Launch

Rockets & Launch

Rockets, launch vehicles, and the companies putting payloads in orbit. How Starship, Falcon 9, SLS, and Vulcan work, and why reusable launch changed the economics of space.

Rockets

What Is Starship? SpaceX's Reusable Super-Heavy Rocket

Starship is SpaceX's fully reusable super-heavy rocket: a Super Heavy booster plus a Starship upper stage, built for Starlink, the Moon, and Mars.

Rockets

Falcon 9 Explained: SpaceX's Reusable Workhorse Rocket

Falcon 9 is SpaceX's two-stage rocket with a reusable first stage that lands and reflies. Here is how it works, what it launches, and why it matters.

Rockets

SLS Rocket Explained: NASA's Space Launch System

The SLS rocket is NASA's expendable super-heavy launcher for Artemis, built to send the Orion capsule to the Moon. Here is how it works and the debate.

Rockets

Vulcan Rocket Explained: ULA's Vulcan Centaur

The Vulcan Centaur is ULA's rocket with Blue Origin BE-4 engines, built for national-security and commercial launches to replace the Atlas V and Delta IV.

Reusability

How Reusable Rockets Work: Landing and Reflight

Reusable rockets land their first stage and fly it again. Here is how vertical landing, grid fins, and refurbishment work, plus the cost math behind reuse.

Basics

Launch Vehicles Explained: Stages, Orbits, and Classes

A launch vehicle is a rocket that carries a payload to orbit. Here is how stages, orbits like LEO and GEO, and payload classes actually work.

Basics

How Does a Rocket Launch Work?

A rocket launch burns through a fixed countdown and several rocket stages before the payload finally reaches orbital speed and separates from the vehicle.

Rockets

New Glenn Explained: Blue Origin's Heavy-Lift Rocket

New Glenn is Blue Origin's two-stage orbital rocket with a reusable first stage. Here is how it is built, what it launches, and how it compares to Falcon 9.

Rockets

Electron Rocket Explained: Rocket Lab's Small-Sat Launcher

Electron is Rocket Lab's small, mostly carbon-composite rocket that flies one satellite's mission at a time. Here is how it works and what it costs to launch.

Getting to orbit is the hardest part

Every satellite, space station, and crewed mission starts the same way: with a rocket fighting its way through the atmosphere and accelerating to more than 28,000 kilometers per hour, the speed needed to stay in low Earth orbit. Launch is the gate every space ambition passes through, and for decades it was the most expensive part, costing tens of thousands of dollars per kilogram on rockets that were thrown away after a single flight.

That is the piece that has changed most. Reusable rockets turned the launch vehicle from a disposable machine into something closer to an aircraft that flies, lands, refuels, and flies again. The result is a steep drop in cost and a sharp rise in how often the world reaches orbit, and it is the reason the satellite and constellation boom covered elsewhere on OrbitalIntel is even possible.

The rockets we cover

Our per-vehicle explainers walk through how each major rocket actually works. Starship is SpaceX's fully reusable super-heavy system aimed at the Moon and Mars. Falcon 9 is the workhorse whose landing first stage made reuse routine. NASA's SLS is the expendable heavy-lifter behind the Artemis Moon program, and ULA's Vulcan handles national-security and commercial launches. Two more vehicles round out the picture: Blue Origin's New Glenn is a reusable heavy-lifter built to compete directly with Falcon 9, and Rocket Lab's Electron is a small dedicated launcher built for one satellite at a time.

How launch works, from first principles

If you are new to the topic, start with launch vehicles explained, which covers stages, the orbits a rocket can reach, and the payload classes from small to super-heavy. Then how reusable rockets work explains the propulsive landings, grid fins, and refurbishment behind the cost revolution, and which companies have actually pulled it off. The engines that make all of it possible are covered in our space technology section.

How to use this section

These are reference explainers, not launch schedules. We describe how each vehicle is designed and what it is for, and we separate flown hardware from announced plans. Flight counts, exact payloads, and dates move constantly, so we describe them in ranges and mark anything time-sensitive.