System (SLS)NASA heavy-lift launcher for Artemis missions.open article →
Space ShuttleThe American partly reusable space transportation system with a winged orbiter.open article →
StarshipStarship is SpaceX’s fully reusable space transportation system. It consists of the Super Heavy first stage and the Starship upper stage, which is also the spacecraft; both use Raptor engines burning liquid methane and oxygen.open article →
VostokA single-seat Soviet spacecraft with a spherical reentry capsule. Yuri Gagarin orbited the Earth aboard its first crewed flight.open article →