The Molniya were Soviet communication satellites operating from an inclined highly elliptical earth orbit of 500 km × 40000 km with 12 hour period for coverage of high northern latitudes.
The Molniya was a modification of the well-known R-7 Semyorka rocket and had four stages. The 8K78 resulted from a crash program by the Korolev Bureau to develop a booster for launching planetary probes. A larger third stage was added along with a fourth stage (Blok L) that was designed to fire in-orbit to send the payload out of LEO. The basic R-7 core was also structurally strengthened and given more powerful engines. A rushed development produced multiple malfunctions of the upper stages, which led to its being replaced by the improved Molniya-M in 1964, but there were enough 8K78s left to continue flying them into 1967.
The Strategic Rocket Forces of the Russian Federation are a separate-troops branch of the Russian Armed Forces that control Russia's land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs).
WIKIA batch of 28 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.
A batch of 9 Low Earth Orbit communication satellites for the Chinese state owned SatNet constellation operated by the China Satellite Network Group.…
Two technology demonstration satellites for satellite transmissions of signals for the VHF Data Exchange System (VDES), a successor to the current Au…
A batch of 28 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.
First test launch of LandSpace’s ZQ-3 rocket, with a dummy payload. The rocket’s 1st stage will attempt to land on a landing pad about 300 km downran…
A batch of 29 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.
A batch of 27 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.
KOMPSAT-7 is the follow-up model of KOMPSAT-3A whose mission is to provide high-resolution satellite images to satisfy South-Korea's governmental and…
A batch of 29 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.
Classified experimental Chinese satellite of unknown purposes.