launching
Surveyor 1 in 1966
Soviet Union and Russia The Soviet
R-7 family was based on the world's first
intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).
Sputnik was a
small-lift derivative that carried the first satellite into orbit, and the R-7 design quickly grew in capacity, with
Luna launching in 1958. The 1960s saw the R-7 series continue to develop, with
Vostok 1 carrying the first human into space,
Voskhod carrying multiple crew members, and the first
Soyuz. , Soyuz variants are still operational and have launched over 1,100 times. The R-7 family has launched more times than any other family of orbital rockets.
United States The first US medium-lift vehicle was a purpose-built orbital launch vehicle, the
Saturn I. Saturn I first launched in 1961, and the Saturn family would eventually grow into the heavy-lift
Saturn IB and the super-heavy lift
Saturn V. ICBM-derived launch vehicles for the US include the
Atlas,
Titan, and
Delta families.
Atlas-Centaur launched in 1962 and marked the first use of a
Centaur upper stage. , the derivative
Atlas V is still operational; Centaur has seen extensive use on multiple vehicles and is operational on the Atlas V and
Vulcan vehicles.
Titan II GLV carried the
Gemini spacecraft. The family was further developed into
Titan III which utilized
solid rocket boosters (SRBs), and in 1989, the heavy-lift
Titan IV. Medium-lift versions of the Delta family include Delta II which utilized up to nine SRBs, and the
Delta IV which could use optional SRBs or three first-stage cores as a
heavy variant.
SpaceX introduced the
Falcon 9 in 2010, designed to be a partially
reusable launch vehicle. Falcon 9 underwent iterative upgrades and completed the first propulsive landing of an orbital rocket stage in 2015. SpaceX then began regularly reusing first stages. In 2022, Falcon 9 broke the record of 47 launches in one year held by
Soyuz-U. Falcon 9 has since continued to set new launch cadence records, launching 165 times in 2025.
Other China's
Long March family and the European
Ariane family were introduced in the 1970s. Japan launched the
H-I in 1986 before developing the
H-II and
H3. India introduced the
PSLV in 1993 and
LVM3 in 2014. South Korea's
Nuri reached orbit in 2022. == Rated launch vehicles ==