---

Q. What the names of some Russian rockets? — Latoya G.
A. Numerous rockets have built during and after the Soviet era:
The famous Energia factories at Moscow and Samara have built space rockets known as:

• N-1, the failed Soviet Moon rocket from the 1960s
• Energia, which lofted the Buran space shuttle
• Energia-M
• Soyuz, the workhorse human transport launcher

The NPO-Mashinostroyeniya plant, now known as Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Centre, in Moscow, is currently the most successful in commercial space launchers. It has built space rockets with such names as:

• Proton, the heavy-lifting workhorse
• Angara, new in the works
• Rokot, which previously was the SS-19 ICBM
• Eurokot, converted from the SS-19
• Strela, from the SS-19

The Yuzhnoe Design Bureau at Dnepropetrovsk in the Ukraine built large military missiles and has built space rockets known as:

• Zenit, one version launches from an ocean platform
• Tsyklon, converted from the SS-24 ICBM
• Dnepr, formerly the SS-18 ICBM

The Makeev State Rocket Centre in the Urals mountain region has built naval missiles. Since the fall of the USSR, some missiles from submarines have been converted for use as space launch rockets:

• Shtil, converted from the RSM-54 SLBM

From the Moscow Institute of Thermal Technology:

• Start and Start-1, converted from the SS-25 TOPOL ICBM

Except for Energia, Zenit and N-1, all Soviet Union space rockets originated as military missiles. Their weapons origins have been obscured by half a century of use as space launchers. However, new space rockets are being designed.

---

Ask Space Today Online another question

Return to the Questions 'n Answers main page