2013 in spaceflight
Orbital launch statistics -- By rocket
Table:
Family	Country	Launches	Successes	Failures	Partial failures

Angara	Russia	1	1	0	0

Antares	United States	2	2	0	0

Ariane	Europe	4	4	0	0

Atlas	United States	8	8	0	0

Delta	United States	3	3	0	0

Epsilon	Japan	1	1	0	0

Falcon	United States	3	3	0	0

H-II	Japan	2	2	0	0

Kuaizhou	People 's Republic of China	1	1	0	0

Long March	People 's Republic of China	14	13	1	0

Minotaur	United States	2	2	0	0

Pegasus	United States	1	1	0	0

PSLV	India	3	3	0	0

R-7	Russia	16	16	0	0

R-36	Ukraine	2	2	0	0

Universal Rocket	Russia	15	13	1	1

Vega	Europe	1	1	0	0

Zenit	Ukraine / Russia	2	1	1	0

By analysing the tabular data together with the supplementary paragraphs below.

Respond to the question below: Who operates the site that had 14 launches ? Output only the correct answer as {"answer": "YOUR ANSWER"}. Do not introduce information beyond the provided sources.

The Angara rocket family is a family of space-launch vehicles being developed by the Moscow-based Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center . The rockets are to put between 3,800 and 24,500 kg into low Earth orbit and are intended , along with Soyuz-2 variants , to replace several existing launch vehicles .
Russia ( Russian : Росси́я , tr . Rossiya , IPA : [ rɐˈsʲijə ] ) , or the Russian Federation , [ e ] is a European country located in Eastern Europe with a vast expanse of territory that stretches across Northern Asia . At 17,125,200 square kilometres ( 6,612,100 sq mi ) , it is by far the largest country in the world by area , covering more than one-eighth of the Earth 's inhabited land area , spanning eleven time zones , and bordering 16 sovereign nations . The territory of Russia extends from the Baltic Sea in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east , and from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Black Sea and the Caucasus in the south . With 146.7 million inhabitants living in the country 's 85 federal subjects as of 2020 , Russia is the most populous nation in Europe and the ninth-most populous nation in the world . Russia 's capital and largest city is Moscow ; other major urban areas include Saint Petersburg , Novosibirsk , Yekaterinburg , Nizhny Novgorod , Kazan and Chelyabinsk . The East Slavs emerged as a recognizable group in Europe between the 3rd and 8th centuries AD . Founded and ruled by a Varangian warrior elite and their descendants , the medieval state of Rus arose in the 9th century . In 988 it adopted Orthodox Christianity from the Byzantine Empire , beginning the synthesis of Byzantine and Slavic cultures that defined Russian culture for the next millennium . Rus ultimately disintegrated into a number of smaller states , until it was finally reunified by the Grand Duchy of Moscow in the 15th century . By the 18th century , the nation had greatly expanded through conquest , annexation , and exploration to become the Russian Empire , which was the third largest empire in history , stretching from Poland on the west to Alaska on the east . Following the Russian Revolution , the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic ( Russian SFSR ) became the largest and leading constituent of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics ( USSR/Soviet Union ) , the world 's first constitutionally socialist state .
Antares ( /ænˈtɑːriːz/ ) , known during early development as Taurus II , is an expendable launch system developed by Orbital Sciences Corporation ( now part of Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems after Northrop Grumman acquired Orbital ATK ) and the Yuzhnoye Design Bureau to launch the Cygnus spacecraft to the International Space Station as part of NASA 's COTS and CRS programs . Able to launch payloads heavier than 8,000 kg ( 18,000 lb ) into low-Earth orbit , Antares is currently the largest rocket operated by Northrop Grumman . Antares launches from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport and made its inaugural flight on April 21 , 2013 . NASA awarded Orbital a Commercial Orbital Transportation Services ( COTS ) Space Act Agreement ( SAA ) in 2008 to demonstrate delivery of cargo to the International Space Station . For these COTS missions Orbital intends to use Antares to launch its Cygnus spacecraft . In addition , Antares will compete for small-to-medium missions . Originally designated the Taurus II , Orbital Sciences renamed the vehicle Antares , after the star of the same name , on December 12 , 2011 . The first four Antares launch attempts were successful . During the fifth launch on October 28 , 2014 , the rocket failed catastrophically , and the vehicle and payload were destroyed . The failure was traced to a fault in the first stage engines . After completion of a redesign program , the rocket had a successful return to flight on October 17 , 2016 , delivering cargo to the ISS .
The United States of America ( USA ) , commonly known as the United States ( U.S. or US ) or America , is a country consisting of 50 states , a federal district , five major self-governing territories , and various possessions . [ g ] At 3.8 million square miles ( 9.8 million km2 ) , it is the world 's third or fourth-largest country by total area [ b ] and is slightly smaller than the entire continent of Europe . Most of the country is located in central North America between Canada and Mexico . With an estimated population of over 328 million , the U.S. is the third most populous country in the world . The capital is Washington , D.C. , and the most populous city is New York City . Paleo-Indians migrated from Siberia to the North American mainland at least 12,000 years ago . European colonization began in the 16th century . The United States emerged from the thirteen British colonies established along the East Coast . Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the colonies led to the American Revolutionary War lasting between 1775 and 1783 , leading to independence . The United States embarked on a vigorous expansion across North America throughout the 19th century - gradually acquiring new territories , displacing Native Americans , and admitting new states - until by 1848 it spanned the continent . During the second half of the 19th century , the American Civil War led to the abolition of slavery in the United States . The Spanish-American War and World War I confirmed the country 's status as a global military power .
Ariane is a series of a European civilian expendable launch vehicles for space launch use . The name comes from the French spelling of the mythological character Ariadne . France first proposed the Ariane project and it was officially agreed upon at the end of 1973 after discussions between France , Germany and the UK . The project was Western Europe 's second attempt to develop its own launcher following the unsuccessful Europa project . The Ariane project was code-named L3S ( the French abbreviation for third-generation substitution launcher ) . The European Space Agency ( ESA ) charged Airbus Defence and Space , with the development of all Ariane launchers and of the testing facilities , while Arianespace , a 32.5% CNES ( French government space agency ) commercial subsidiary created in 1980 , handles production , operations and marketing . Arianespace launches Ariane rockets from the Guiana Space Centre at Kourou in French Guiana .
Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere . It comprises the westernmost part of Eurasia and is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north , the Atlantic Ocean to the west , the Mediterranean Sea to the south , and Asia to the east . The eastern border comprises a long and mixed line of mountain ranges and waterways that would normally define a subcontinent . However , Europe is generally accorded the status of a full continent because of its great physical size and the weight of history and tradition . It is the 6th largest continent in the world . Europe is commonly considered to be separated from Asia by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains , the Ural River , the Caspian and Black Seas and the waterways of the Turkish Straits . Europe covers about 10,180,000 square kilometres ( 3,930,000 sq mi ) , or 2% of the Earth 's surface ( 6.8% of land area ) . Politically , Europe is divided into about fifty sovereign states of which Russia is the largest and most populous , spanning 39% of the continent and comprising 15% of its population . Europe had a total population of about 741 million ( about 11% of the world population ) as of 2018 [ update ] . The European climate is largely affected by warm Atlantic currents that temper winters and summers on much of the continent , even at latitudes along which the climate in Asia and North America is severe . Further from the sea , seasonal differences are more noticeable than close to the coast . Europe , in particular ancient Greece and ancient Rome , was the birthplace of Western civilisation .
Atlas is a family of US missiles and space launch vehicles that originated with the SM-65 Atlas . The Atlas intercontinental ballistic missile ( ICBM ) program was initiated in the late 1950s under the Convair Division of General Dynamics . Atlas was a liquid propellant rocket burning RP-1 fuel with liquid oxygen in three engines configured in an unusual stage-and-a-half or parallel staging design : two outboard booster engines were jettisoned along with supporting structures during ascent , while the center sustainer engine , propellant tanks and other structural elements remained connected through propellant depletion and engine shutdown . The Atlas name was originally proposed by Karel Bossart and his design team working at Convair on project MX-1593 . Using the name of a mighty titan from Greek mythology reflected the missile 's place as the biggest and most powerful at the time . It also reflected the parent company of Convair , the Atlas Corporation . The missiles saw only brief ICBM service , and the last squadron was taken off operational alert in 1965 . However , from 1962 to 1963 Atlas boosters launched the first four US astronauts to orbit the Earth ( in contrast to the preceding two Redstone suborbital launches ) . The Atlas-Agena and Atlas-Centaur satellite launch vehicles were also derived directly from the original Atlas . The Atlas-Centaur was evolved into the Atlas II , various models of which were launched 63 times between 1991 and 2004 . There were only six launches of the succeeding Atlas III , all between 2000 and 2005 . The Atlas V is still in service , with launches planned into the 2020s .
Delta is an American versatile family of expendable launch systems that has provided space launch capability in the United States since 1960 . More than 300 Delta rockets have been launched with a 95% success rate . Only the Delta IV Heavy rocket remains in use as of August 22 , 2019 . Delta rockets are currently manufactured and launched by the United Launch Alliance .
The Epsilon rocket ( イプシロンロケット , Ipushiron roketto ) ( formerly Advanced Solid Rocket ) is a Japanese solid-fuel rocket designed to launch scientific satellites . It is a follow-on project to the larger and more expensive M-V rocket which was retired in 2006 . The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency ( JAXA ) began developing the Epsilon in 2007 . It is capable of placing a 590 kg payload into Sun-synchronous orbit .
Japan ( Japanese : 日本 , Nippon [ ɲippoꜜɴ ] ( listen ) or Nihon [ ɲihoꜜɴ ] ( listen ) ) is an island country located in East Asia . It is bordered by the Sea of Japan to the west and the Pacific Ocean to the east , and spans more than 3,000 kilometers ( 1,900 mi ) along the coast of the continent from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Philippine Sea in the south . Part of the Pacific Ring of Fire , Japan encompasses a stratovolcanic archipelago of about 6,852 islands , with five main islands ( Hokkaido , Honshu , Kyushu , Shikoku , and Okinawa ) comprising 97% of the country 's total area of 377,975 square kilometers ( 145,937 sq mi ) . Japan is officially divided into 47 prefectures and traditionally into eight regions . Approximately two-thirds of the country 's terrain is mountainous and heavily forested , and less than one-eighth of land is suitable for agriculture . Consequently , Japan is among the most densely populated and urbanized countries in the world , with over 90% of its population living in urban areas . The largest of these is the metropolitan area centered on the capital city of Tokyo , which is the most populous in the world and home to more than 38 million people . Japan itself is the world 's eleventh most populous country with a population of 126.2 million , of which 97.8% are ethnically Japanese . The kanji ( or Chinese characters ) that make up the name of Japan in the Japanese language mean sun origin ; in the Western world , the country is often known by the sobriquet Land of the Rising Sun . Periods of influence from other regions , primarily China , followed by periods of isolation , particularly from Western Europe , have characterized the history of Japan . While archaeological evidence indicates that Japan was inhabited as early as the Upper Paleolithic period , the first written mention of the archipelago appears in Chinese texts from the first century AD . Between the fourth and ninth centuries , the kingdoms of Japan became gradually unified under an Emperor and imperial court based in Heian-kyō ( modern Kyoto ) .
SpaceX manufactures launch vehicles to operate its launch provider services and to execute its various exploration goals . SpaceX currently manufactures and operates the Falcon 9 Full Thrust family of medium-lift launch vehicles and the Falcon Heavy family of heavy-lift launch vehicles - both of which powered by SpaceX 's Merlin engines and employing VTVL technologies to reuse the first stage . As of 2019 , the company is also developing the fully reusable Starship launch system , which will replace the Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy . SpaceX 's first launch vehicle family , the Falcon 1 , was the first privately developed liquid fuel launch vehicle to be launched into orbit , and utilized SpaceX 's Merlin and Kestrel engines for its first and second stages , respectively . It was launched five times from Omelek Island between 2006 and 2009 - the Falcon 1e and Falcon 5 variants were planned but never developed . The Falcon 9 v1.0 series of launch vehicles , utilizing upgraded Merlin engines on both its stages , was developed as part of the United States Air Force 's Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle program and NASA 's Commercial Orbital Transportation Services program . It was first launched from Cape Canaveral in 2010 and later replaced by the Falcon 9 v1.1 series in 2013 , which was also launched from Vandenberg . The Falcon 9 Full Thrust and Falcon Heavy variants followed in 2015 and 2018 , and are both launched from Kennedy , in addition to Cape Canaveral and Vandenberg .
This is a list of launches made by JAXA using H-II , H-IIA , H-IIB and H3 rockets .
Kuaizhou ( KZ , Chinese : 快舟 ; pinyin : kuàizhōu , meaning speedy vessel ) ( also called Feitian Emergency Satellite Launch System , Feitian-1 , FT-1 ) is a family of Chinese quick-reaction orbital launch vehicles . Flying since 2013 , Kuaizhou 1 and 1A consist of three solid-fueled rocket stages , with a liquid-fueled fourth stage as part of the satellite system . Kuaizhou 11 , introduced in 2018 , is a larger model able to launch a 1,500-kilogram ( 3,300 lb ) payload into low Earth orbit . Heavy-lift models KZ-21 and KZ-31 are in development . The Kuaizhou series of rockets is manufactured by ExPace , a subsidiary of China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation ( CASIC ) , as their commercial launch vehicles .
China ( Chinese : 中国 ; pinyin : Zhōngguó ) , officially the People 's Republic of China ( PRC ) , is a country in East Asia and is the world 's most populous country , with a population of around 1.428 billion in 2017 . Covering approximately 9,600,000 square kilometers ( 3,700,000 sq mi ) , it is the third largest country by area . [ j ] Governed by the Communist Party of China , the state exercises jurisdiction over 22 provinces , [ k ] five autonomous regions , four direct-controlled municipalities ( Beijing , Tianjin , Shanghai , and Chongqing ) , and the special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau . China emerged as one of the world 's first civilizations , in the fertile basin of the Yellow River in the North China Plain . For millennia , China 's political system was based on hereditary monarchies , or dynasties , beginning with the semi-mythical Xia dynasty in 21st century BCE . Since then , China has expanded , fractured , and re-unified numerous times . In the 3rd century BCE , the Qin reunited core China and established the first Chinese empire . The succeeding Han dynasty , which ruled from 206 BCE until 220 CE , saw some of the most advanced technology at that time , including papermaking and the compass , along with agricultural and medical improvements . The invention of gunpowder and movable type in the Tang dynasty ( 618-907 ) and Northern Song ( 960-1127 ) completed the Four Great Inventions . Tang culture spread widely in Asia , as the new Silk Route brought traders to as far as Mesopotamia and the Horn of Africa . Dynastic rule ended in 1912 with the Xinhai Revolution , when the Republic of China ( ROC ) replaced the Qing dynasty . China , as a whole , was ravaged by feudal warlordism and Japan during World War II .
A Long March rocket is any rocket in a family of expendable launch systems operated by the People 's Republic of China . Development and design falls under the auspices of the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology . In English , the rockets are abbreviated as LM- for export and CZ- within China , as Chang Zheng means Long March in Chinese pinyin . The rockets are named after the Long March of Chinese communist history . ( In simplified Chinese : 长征系列运载火箭 ; traditional Chinese : 長征系列運載火箭 ; pinyin : Chángzhēng xìliè yùnzài huǒjiàn or Changzheng rocket . )
The Minotaur is a family of American solid fuel rockets derived from converted Minuteman and Peacekeeper intercontinental ballistic missiles . They are built by Northrop Grumman via contract with the Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center 's Space Development and Test Directorate ( SMC/SD ) as part of the Air Force 's Rocket Systems Launch Program which converts retired Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles ( ICBMs ) into space and test launch systems for US Government Agencies . Three variants of the Minotaur are currently in service . The Minotaur I is an orbital launch system used to launch small satellites into low Earth orbit ( LEO ) . The Minotaur II is a target launch vehicle ( TLV ) , also known as Chimera , used for suborbital flights , often as a target for tracking and anti-ballistic missile tests . The Minotaur IV is a more capable LEO launch system . The Minotaur V is designed to reach higher orbits , including geosynchronous transfer orbit ( GTO ) and trans-lunar trajectories . The Minotaur III is a version under development , which will be used for suborbital flights . The Minotaur I and II are derived from the Minuteman missile , while the Minotaur III , IV and V are derived from the Peacekeeper .
The Pegasus is an air-launched rocket developed by Orbital Sciences Corporation ( now part of Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems after Northrop Grumman acquired Orbital ATK ) . Capable of carrying small payloads of up to 443 kilograms ( 977 lb ) into low Earth orbit , Pegasus first flew in 1990 and remains active as of 2019 [ update ] . The vehicle consists of three solid propellant stages and an optional monopropellant fourth stage . Pegasus is released from its carrier aircraft at approximately 40,000 ft ( 12,000 m ) , and its first stage has a wing and a tail to provide lift and attitude control while in the atmosphere . Notably , the first stage does not have a Thrust Vector Control ( TVC ) system .
The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle ( PSLV ) is an expendable medium-lift launch vehicle designed and operated by the Indian Space Research Organisation ( ISRO ) . It was developed to allow India to launch its Indian Remote Sensing ( IRS ) satellites into sun-synchronous orbits , a service that was , until the advent of the PSLV in 1993 , commercially available only from Russia . PSLV can also launch small size satellites into Geostationary Transfer Orbit ( GTO ) . Some notable payloads launched by PSLV include India 's first lunar probe Chandrayaan-1 , India 's first interplanetary mission , Mars Orbiter Mission ( Mangalyaan ) and India 's first space observatory , Astrosat . PSLV has gained credence as a leading provider of rideshare services for smallsats , due its numerous multi-satellite deployment campaigns with auxiliary payloads usually ride sharing along an Indian primary payload . As of December 2019 , PSLV has launched 319 foreign satellites from 33 countries . Most notable among these was the launch of PSLV C37 on 15 February 2017 successfully deploying 104 satellites in sun-synchronous orbit , tripling the previous record held by Russia for the highest number of satellites sent to space on a single launch . Payloads can be integrated in tandem configuration employing a Dual Launch Adapter . Smaller payloads are also placed on equipment deck and customized payload adapters .
India ( Hindi : Bhārat ) , officially the Republic of India ( Hindi : Bhārat Gaṇarājya ) , is a country in South Asia . It is the seventh-largest country by area , the second-most populous country , and the most populous democracy in the world . Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south , the Arabian Sea on the southwest , and the Bay of Bengal on the southeast , it shares land borders with Pakistan to the west ; [ e ] China , Nepal , and Bhutan to the north ; and Bangladesh and Myanmar to the east . In the Indian Ocean , India is in the vicinity of Sri Lanka and the Maldives ; its Andaman and Nicobar Islands share a maritime border with Thailand and Indonesia . Modern humans arrived on the Indian subcontinent from Africa no later than 55,000 years ago . Their long occupation , initially in varying forms of isolation as hunter-gatherers , has made the region highly diverse , second only to Africa in human genetic diversity . Settled life emerged on the subcontinent in the western margins of the Indus river basin 9,000 years ago , evolving gradually into the Indus Valley Civilisation of the third millennium BCE . By 1200 BCE , an archaic form of Sanskrit , an Indo-European language , had diffused into India from the northwest , unfolding as the language of the Rigveda , and recording the dawning of Hinduism in India . The Dravidian languages of India were supplanted in the northern regions . By 400 BCE , stratification and exclusion by caste had emerged within Hinduism , and Buddhism and Jainism had arisen , proclaiming social orders unlinked to heredity . Early political consolidations gave rise to the loose-knit Maurya and Gupta Empires based in the Ganges Basin . Their collective era was suffused with wide-ranging creativity , but also marked by the declining status of women , and the incorporation of untouchability into an organised system of belief .
The R-7 family of rockets ( Russian : Р-7 ) is a series of rockets , derived from the Soviet R-7 Semyorka , the world 's first ICBM . More R-7 rockets have been launched than any other family of large rockets . When Soviet nuclear warheads became lighter , the R-7 turned out to be impractical as a ballistic missile . It was not necessary to launch such heavy payloads in a military application . The rockets became useful in the Soviet , and later , Russian space programmes with long-term development . Their purpose shifted primarily to launching satellites , probes , manned and unmanned spacecraft , and other non-threatening payloads . The R-7 family consists of both missiles and orbital carrier rockets . Derivatives include the Vostok , Voskhod and Soyuz rockets , which as of 2019 have been used for all Soviet , and later Russian human spaceflights . The type has a unique configuration where four break-away liquid-fueled engines surround a central core . The core acts as , in effect , a second stage after the other four engines are jettisoned . These rockets are expendable . Later modifications were standardised around the Soyuz design .
The R-36 ( Russian : Р-36 ) is a family of intercontinental ballistic missiles ( ICBMs ) and space launch vehicles ( Tsyklon ) designed by the Soviet Union during the Cold War . The original R-36 was deployed under the GRAU index 8K67 and was given the NATO reporting name SS-9 Scarp . It was able to carry three warheads and was the first Soviet MIRV ( multiple independently targetable reentry vehicle ) missile . The later version , the R-36M was produced under the GRAU designations 15A14 and 15A18 and was given the NATO reporting name SS-18 Satan . This missile was viewed by certain United States analysts as giving the Soviet Union first strike advantage over the U.S. , particularly because of its rapid silo-reload ability , very heavy throw weight and extremely large number of re-entry vehicles . Some versions of the R-36M were deployed with 10 warheads and up to 40 penetration aids and the missile 's high throw-weight made it theoretically capable of carrying more warheads or penetration aids . Contemporary U.S. missiles , such as the Minuteman III , carried up to three warheads at most . The R-36 became the base for the Tsyklon launch vehicles family . As of early 2018 , Cyclone-4M , the last modification of it , is developed and planned for launch in 2020 . Russia intends to replace the R-36M with a new heavy ICBM , the RS-28 Sarmat .
Ukraine ( Ukrainian : Україна , romanized : Ukrayina , pronounced [ ʊkrɐˈjinɐ ] ( listen ) ) is a country in Eastern Europe . It is bordered by Russia to the north-east ; Belarus to the north ; Poland , Slovakia and Hungary to the west ; and Romania , Moldova , and the Black Sea to the south . Ukraine is currently in a territorial dispute with Russia over the Crimean Peninsula , which Russia annexed in 2014 . Including Crimea , Ukraine has an area of 603,628 km2 ( 233,062 sq mi ) , making it both the largest country entirely within Europe and the 46th largest country in the world . Excluding Crimea , Ukraine has a population of about 42 million , making it the 32nd most populous country in the world . Its capital and largest city is Kiev . Ukrainian is the official language and its alphabet is Cyrillic . The dominant religion in the country is Eastern Orthodoxy . The territory of modern Ukraine has been inhabited since 32,000 BC . During the Middle Ages , the area was a key centre of East Slavic culture , with the powerful state of Kievan Rus ' forming the basis of Ukrainian identity . Following its fragmentation in the 13th century , the territory was contested , ruled and divided by a variety of powers , including the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth , Austria-Hungary , the Ottoman Empire and Russia . A Cossack republic emerged and prospered during the 17th and 18th centuries , but its territory was eventually split between Poland and the Russian Empire .
The Universal Rocket or UR family of missiles and carrier rockets is a Russian , previously Soviet rocket family . Intended to allow the same technology to be used in all Soviet rockets , the UR is produced by the Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center . Several variants were originally planned , of which only three flew , and only two of which entered service . In addition , the cancelled UR-500 ICBM formed the basis for the Proton carrier rocket .
Vega ( Italian : Vettore Europeo di Generazione Avanzata , meaning Advanced generation European carrier rocket ) , is an expendable launch system in use by Arianespace jointly developed by the Italian Space Agency and the European Space Agency . Development began in 1998 and the first launch took place from the Guiana Space Centre on 13 February 2012 . It is designed to launch small payloads - 300 to 2,500 kg satellites for scientific and Earth observation missions to polar and low Earth orbits . The reference Vega mission is a polar orbit bringing a spacecraft of 1,500 kilograms to an altitude of 700 kilometers . The rocket , named after Vega , the brightest star in the constellation Lyra , is a single-body launcher ( no strap-on boosters ) with three solid rocket stages : the P80 first stage , the Zefiro 23 second stage , and the Zefiro 9 third stage . The upper module is a liquid rocket called AVUM . The improved version of the P80 stage , the P120C , will be used as the side boosters of the Ariane 6 . Italy is the leading contributor to the Vega program ( 65% ) , followed by France ( 13% ) . Other participants include Spain , Belgium , the Netherlands , Switzerland and Sweden .
Zenit ( Ukrainian : Зеніт , Russian : Зени́т ; meaning Zenith ) is a family of space launch vehicles designed by the Yuzhnoye Design Bureau in Dnipro , Ukraine , which was then part of the Soviet Union . Zenit was originally built in the 1980s for two purposes : as a liquid rocket booster for the Energia rocket and , equipped with a second stage , as a stand-alone middle-weight launcher with a payload greater than the 7 tonnes of the Soyuz but smaller than the 20 tonnes payload of the Proton . The last rocket family developed in the USSR , the Zenit was intended as an eventual replacement for the dated R-7 and Proton families , and it would employ propellants which were safer and less toxic than the Proton 's nitrogen tetroxide/UDMH mix . Zenit was planned to take over crewed spaceship launches from Soyuz , but these plans were abandoned after the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 . Zenit-3SL is launched by the Sea Launch consortium 's floating launch platform in the Pacific Ocean and Zenit-2 is launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan . The engines of the Zenit 's first and second stages as well as the upper stage of the Zenit-3SL rocket are supplied by Russia . There are plans to use an improved Zenit-3SLB rocket for commercial launches from Baikonur Cosmodrome beginning in April 2008 . This service is marketed as Land Launch . Zenit-3SL has launched 36 times with 32 successes , one partial success , and three failures . The first failure , the launch of a Hughes-built communications satellite owned by ICO Global Communications , occurred during the second commercial launch on March 12 , 2000 and was blamed on a software error that failed to close a valve in the second stage of the rocket . The second failure occurred on January 30 , 2007 when the rocket exploded on the Odyssey launch platform , seconds after engine ignition . The NSS-8 communication satellite on board was destroyed .