Shuttle-derived space launch vehicles

The Space Launch System (SLS) is an American two-stage super heavy-lift expendable launch vehicle used by NASA. The primary launch vehicle for the Artemis program, SLS is designed to launch the four-person Orion spacecraft for missions to the Moon, on a trans-lunar injection trajectory. The rocket first launched on November 16, 2022, carrying the uncrewed Artemis I mission. Its first crewed launch was for the Artemis II lunar flyby on April 1, 2026, becoming the second launch vehicle to carry humans beyond low Earth orbit (LEO), after NASA's Saturn V of the Apollo program, and the third to ever be planned to fly humans past LEO, after the N1.

canceled NASA rocket for project Constellation.

canceled rocket from NASA's Constellation program

vehicle derived from the Space Shuttle

thumb|right|An artist's conception of a Shuttle-C launching at night thumb|Shuttle-C in space with its cargo bay doors open The Shuttle-C was a study by NASA to turn the Space Shuttle launch stack into a dedicated uncrewed cargo launcher. The Space Shuttle external tank and Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Boosters (SRBs) would be combined with a cargo module to take the place of the Shuttle orbiter and include the main engines. Various Shuttle-C concepts were investigated between 1984 and 1995.

proposed family of heav-lift launch vehicles

launch vehicle design