launch vehicle

noun

: a rocket used to launch a satellite or spacecraft

Example Sentences

Recent Examples on the Web

SpaceX has said that Starship, which consists of a vessel that goes by that name and the towering Super Heavy booster, would be the most powerful launch vehicle ever created. Micah Maidenberg, WSJ, 13 June 2022

On Monday, a SpaceX executive said the company has been working on a series of ground tests that would precede the first orbital test flight of its Starship launch vehicle, a version of which NASA wants to use for the third Artemis mission. Micah Maidenberg, WSJ, 24 Oct. 2022

Among the three launches will be the debut of the country's SSLV, or small satellite launch vehicle. Eric Berger, Ars Technica, 28 Jan. 2022

The transporter and launch vehicle for the Iskander-M short-range ballistic missile. Kyle Mizokami, Popular Mechanics, 10 Oct. 2022

The SpaceX launch vehicle, consisting of a Falcon 9 rocket topped with a Crew Dragon capsule dubbed Endurance, lifted off into clear skies at noon EDT (1600 GMT) from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral. Reuters, NBC News, 5 Oct. 2022

This new Antares 330 rocket will use seven Miranda engines and significantly increase the payload capacity of the existing Antares launch vehicle, which can lift about 8 metric tons to low Earth orbit. Eric Berger, Ars Technica, 3 Oct. 2022

With its existing workforce, the company can build an Electron launch vehicle every 18 days. Eric Berger, Ars Technica, 8 Aug. 2022

Engineers have come up with a clever solution to use a narrow slit to allow a satellite at a time to exit the launch vehicle, like a gigantic shiny Pez dispenser. Mihir Tripathy, Smithsonian Magazine, 14 Sep. 2022

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Word History

First Known Use

circa 1960, in the meaning defined above