Medium-lift launch vehicle

A medium-lift launch vehicle - MLV a rocket orbital launch vehicle that is capable of lifting between 2,000 to 20,000 kg (4,400 to 44,100 lb) of payload into Low Earth orbit - LEO.[1] The category is between small-lift launch vehicles and heavy-lift launch vehicles. The first two medium-lift launch vehicles were the USA's Atlas rocket and the Soviet's R-7 rocket, both had their first lift off in 1957.

Medium-lift launch vehicles

Launch of an Atlas B intercontinental ballistic missile
Launch of the first American manned orbital space flight Atlas and Friendship 7
A Falcon 9 v1.0 launches with an uncrewed Dragon spacecraft, 2012
Falcon 9 booster tank at the SpaceX factory, 2008
Vehicle Origin Manufacturer Mass to
LEO
(kg)		 Mass to
other orbits
(kg)		 Launches Status First flight Last flight
R-7 Semyorka Soyuz  Soviet Union
 Russia		 RSC Energia TsSKB-Progress Operational 1957
Atlas (A-B-C-D-E-F-G-H-I)  United States Lockheed Retired 1957 1997
Delta  United States Douglas Retired 1960 1989
Saturn I  United States Chrysler & Douglas 9,070 2,220 to TLI 10 Retired 1961 1975
Atlas-Centaur  United States Lockheed 148 Retired 1962 1983
Titan II GLV  United States Martin 3,580 12 Retired 1964 1966
Titan IIIC  United States Martin 13,100 3000 to GTO
1200 to TMI		 36 Retired 1965 1982
Proton-K  Soviet Union
 Russia		 Khrunichev 19,760 311 Retired 1965 2012
Soyuz original  Soviet Union OKB-1 6,450 32 Retired 1966 1975
R-36 Tsyklon  Soviet Union
 Russia		 Yuzhmash Operational 1967
Soyuz-L  Soviet Union OKB-1 5,500 3 Retired 1970 1971
Long March 2-3-4  China China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology Operational 1971
Titan IIID  United States Martin 12,300 22 Retired 1971 1982
Soyuz-M  Soviet Union OKB-1 6,600 8 Retired 1971 1976
Soyuz-U  Soviet Union
 Russia		 TsSKB-Progress 6,900 kg from Baikonur and
6,700 kg from Plesetsk		 786 Retired 1973 2017
Titan IIIE  United States Martin Marietta 15,400 3,700 to TMI 7 Retired 1974 1977
N-I & II[2]  Japan Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Retired 1975 1987
Soyuz-U2  Soviet Union TsSKB-Progress 7,050 72 Retired 1982 1995
Zenit  Soviet Union
 Russia		 Yuzhnoye Operational 1985
H-I  Japan Mitsubishi Heavy Industries 3,200 1,100 to GTO 9 Retired 1986 1992
Ariane 4  European Union
 France		 Aérospatiale 7,600 4,800 to GTO 116 Retired 1988 2003
Delta II  United States United Launch Alliance 6,100 2,170 to GTO
1000 to HCO		 153 Operational 1989
Atlas II  United States Lockheed 6,580 2,810 to GTO 63 Retired 1991 2004
PSLV  India ISRO 3,800 1,750 to SSO
1425 to GTO		 40 Operational 1993
UR-100N Rokot Strela  Russia Eurockot Khrunichev Operational 1994
H-II  Japan Mitsubishi 10,000 3,800 to GTO 7 Retired 1994 1999
H-IIA  Japan Mitsubishi 15,000 6,000 to GTO 34 Operational 2001
H-IIB  Japan Mitsubishi 19,000 8,000 to GTO 6 Operational 2009
Athena I & II  United States Lockheed ATK Retired 1995 2001
Delta III  United States Boeing 8,290 3,810 to GTO 3 Retired 1998 2000
Dnepr  Soviet Union
 Ukraine		 Yuzhmash 4,500 2,300 to GTO
550 to TLI		 22 Operational 1999
Soyuz-FG  Russia 6,900 60 Operational 2001
GSLV Mk.I & II  India ISRO Operational 2001
Atlas V  United States United Launch Alliance 18,810 8,900 to GTO 71 Operational 2002
Atlas III  United States Lockheed Martin 10,218 4,500 to GTO 6 Retired 2003 2005
Soyuz-2  Russia TsSKB-Progress 8,200 4,900 to SSO
3250 to GTO		 62 Operational 2004
Falcon 9 v1.0  United States SpaceX 10,450 4,540 5 Retired 2010 2013
Vega  European Union
 Italy		 Avio 2,300[3] 1,430 to polar
1330 to SSO		 10 Operational 2012
Antares  United States Orbital Sciences 6,500[4] 6 Operational 2013
Falcon 9 v1.1  United States SpaceX 13,150 4,850 to GTO 15 Retired 2013 2016
GSLV Mk.III (LVM3)  India ISRO 10,000 4,000 to GTO 2 Operational 2014
Angara 1.2[5]  Russia Khrunichev 3,800[6] Operational 2014[7][8]
Falcon 9 full thrust (reusable configuration)[9][10]  United States SpaceX 13,680-15,960
(Estimated)[11]		 5,500[12] to GTO 18 Operational 2015
Long March 7  China China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology 13,500 5,500 to SSO 2 Operational 2016
Unified Launch Vehicle  India Indian Space Research Organisation 15,000 6,000 to GTO 0 Development
Super Haas  Romania ARCA Space Corporation Development

See also

References

  1. ↑ NASA Space Technology Roadmaps - Launch Propulsion Systems, p.11: "Small: 0-2t payloads, Medium: 2-20t payloads, Heavy: 20-50t payloads, Super Heavy: >50t payloads"
  2. ↑ "N-2". Encyclopedia Astronautica. Retrieved 12 June 2013.
  3. ↑ http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_lau/vega.htm
  4. ↑ "Antares Fact Sheet" (PDF). Orbital Sciences. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-01-14. Retrieved 23 December 2014.
  5. ↑ "Angara launchers family on manufacturer website". Khrunichev.ru. Retrieved 2014-01-22.
  6. ↑ "Angara 1.2". Spaceflight 101. Retrieved July 2014. Check date values in: |access-date= (help)
  7. ↑ The market for launching small satellite in Russia... Archived 24 December 2014 at the Wayback Machine.
  8. ↑ "Angara, Russia’s brand-new launch vehicle, is successfully launched from Plesetsk". Khrunichev. Retrieved 2014-09-21.
  9. ↑ "Capabilities & Services". SpaceX. Archived from the original on 7 October 2013. Retrieved 3 May 2016.
  10. ↑ https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/726559990480150528
  11. ↑ https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/726559990480150528
  12. ↑ http://spacenews.com/spacexs-new-price-chart-illustrates-performance-cost-of-reusability/

Further reading

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