Space launch vehicles

alt=|thumb|upright|A Soyuz-FG rocket launches from "[[Gagarin's Start" (Site 1/5), Baikonur Cosmodrome ]] A rocket (from , and so named for its shape) is an elongated flying vehicle that uses a rocket engine to accelerate without using any surrounding air. A rocket engine produces thrust by reaction to exhaust expelled at high speed. Unlike jet engines, rockets are fuelled entirely by propellant which they carry, without the need for oxygen from air; consequently a rocket can fly in the vacuum of space, indeed rocket engines operate more efficiently outside the atmosphere.

rocket used to carry payload into outer space

rocket that uses two or more stages in series

space launch vehicle designed to be partially or fully reused

nose cone of a rocket used to protect spacecraft during launch

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thumb|upright=1.2|The VentureStar was a proposed SSTO [[spaceplane.]]

orbital launch vehicle capable of lifting heavy payloads to low-Earth orbit

orbital launch vehicle capable of lifting very heavy payloads to low-Earth orbit

orbital launch vehicle capable of lifting small payloads to low-Earth orbit

orbital launch vehicle capable of lifting moderate payloads to low-Earth orbit

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A two-stage-to-orbit (TSTO) or two-stage rocket is a launch vehicle in which two distinct stages provide propulsion consecutively in order to achieve orbital velocity. It is intermediate between a three-stage-to-orbit launcher and a hypothetical single-stage-to-orbit (SSTO) launcher.

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