Home›Launch Vehicles›All Launch VehiclesBrowse ByAll Launch VehiclesReference and ClassificationDevelopingRockets and launch systems engineered to carry payloads from Earth's surface to space, spanning expendable and reusable orbital-class boosters and their upper stages, from the earliest orbital rockets through today's reusable commercial launchers. Covers named launch vehicle families and their generations and variants across every spacefaring agency and company -- Saturn V, the Space Shuttle as a launch system, Soyuz, Ariane, Atlas, Delta, Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy, Long March, and their national and commercial counterparts. Belongs here: named launch vehicle families, their major variants and generations, and notable booster or upper-stage systems considered in their own right. Does not belong here: the satellites, crewed capsules, space stations and robotic probes those rockets carry to orbit, which stay under Spacecraft even though that category's own text also mentions launch rockets in passing -- Launch Vehicles is the dedicated, more specific home for the rockets themselves; the named missions and programs a vehicle flew, which belong under Missions and Programs; and the astronauts and agencies involved, which belong under Astronauts and Cosmonauts and Space Agencies and Companies.FactsAll Launch VehiclesSourcesComments (0)Reader Challenges (0)FactsComparisonField Origin EraWell-attested1957 1All Launch VehiclesFilter Results60 entriesOrigin ProgramAllAriane Launch Vehicles (4)British Launch Vehicles (1)Chinese Commercial Launch Vehicles (1)Commercial American Launch Vehicles (9)Delta Rocket Family (5)Early American Missile-Derived and Small Launchers (4)French Launch Vehicles (1)Indian Launch Vehicles (4)Israeli Launch Vehicles (1)Japanese Launch Vehicles (4)Launch Vehicles of Iran and North Korea (2)Long March Rocket Family (6)NASA-Developed Launch Systems (4)Other European Launch Vehicles (3)Russian Launch Vehicles (3)South Korean Launch Vehicles (1)Soviet Launch Vehicles (4)Titan Rocket Family (3)Vehicle ClassAllExpendable Launch System (29)Heavy-Lift Launch Vehicle (5)Human-Rating Certification (4)Medium-Lift Launch Vehicle (2)Reusable Launch Vehicle (4)Small-Lift Launch Vehicle (13)Super Heavy-Lift Launch Vehicle (1)First Flight EraAll1957-08-21 (1)1958-01-31 (1)1960-05-13 (1)1960-07-02 (1)1961-05-05 (1)1962-02-20 (1)1964-06-05 (1)1964-09-01 (1)1965-03-23 (1)1965-07-16 (1)1965-11-26 (1)1966-02-26 (1)1969-02-21 (1)1970-04-24 (1)1971-10-28 (1)1979-12-24 (1)1981-04-12 (1)1987-05-15 (1)1988-06-15 (1)1988-09-19 (1)1989-02-14 (1)1989-06-14 (1)1990-04-05 (1)1993-09-20 (1)1996-02-15 (1)1996-06-04 (1)1998-08-27 (1)1999-11-20 (1)2000-01-26 (1)2001-04-07 (1)2001-04-18 (1)2001-08-29 (1)2002-11-20 (1)2004-11-08 (1)2004-12-21 (1)2009-02-02 (1)2009-09-10 (1)2009-10-28 (1)2012-02-13 (1)2012-12-12 (1)2013-04-21 (1)2013-09-14 (1)2014-12-23 (1)2015-09-20 (1)2015-09-25 (1)2016-11-03 (1)2017-01-09 (1)2017-06-05 (1)2018-02-06 (1)2021-01-17 (1)2021-09-02 (1)2021-10-21 (1)2022-07-13 (1)2022-08-07 (1)2022-11-16 (1)2023-03-07 (1)2024-01-08 (1)2024-07-09 (1)2025-01-16 (1)StatusAllActive (24)Cancelled (3)Lost (1)Planned (3)Retired (30)ManufacturerAllAerojet Rocketdyne (1)Aeronutronic (1)Alliant Techsystems (1)ArianeGroup (3)Avio S.p.A. (2)Aérospatiale (1)Blue Origin (1)China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (4)China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (2)Chrysler Corporation (2)Convair (1)Douglas (1)Douglas Aircraft Company (1)ExPace (1)Firefly Aerospace (1)General Dynamics Corporation (1)Glenn L. Martin Company (2)Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (1)IHI Corporation (1)Indian Space Research Organisation (2)Israel Aerospace Industries Ltd (1)Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center (3)Ling-Temco-Vought (1)Lockheed Martin Corporation (2)Martin Marietta (2)McDonnell Douglas (3)Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (4)Northrop Grumman Corporation (4)Orbital Sciences Corporation (3)Progress Rocket Space Centre (1)Relativity Space (1)Rockwell International (1)S.P. Korolev Rocket and Space Corporation Energia (3)Saunders-Roe (1)SEREB (1)Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology (1)SpaceX (1)The Boeing Company (4)Thiokol (1)United Launch Alliance (4)Virgin Orbit (1)OperatorAllArianespace (5)Blue Origin (1)Boeing (1)China Manned Space Agency (1)China National Space Administration (5)CNES (1)European Launcher Development Organisation (1)European Space Agency (1)Expace (1)Firefly Aerospace (1)Iranian Space Agency (1)Israel Space Agency (1)ISRO (4)JAXA (4)Korea Aerospace Research Institute (1)Lockheed Martin (1)NASA (11)Northrop Grumman (3)Relativity Space (1)Roscosmos (3)Soviet space program (4)SpaceX (1)United Launch Alliance (3)Virgin Orbit (1)ReusabilityAllExpendable (29)Partially Reusable (4)Part OfAllAriane 5 (1)Delta IV (1)H-IIA (1)Proton-K (1)R-7 Semyorka (1)Redstone (1)Titan II GLV (1)Vega (1)Show ResultsBrowseCompareSelect all 50Angara A5RussiaAntaresUnited States Private CompanyAres IUnited StatesAriane 1EuropeAriane 4EuropeAriane 5EuropeAriane 6EuropeAtlasUnited StatesBlack ArrowUnited KingdomDeltaUnited StatesDelta IIUnited StatesDelta IIIUnited StatesDelta IVUnited StatesDelta IV HeavyUnited StatesDiamantFranceEnergiaSoviet UnionEpsilonJapanEuropaEuropeFalcon HeavyUnited States Private CompanyFirefly AlphaUnited States Private CompanyGSLVIndiaGSLV Mk III (LVM3)IndiaH3JapanH-IIAJapanH-IIBJapanJuno IUnited StatesKuaizhou-1AChinaLauncherOneUnited States Private CompanyLong March 1ChinaLong March 11ChinaLong March 2FChinaLong March 3BChinaLong March 5ChinaLong March 6ChinaMinotaurUnited States Private CompanyN1Soviet UnionNew GlennUnited States Private CompanyNuri (KSLV-II)South KoreaPegasusUnited States Private CompanyProton-KSoviet UnionProton-MRussiaPSLVIndiaR-7 SemyorkaSoviet UnionRedstoneUnited StatesSafirOther National ProgramsSaturn IBUnited StatesScoutUnited StatesShavitIsraelSoyuz-2RussiaSpace Launch SystemUnited States12Next →Sources1. Wikipedia: Sputnik 1tier 2Wikimedia FoundationSputnik 1, lead sectionQuote, Sputnik 1, lead sectionIt was launched into an elliptical low Earth orbit by the Soviet Union on 4 October 1957 as part of the Soviet space program.View the SourceComments (0)No comments yet. Be the first to share a thought.Sign in to join the discussion.Reader Challenges (0)No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.Sign in to dispute this or suggest a correction.