Launch vehicle
An orbital launch vehicle must lift its payload at least to the boundary of space, approximately 150 km (93 mi) and accelerate it to a horizontal velocity of at least 7,814 m/s (17,480 mph).Launch vehicles are classified by their orbital payload capacity, ranging from small-, medium-, heavy- to super-heavy lift.[citation needed] Expendable launch vehicles are designed for one-time use, with boosters that usually separate from their payload and disintegrate during atmospheric reentry or on contact with the ground.The standard Starship launch architecture is to refuel the spacecraft in low Earth orbit to enable the craft to send high-mass payloads on much more energetic missions.[19] In the 2000s, both SpaceX and Blue Origin have privately developed a set of technologies to support vertical landing of the booster stage of a launch vehicle.After 2010, SpaceX undertook a development program to acquire the ability to bring back and vertically land a part of the Falcon 9 orbital launch vehicle: the first stage.[24] The launch trajectories of both vehicles are very different, with New Shepard going straight up and down, whereas Falcon 9 has to cancel substantial horizontal velocity and return from a significant distance downrange.
Satellite Launch VehicleSpaceflightHistoryHistory of spaceflightSpace RaceTimeline of spaceflightSpace probesLunar missionsMars missionsCommunicationsEarth observationExplorationEspionageMilitaryNavigationColonizationHabitationTelescopesTourismSpacecraftRobotic spacecraftSatelliteSpace probeCargo spacecraftCrewed spacecraftApollo Lunar ModuleSpace capsulesSpace ShuttleSpace stationsSpaceplanesVostokSpace launchSpaceportLaunch padExpendablereusableEscape velocityNon-rocket spacelaunchSub-orbitalOrbitalInterplanetaryInterstellarIntergalacticSpace agenciesSpace forcesCompaniesSoyuz TMA-5International Space Stationrocketpayloadsatellitesouter spaceballistic missilemultistage rocketlaunch control centeraerodynamicsSuborbitalelevation angleschemical propellantssolid fuelhydrogenkeroseneliquid oxygenhypergolic propellantssmall-medium-heavy-super-heavy liftKonstantin TsiolkovskyRobert H. GoddardHermann OberthrocketsWernher von BraunSoviet Unionfirst satellitefirst animalfirst humanfirst womanfirst men on the Moonlow Earth orbitSmall-lift launch vehicleMedium-lift launch vehicleSoyuz STHeavy-lift launch vehicleAriane 5Super-heavy lift vehicleSaturn VSounding rocketsSS-520TRICOM-1ROrbital spaceflightrocket equationrocket stagesExpendable launch vehiclesatmospheric reentryreusable launch vehiclesFalcon 9solid rocket boostersSpace Shuttle orbiterEuropean Space AgencyAriane VUnited Launch AllianceDelta IVAtlas VChineseOrienspaceSan MarcoSea LaunchsubmarineSub-orbital spaceflightTrans-lunar injectionInterplanetary spaceflightatmosphererequired velocityGeostationary orbitupper stagegeostationary transfer orbitpropellant transferdelta-Vcislunar or deep spaceStarshipenergetichorizontal-landingspaceplaneSpaceXBlue Origin