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launch vehicle

 
Dictionary: launch vehicle
 
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n.

A rocket used to launch a spacecraft or satellite into an orbit or a trajectory.


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Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: launch vehicle
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Rocket system that boosts a spacecraft into Earth orbit or beyond Earth's gravitational pull. A wide variety of launch vehicles have been used to lift payloads ranging from satellites weighing a few pounds (or kilograms) to large modular components of space stations. Most launch vehicles are expendable (one-use) systems; many early ones were derived from intercontinental ballistic missiles (see ICBM). The Saturn V, which launched the spacecraft that carried humans to the Moon (see Apollo), had three stages (see staged rocket). The U.S. space shuttle system (from 1981) represents a significant departure from expendable launch vehicles in that it is partially reusable — its manned orbiting component is designed for numerous flights, and its solid rocket boosters can be recovered and refurbished.

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Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 2006 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more