Launch vehicle

From open-encyclopedia.com - the free encyclopedia.

A launch vehicle is a rocket system used to deliver a payload from a planetary surface into space.

The term derives from the American satellite program, Project Vanguard, as a contraction of the phrase "Satellite Launching Vehicle" abbreviated as "SLV" as a term in the list of what the rockets were allocated for: flight test, or actually launching a satellite. The contraction would also apply to rockets which send probes to other worlds or the interplanetary medium.

In the English language, the phrase carrier rocket was used earlier, and still is in some circles in Britain. A translation of that phrase is used in German and Russian. The U.S. Air Force detested the term carrier, which would refer to their competition, the aircraft carriers of the U.S. Navy. For this reason they called one airplane which carried another a conveyor.

There are several broad categories that launch vehicles fall under, including:

• Expendable launch system
• Reusable launch system
• Single stage to orbit
• Two stage to orbit

For the launch vehicles currently in use for human spaceflight, see that article.

See also launch mechanisms, list of rockets, Rocket launch technology.

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