List of private spaceflight companies
Encyclopedia
This page is a list of non-governmental entities that currently offer – or are planning to offer – equipment and services geared towards spaceflight
Spaceflight
Spaceflight is the act of travelling into or through outer space. Spaceflight can occur with spacecraft which may, or may not, have humans on board. Examples of human spaceflight include the Russian Soyuz program, the U.S. Space shuttle program, as well as the ongoing International Space Station...

, both robotic
Robotic spacecraft
A robotic spacecraft is a spacecraft with no humans on board, that is usually under telerobotic control. A robotic spacecraft designed to make scientific research measurements is often called a space probe. Many space missions are more suited to telerobotic rather than crewed operation, due to...

 and human spaceflight
Human spaceflight
Human spaceflight is spaceflight with humans on the spacecraft. When a spacecraft is manned, it can be piloted directly, as opposed to machine or robotic space probes and remotely-controlled satellites....

.
List of abbreviations used in this article

LEO: Low Earth orbit
Low Earth orbit
A low Earth orbit is generally defined as an orbit within the locus extending from the Earth’s surface up to an altitude of 2,000 km...



GTO: Geostationary transfer orbit
Geostationary transfer orbit
A geosynchronous transfer orbit or geostationary transfer orbit is a Hohmann transfer orbit used to reach geosynchronous or geostationary orbit....



VTOL: Vertical take-off and landing

SSTO: Single-stage-to-orbit
Single-stage-to-orbit
A single-stage-to-orbit vehicle reaches orbit from the surface of a body without jettisoning hardware, expending only propellants and fluids. The term usually, but not exclusively, refers to reusable vehicles....



TSTO: Two-stage-to-orbit
Two-stage-to-orbit
A two-stage-to-orbit launch vehicle is a spacecraft in which two distinct stages provide propulsion consecutively in order to achieve orbital velocity...



SSTSO: Single-stage-to-sub-orbit

Crew and cargo transport vehicles

Company name Craft name Craft type Launcher
name
Launcher
type
Maximum
reach
Passenger
capacity
Craft status Notes
AERA Corporation
AERA Corporation
AERA refers to a prospective space tourism company that claims it will operate "the safest space flight system ever created." Altairis, SACI's first generation suborbital spacecraft. It is vertically launched, lands horizontally and can send seven passengers to space. The first flight was...

Altairis rocket self-powered self-powered sub-orbit 7 cancelled
ARCA Stabilo capsule Solar Montgolfier balloon sub-orbit 1 testing
ARCA Orizont spaceplane Solar Montgolfier balloon sub-orbit 2 development
Armadillo Aerospace
Armadillo Aerospace
Armadillo Aerospace is an aerospace startup company based in Mesquite, Texas. Its initial goal is to build a manned suborbital spacecraft capable of space tourism, but it has stated long-term ambitions of orbital spaceflight. The company was founded by John Carmack.On October 24, 2008, Armadillo...

Black Armadillo rocket self-powered self-powered sub-orbit 1-3 testing
Bigelow Aerospace
Bigelow Aerospace
Bigelow Aerospace is a North Las Vegas, Nevada space technology startup company that is pioneering work on expandable space station modules. Bigelow Aerospace was founded by Robert Bigelow in 1998...

 and Boeing
Boeing
The Boeing Company is an American multinational aerospace and defense corporation, founded in 1916 by William E. Boeing in Seattle, Washington. Boeing has expanded over the years, merging with McDonnell Douglas in 1997. Boeing Corporate headquarters has been in Chicago, Illinois since 2001...

CST-100 capsule Atlas V
Atlas V
Atlas V is an active expendable launch system in the Atlas rocket family. Atlas V was formerly operated by Lockheed Martin, and is now operated by the Lockheed Martin-Boeing joint venture United Launch Alliance...

rocket LEO 7 testing First use is planned for 2015
Bigelow Aerospace
Bigelow Aerospace
Bigelow Aerospace is a North Las Vegas, Nevada space technology startup company that is pioneering work on expandable space station modules. Bigelow Aerospace was founded by Robert Bigelow in 1998...

 and Lockheed Martin
Lockheed Martin
Lockheed Martin is an American global aerospace, defense, security, and advanced technology company with worldwide interests. It was formed by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta in March 1995. It is headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, in the Washington Metropolitan Area....

Orion Lite
Orion Lite
The CST-100 crew capsule is a spacecraft design proposed by Boeing in collaboration with Bigelow Aerospace as their entry for NASA's Commercial Crew Development program...

capsule Falcon 9
Falcon 9
Falcon 9 is a rocket-powered spaceflight launch system designed and manufactured by SpaceX. Both stages of its two-stage-to-orbit vehicle use liquid oxygen and rocket-grade kerosene propellants...

rocket LEO 6-7 cancelled
Blue Origin
Blue Origin
Blue Origin is a privately funded aerospace company set up by Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos. The company was awarded $3.7 million in funding in 2009 by NASA via a Space Act Agreement under the Commercial Crew Development program for development of concepts and technologies to support future human...

New Shepard
Blue Origin New Shepard
The Blue Origin New Shepard reusable launch vehicle is a vertical-takeoff, vertical-landing , suborbital manned rocket that is being developed by Blue Origin, a company owned by Amazon.com founder and businessman Jeff Bezos, as a commercial system for suborbital space tourism.The New Shepard makes...

rocket self-powered (SSTSO) self-powered (SSTSO) sub-orbit 3 testing
Copenhagen Suborbitals
Copenhagen Suborbitals
Copenhagen Suborbitals is a non-profit organization working towards suborbital manned spaceflight. Founded in 2008 by Kristian von Bengtson and Peter Madsen the project has accomplished a successful sea launch of a test hybrid rocket, carrying a full scale human model...

Tycho Brahe rocket self-powered self-powered sub-orbit 1 testing
EADS Astrium
EADS Astrium
Astrium Satellites is one of the three business units of Astrium, a subsidiary of EADS. It is a European space manufacturer involved in the manufacture of spacecraft used for science, Earth observation and telecommunication, as well as the equipment and subsystems used therein and related ground...

unnamed craft
EADS Astrium Space Tourism Project
The EADS Astrium Space Tourism Project, also called EADS Astrium TBN according to some sources, is a suborbital spaceplane concept for carrying space tourists, proposed by EADS Astrium, the space subsidiary of the European consortium EADS. A mockup was officially unveiled in Paris on June 13,...

spaceplane self-powered (SSTSO) self-powered (SSTSO) sub-orbit 4 development
Excalibur Almaz
Excalibur Almaz
Excalibur Almaz is a private spaceflight company which plans to provide orbital space tourism, and provide test beds for experiments in a microgravity environment., Excalibur hoped to begin flights by 2012 with revenue flights starting as early as 2013....

TKS
TKS spacecraft
TKS spacecraft was a Soviet spacecraft design in the late 1960s intended to supply the military Almaz space station. The spacecraft was designed for manned or autonomous cargo resupply use...

 derivative
capsule multiple rocket LEO 3 development
da Vinci Project
Da Vinci Project
The da Vinci Project was a privately funded, volunteer-staffed attempt to launch a reusable manned suborbital spacecraft. It was formed in 1996 specifically to be a contender for the Ansari X PRIZE for the first non-governmental reusable manned spacecraft. The project was based in Toronto,...

Wild Fire capsule - balloon sub-orbit 3 cancelled
Interorbital Systems
Interorbital Systems
Interorbital Systems Corporation is an American aerospace company based in Mojave, California. It was founded in 1996 by Roderick and Randa Milliron, who also co-founded Trans Lunar Research....

Solaris X capsule self-powered (SSTSO) self-powered (SSTSO) sub-orbit 6 cancelled
Interorbital Systems
Interorbital Systems
Interorbital Systems Corporation is an American aerospace company based in Mojave, California. It was founded in 1996 by Roderick and Randa Milliron, who also co-founded Trans Lunar Research....

Crew Module capsule Neptune TSAAHTO rocket lunar orbit 6 development
Japanese Rocket Society Kankoh-maru
Kankoh-maru
The is the name of a proposed vertical takeoff and landing, single-stage to orbit, reusable launch vehicle family of rockets, and the spacecraft tour vehicle designed to be boosted by said rocket.-Details:...

rocket self-powered (SSTO) self-powered (SSTO) LEO 50 proposed Sponsers needed
Orbital Sciences Corp.
Orbital Sciences Corporation
Orbital Sciences Corporation is an American company which specializes in the manufacturing and launch of satellites. Its Launch Systems Group is heavily involved with missile defense launch systems...

Cygnus
Cygnus spacecraft
The Cygnus spacecraft is an unmanned resupply spacecraft being developed by Orbital Sciences Corporation and Thales Alenia Space as part of NASA's COTS project. It is designed to transport supplies to the International Space Station after the retirement of the Space Shuttle...

capsule Taurus II
Taurus II
Taurus II is an expendable launch system being developed by Orbital Sciences Corporation. It is a two stage vehicle designed to launch payloads weighing up to into low-Earth orbit...

rocket LEO - development First use planned for 2011
Orbital Sciences Corp.
Orbital Sciences Corporation
Orbital Sciences Corporation is an American company which specializes in the manufacturing and launch of satellites. Its Launch Systems Group is heavily involved with missile defense launch systems...

Prometheus
Prometheus (spacecraft)
Prometheus was a proposed manned vertical-takeoff, horizontal-landing spaceplane concept put forward by Orbital Sciences Corporation in late 2010 as part of the second phase of NASA's Commercial Crew Development program.-Design:...

spaceplane Atlas V
Atlas V
Atlas V is an active expendable launch system in the Atlas rocket family. Atlas V was formerly operated by Lockheed Martin, and is now operated by the Lockheed Martin-Boeing joint venture United Launch Alliance...

rocket LEO 4 development Developement winding down following failure to receive CCDev funds
PlanetSpace
PlanetSpace
PlanetSpace is a privately funded Chicago-based rocket and space travel project founded by Geoff Sheerin, CEO of the Canadian Arrow corporation and Dr...

Canadian Arrow
Canadian Arrow
The Canadian Arrow is a privately funded rocket and space travel project founded by London, Ontario, Canada entrepreneurs Geoff Sheerin, Dan McKibbon and Chris Corke...

rocket self-powered self-powered sub-orbit 3 testing
PlanetSpace
PlanetSpace
PlanetSpace is a privately funded Chicago-based rocket and space travel project founded by Geoff Sheerin, CEO of the Canadian Arrow corporation and Dr...

Silver Dart spaceplane Canadian Arrow rocket LEO 8 development
Reaction Engines Ltd.
Reaction Engines Limited
Reaction Engines Limited is a British aerospace company based in Oxfordshire, England.- History & personnel :Reaction Engines was founded in 1989 by Alan Bond and Richard Varvill and John Scott-Scott...

HOTOL
HOTOL
HOTOL, for Horizontal Take-Off and Landing, was a British air-breathing space shuttle effort by Rolls Royce and British Aerospace.Designed as a single-stage-to-orbit reusable winged launch vehicle, it was to be fitted with a unique air-breathing engine, the RB545 called the Swallow, to be...

spaceplane self-powered (SSTO) self-powered (SSTO) LEO - cancelled
Reaction Engines Ltd.
Reaction Engines Limited
Reaction Engines Limited is a British aerospace company based in Oxfordshire, England.- History & personnel :Reaction Engines was founded in 1989 by Alan Bond and Richard Varvill and John Scott-Scott...

HOTOL 2
HOTOL
HOTOL, for Horizontal Take-Off and Landing, was a British air-breathing space shuttle effort by Rolls Royce and British Aerospace.Designed as a single-stage-to-orbit reusable winged launch vehicle, it was to be fitted with a unique air-breathing engine, the RB545 called the Swallow, to be...

spaceplane An 225 airplane LEO - proposed
Reaction Engines Ltd.
Reaction Engines Limited
Reaction Engines Limited is a British aerospace company based in Oxfordshire, England.- History & personnel :Reaction Engines was founded in 1989 by Alan Bond and Richard Varvill and John Scott-Scott...

Skylon spaceplane self-powered (SSTO) self-powered (SSTO) LEO 5-20 development
Rocketplane Kistler
Rocketplane Kistler
Rocketplane Kistler was a reusable spacecraft firm originally based in Oklahoma before moving to Wisconsin. Formed in 2006 by Rocketplane Limited, Inc...

K-1 rocket self-powered (TSTO) self-powered (TSTO) LEO - cancelled
Rocketplane Kistler
Rocketplane Kistler
Rocketplane Kistler was a reusable spacecraft firm originally based in Oklahoma before moving to Wisconsin. Formed in 2006 by Rocketplane Limited, Inc...

Rocketplane XP
Rocketplane XP
The Rocketplane XP is a former suborbital spaceplane design that was under development circa 2005 by Rocketplane Kistler. The vehicle was to be powered by two jet engines and a rocket engine, intended to enable it to reach suborbital space. The XP was being designed to operate from existing...

spaceplane self-powered (SSTSO) self-powered (SSTSO) sub-orbit 6 cancelled
Rotary Rocket
Rotary Rocket
Rotary Rocket, Inc, was a rocketry company headquartered in a facility at Mojave Airport that developed the Roton concept in the late 1990s as a fully reusable single-stage-to-orbit manned spacecraft. Roton was intended to reduce costs of launching payloads into low earth orbit by a factor of...

Roton rocket self-powered (SSTO) self-powered (SSTO) LEO 2 cancelled
Scaled Composites
Scaled Composites
Scaled Composites is an aerospace company founded by Burt Rutan and currently owned by Northrop Grumman that is located at the Mojave Spaceport, Mojave, California, United States...

 and Virgin Galactic
Virgin Galactic
Virgin Galactic is a company within Richard Branson's Virgin Group which plans to provide sub-orbital spaceflights to the paying public, along with suborbital space science missions and orbital launches of small satellites...


(The Spaceship Company
The Spaceship Company
The Spaceship Company is a spacecraft manufacturing company formed by Burt Rutan and Richard Branson in mid-2005, jointly owned by Virgin Group and Scaled Composites, which will own the technology created by Scaled for Virgin Galactic's Virgin SpaceShip program...

)
SpaceShipOne spaceplane WhiteKnightOne airplane sub-orbit 2 retired (3/3)
Scaled Composites
Scaled Composites
Scaled Composites is an aerospace company founded by Burt Rutan and currently owned by Northrop Grumman that is located at the Mojave Spaceport, Mojave, California, United States...

 and Virgin Galactic
Virgin Galactic
Virgin Galactic is a company within Richard Branson's Virgin Group which plans to provide sub-orbital spaceflights to the paying public, along with suborbital space science missions and orbital launches of small satellites...


(The Spaceship Company
The Spaceship Company
The Spaceship Company is a spacecraft manufacturing company formed by Burt Rutan and Richard Branson in mid-2005, jointly owned by Virgin Group and Scaled Composites, which will own the technology created by Scaled for Virgin Galactic's Virgin SpaceShip program...

)
SpaceShipTwo
Scaled Composites SpaceShipTwo
The Scaled Composites Model 339 SpaceShipTwo is a suborbital, air-launched spaceplane, designed for space tourism. It is under development by The Spaceship Company, a California-based joint venture between Scaled Composites and the Virgin Group, as part of the Tier 1b program.SpaceShipTwo is...

spaceplane WhiteKnightTwo airplane sub-orbit 8 testing
Scaled Composites
Scaled Composites
Scaled Composites is an aerospace company founded by Burt Rutan and currently owned by Northrop Grumman that is located at the Mojave Spaceport, Mojave, California, United States...

 and Virgin Galactic
Virgin Galactic
Virgin Galactic is a company within Richard Branson's Virgin Group which plans to provide sub-orbital spaceflights to the paying public, along with suborbital space science missions and orbital launches of small satellites...


(The Spaceship Company
The Spaceship Company
The Spaceship Company is a spacecraft manufacturing company formed by Burt Rutan and Richard Branson in mid-2005, jointly owned by Virgin Group and Scaled Composites, which will own the technology created by Scaled for Virgin Galactic's Virgin SpaceShip program...

)
SpaceShipThree
Scaled Composites SpaceShipThree
The Scaled Composites SpaceShipThree is a proposed spaceplane to be developed by Virgin Galactic and Scaled Composites if SpaceShipTwo is successful. The originally proposed vehicle mission was orbital spaceflight...

spaceplane WhiteKnightTwo airplane LEO (or suborbital passenger-delivery) ? proposed
Space Adventures
Space Adventures
Space Adventures, Ltd. is a Virginia, USA-based space tourism company founded in 1998 by Eric C. Anderson. , offerings include zero-gravity atmospheric flights, orbital spaceflights , and other spaceflight-related experiences including cosmonaut training, spacewalk training, and launch tours...

 and Myasishchev Design Bureau
Myasishchev
V. M. Myasishchev Experimental Design Bureau or OKB-23, founded in 1951 by Vladimir Myasishchev) was one of the chief Soviet aerospace design bureaus until its dissolution in 1960. Vladimir Myasishchev went on to head TsAGI...

Explorer (Cosmopolis XXI, C-21) spaceplane M-55X
Myasishchev M-55
|-See also:-External links:* * *...

airplane sub-orbit 5 development
Space Transport Corp.
Space Transport Corporation
Space Transport Corporation, or STC, was a company based in Forks, Washington whose goal is to commercialize space. The company was founded in 2002 by Eric Meier and Philip Storm. The company planned to provide small payload launch and space tourism services...

Rubicon I rocket self-powered (SSTSO) self-powered (SSTSO) sub-orbit 3 cancelled
SpaceDev
SpaceDev
SpaceDev, a part of the "Space Systems Business" of Sierra Nevada Corporation, is prominent for its spaceflight and microsatellite work. It designed and built the hybrid rocket motors for Paul Allen's Tier One suborbital SpaceShipOne space program operated by Scaled Composites...

Dream Chaser
SpaceDev Dream Chaser
The Dream Chaser is a crewed suborbital and orbital vertical-takeoff, horizontal-landing lifting-body spaceplane being developed by SpaceDev, a wholly owned subsidiary of Sierra Nevada Corporation . The Dream Chaser design is planned to carry seven people to and from low earth orbit...

spaceplane Atlas V
Atlas V
Atlas V is an active expendable launch system in the Atlas rocket family. Atlas V was formerly operated by Lockheed Martin, and is now operated by the Lockheed Martin-Boeing joint venture United Launch Alliance...

rocket LEO 7 development
SpaceX
SpaceX
Space Exploration Technologies Corporation, or more popularly and informally known as SpaceX, is an American space transport company that operates out of Hawthorne, California...

Dragon capsule Falcon 9
Falcon 9
Falcon 9 is a rocket-powered spaceflight launch system designed and manufactured by SpaceX. Both stages of its two-stage-to-orbit vehicle use liquid oxygen and rocket-grade kerosene propellants...

rocket LEO 7 operational (1/1) 1 spacecraft has been launched into orbit and returned to earth
Starchaser Industries
Starchaser Industries
Starchaser Industries is a privately owned company based in the UK whose principle aim is to become a viable business in space tourism. Formed in 1992, the company has designed and built several rocket systems - all prototypes - to investigate the feasibility of producing a Space Tourism Vehicle...

NOVA
Starchaser Industries
Starchaser Industries is a privately owned company based in the UK whose principle aim is to become a viable business in space tourism. Formed in 1992, the company has designed and built several rocket systems - all prototypes - to investigate the feasibility of producing a Space Tourism Vehicle...

capsule Starchaser 4
Starchaser 4
The Starchaser 4, also known as Nova was a British prototype rocket built by Starchaser Industries.-History:It was launched once in 2001, after which it was retired due to fin damage sustained on landing.-Test flight:...

rocket sub-orbit - testing
Starchaser Industries
Starchaser Industries
Starchaser Industries is a privately owned company based in the UK whose principle aim is to become a viable business in space tourism. Formed in 1992, the company has designed and built several rocket systems - all prototypes - to investigate the feasibility of producing a Space Tourism Vehicle...

Thunderstar
Starchaser Industries
Starchaser Industries is a privately owned company based in the UK whose principle aim is to become a viable business in space tourism. Formed in 1992, the company has designed and built several rocket systems - all prototypes - to investigate the feasibility of producing a Space Tourism Vehicle...

capsule Starchaser 5
Starchaser Industries
Starchaser Industries is a privately owned company based in the UK whose principle aim is to become a viable business in space tourism. Formed in 1992, the company has designed and built several rocket systems - all prototypes - to investigate the feasibility of producing a Space Tourism Vehicle...

rocket sub-orbit 3 development
Starchaser Industries
Starchaser Industries
Starchaser Industries is a privately owned company based in the UK whose principle aim is to become a viable business in space tourism. Formed in 1992, the company has designed and built several rocket systems - all prototypes - to investigate the feasibility of producing a Space Tourism Vehicle...

Thunderbird
Starchaser Industries
Starchaser Industries is a privately owned company based in the UK whose principle aim is to become a viable business in space tourism. Formed in 1992, the company has designed and built several rocket systems - all prototypes - to investigate the feasibility of producing a Space Tourism Vehicle...

capsule Starchaser 5
Starchaser Industries
Starchaser Industries is a privately owned company based in the UK whose principle aim is to become a viable business in space tourism. Formed in 1992, the company has designed and built several rocket systems - all prototypes - to investigate the feasibility of producing a Space Tourism Vehicle...

rocket sub-orbit 6 development
Truax Engineering, Inc. X-3 Volksrocket capsule Private Enterprise rocket sub-orbit 1 cancelled
t/Space
T/Space
t/Space is an American aerospace company which was participating in NASA's Commercial Orbital Transportation Services program for delivering cargo and crew to the International Space Station. The company's CEO is Charles Duelfer who ran the search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and the...

CXV capsule QuickReach rocket LEO and lunar orbit 6 development
Venturer Aerospace S-550
S-550 Space capsule
The S-550 was a proposed manned space capsule, designed in 2005-6 at Venturer Aerospace, in response to the NASA Commercial Orbital Transportation Services program to provide commercial resupply and logistics support for the International Space Station....

capsule Falcon 9
Falcon 9
Falcon 9 is a rocket-powered spaceflight launch system designed and manufactured by SpaceX. Both stages of its two-stage-to-orbit vehicle use liquid oxygen and rocket-grade kerosene propellants...

rocket LEO 6 cancelled
XCOR
XCOR Aerospace
XCOR Aerospace is an American private rocket engine and spaceflight development company based at the Mojave Spaceport in Mojave, California. XCOR was formed by former members of the Rotary Rocket rocket engine development team in September, 1999...

Xerus spaceplane self-powered (SSTSO) self-powered (SSTSO) sub-orbit 2 cancelled
XCOR
XCOR Aerospace
XCOR Aerospace is an American private rocket engine and spaceflight development company based at the Mojave Spaceport in Mojave, California. XCOR was formed by former members of the Rotary Rocket rocket engine development team in September, 1999...

 and RocketShip Tours
RocketShip Tours
RocketShip Tours is an American space tourism company founded by travel industry entrepreneur Jules Klar which plans to provide sub-orbital human spaceflights to the paying public, in partnership with rocketplane developer XCOR Aerospace...

Lynx
Lynx rocketplane
The Lynx rocketplane is a suborbital horizontal-takeoff, horizontal-landing ,rocket-powered spaceplane being developed by the California-based company XCOR to compete in the emerging suborbital space flight market. The Lynx is projected to carry one pilot, a ticketed passenger, and/or a payload or...

spaceplane self-powered (SSTSO) self-powered (SSTSO) sub-orbit 1 development

Space stations

Private Company name Space Craft name Space Craft type Internal
volume
Passenger
capacity
Craft status Ref
Bigelow Aerospace
Bigelow Aerospace
Bigelow Aerospace is a North Las Vegas, Nevada space technology startup company that is pioneering work on expandable space station modules. Bigelow Aerospace was founded by Robert Bigelow in 1998...

Genesis I Inflatable module 11.5 m3 (406.1 cu ft) unmanned currently in LEO
Bigelow Aerospace
Bigelow Aerospace
Bigelow Aerospace is a North Las Vegas, Nevada space technology startup company that is pioneering work on expandable space station modules. Bigelow Aerospace was founded by Robert Bigelow in 1998...

Genesis II
Genesis II
Genesis II is a 1973 American TV film created and produced by Gene Roddenberry and directed by John Llewellyn Moxey.It opens with the line, "My name is Dylan Hunt...

Inflatable module 11.5 m3 (406.1 cu ft) unmanned currently in LEO
Bigelow Aerospace
Bigelow Aerospace
Bigelow Aerospace is a North Las Vegas, Nevada space technology startup company that is pioneering work on expandable space station modules. Bigelow Aerospace was founded by Robert Bigelow in 1998...

Galaxy
Galaxy (module)
Galaxy is a canceled prototype space habitat designed by the American firm Bigelow Aerospace, and was intended to be the third spacecraft launched by the company in their efforts to create a commercial space station...

Inflatable module 16.7 m3 (589.8 cu ft) unmanned cancelled
Bigelow Aerospace
Bigelow Aerospace
Bigelow Aerospace is a North Las Vegas, Nevada space technology startup company that is pioneering work on expandable space station modules. Bigelow Aerospace was founded by Robert Bigelow in 1998...

Sundancer
Sundancer
Sundancer is the proposed third prototype space habitat to be launched by Bigelow Aerospace and the first human-rated expandable module based on TransHab technology acquired from NASA...

Inflatable module 180 m³ (6,357 ft³) 3 cancelled
Bigelow Aerospace
Bigelow Aerospace
Bigelow Aerospace is a North Las Vegas, Nevada space technology startup company that is pioneering work on expandable space station modules. Bigelow Aerospace was founded by Robert Bigelow in 1998...

BA 330 Inflatable module 330 m³ (11,653 ft³) 6 development
Excalibur Almaz
Excalibur Almaz
Excalibur Almaz is a private spaceflight company which plans to provide orbital space tourism, and provide test beds for experiments in a microgravity environment., Excalibur hoped to begin flights by 2012 with revenue flights starting as early as 2013....

Almaz
Almaz
The Almaz program was a series of military space stations launched by the Soviet Union under cover of the civilian Salyut DOS-17K program after 1971....

 derivative
Rigid module - 3 development
Galactic Suite Ltd. Galactic Suite
Galactic Suite
Galactic Suite Design is an aerospace design company based in Barcelona, Spain. The company develops concepts, design and interiors of habitats and vehicles...

Rigid module - 6 proposed
Orbital Technologies/RSC Energia Orbital Technologies Commercial Space Station
Orbital Technologies Commercial Space Station
The Orbital Technologies Commercial Space Station is an orbital space station intended for commercial clients. The station was proposed in 2010 by Orbital Technologies, a Russian aerospace firm, who is collaborating to develop the station with Rocket and Space Corporation Energia .As proposed, the...

Rigid Module The first module CSS will be volume about 20 m³. 7 development

Launch vehicles

Company name Launcher
name
Launcher
type
No. of
stages
Maximum
reach
Launcher
status
Ref
AirLaunch LLC
AirLaunch LLC
AirLaunch LLC was an aerospace design and development company headquartered in Kirkland, Washington. They hope to provide launch services for launching payloads into orbits around the Earth. This is to be realized through a method called air launch where a rocket is carried within an aircraft and...

QuickReach rocket 2 LEO development
ARCASPACE
ARCASPACE
Asociația Română pentru Cosmonautică și Aeronautică or Romanian Cosmonautics and Aeronautics Association is a non-governmental organization that promotes aerospace projects as well as other space-related activities...

HAAS light rocket 3 LEO development
Armadillo Aerospace
Armadillo Aerospace
Armadillo Aerospace is an aerospace startup company based in Mesquite, Texas. Its initial goal is to build a manned suborbital spacecraft capable of space tourism, but it has stated long-term ambitions of orbital spaceflight. The company was founded by John Carmack.On October 24, 2008, Armadillo...

OTRAG derivative medium rocket variable LEO cancelled
Beal Aerospace
Beal Aerospace
Beal Aerospace was a launch vehicle development company, founded in February 1997 by Andrew Beal, president of Beal Bank in Dallas, Texas. The goal of the company was to build and operate a privately developed heavy lift orbital launch vehicle...

BA-1 light rocket - LEO cancelled
Beal Aerospace
Beal Aerospace
Beal Aerospace was a launch vehicle development company, founded in February 1997 by Andrew Beal, president of Beal Bank in Dallas, Texas. The goal of the company was to build and operate a privately developed heavy lift orbital launch vehicle...

BA-2 medium rocket 3 GTO cancelled
Canadian Arrow
Canadian Arrow
The Canadian Arrow is a privately funded rocket and space travel project founded by London, Ontario, Canada entrepreneurs Geoff Sheerin, Dan McKibbon and Chris Corke...

Canadian Arrow rocket 2 LEO testing
DIRECT
DIRECT
DIRECT is a proposed alternative heavy lift launch vehicle architecture supporting NASA's Vision for Space Exploration, which would replace the space agency's planned Ares I and Ares V rockets...

Leviathan-140 rocket 2 GTO development
Galaxy Express
Galaxy Express Corporation
was a Japanese company which intended to develop the GX rocket.GALEX was established on 27 March 2001. The Japanese government finally abandoned the GX program in December 2009.GALEX disbanded around March 2010.- Shareholders :...

GX medium rocket 2 SSO cancelled
Interorbital Systems
Interorbital Systems
Interorbital Systems Corporation is an American aerospace company based in Mojave, California. It was founded in 1996 by Roderick and Randa Milliron, who also co-founded Trans Lunar Research....

Sea Star TSAAHTO light rocket LEO development
Interorbital Systems
Interorbital Systems
Interorbital Systems Corporation is an American aerospace company based in Mojave, California. It was founded in 1996 by Roderick and Randa Milliron, who also co-founded Trans Lunar Research....

Neptune 30 light rocket multi LEO proposed
Interorbital Systems
Interorbital Systems
Interorbital Systems Corporation is an American aerospace company based in Mojave, California. It was founded in 1996 by Roderick and Randa Milliron, who also co-founded Trans Lunar Research....

Neptune 1000 medium rocket multi lunar orbit proposed
Interorbital Systems
Interorbital Systems
Interorbital Systems Corporation is an American aerospace company based in Mojave, California. It was founded in 1996 by Roderick and Randa Milliron, who also co-founded Trans Lunar Research....

Neptune TSAAHTO heavy rocket lunar orbit proposed
Lockheed Martin
Lockheed Martin
Lockheed Martin is an American global aerospace, defense, security, and advanced technology company with worldwide interests. It was formed by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta in March 1995. It is headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, in the Washington Metropolitan Area....

VentureStar
VentureStar
VentureStar was a proposed spaceplane design for a single-stage-to-orbit reusable launch system by Lockheed Martin. The program's primary goal as a United States federally funded program was to develop a reusable unmanned spaceplane for launching satellites into orbit at a fraction of the cost of...

medium rocket 1 LEO cancelled
Orbital Sciences Corp.
Orbital Sciences Corporation
Orbital Sciences Corporation is an American company which specializes in the manufacturing and launch of satellites. Its Launch Systems Group is heavily involved with missile defense launch systems...

Taurus I light rocket 4 LEO operational (6/9)
Orbital Sciences Corp.
Orbital Sciences Corporation
Orbital Sciences Corporation is an American company which specializes in the manufacturing and launch of satellites. Its Launch Systems Group is heavily involved with missile defense launch systems...

Taurus II
Taurus II
Taurus II is an expendable launch system being developed by Orbital Sciences Corporation. It is a two stage vehicle designed to launch payloads weighing up to into low-Earth orbit...

medium rocket 3 LEO development First Launch planned for 2011
Orbital Transport & Raketen AG
OTRAG
OTRAG , was a German company based in Stuttgart, which planned in the late 1970s and early 1980s to develop an alternative propulsion system for rockets. OTRAG was the first commercial developer and producer of space launch vehicles...

OTRAG medium rocket variable LEO retired
Rocket Lab
Rocket Lab
Rocket Lab Ltd. is a New Zealand firm that designs and fabricates sounding rockets and propulsion systems.The first launch of the Ātea-1 suborbital sounding rocket was scheduled for late 2009. The 6m long rocket weighing 60 kg is designed to carry a 2 kg payload to an altitude of...

ATEA-1 light rocket 2 suborbit operational (1/1)
Scorpius Space Launch Company
(Spin-off of Microcosm)
Scorpius Space Launch Company
Scorpius Space Launch Company is an American private space launch company that aims to provide space launch vehicles and provides components as well as mission engineering for space missions...

SR-M light rocket 1 suborbit operational
Scorpius Space Launch Company
(Spin-off of Microcosm)
Scorpius Space Launch Company
Scorpius Space Launch Company is an American private space launch company that aims to provide space launch vehicles and provides components as well as mission engineering for space missions...

Sprite
Scorpius Space Launch Company
Scorpius Space Launch Company is an American private space launch company that aims to provide space launch vehicles and provides components as well as mission engineering for space missions...

light rocket - - testing
Scorpius Space Launch Company
(Spin-off of Microcosm)
Scorpius Space Launch Company
Scorpius Space Launch Company is an American private space launch company that aims to provide space launch vehicles and provides components as well as mission engineering for space missions...

Liberty
Scorpius Space Launch Company
Scorpius Space Launch Company is an American private space launch company that aims to provide space launch vehicles and provides components as well as mission engineering for space missions...

light rocket - - development
Scorpius Space Launch Company
(Spin-off of Microcosm)
Scorpius Space Launch Company
Scorpius Space Launch Company is an American private space launch company that aims to provide space launch vehicles and provides components as well as mission engineering for space missions...

Exodus
Scorpius Space Launch Company
Scorpius Space Launch Company is an American private space launch company that aims to provide space launch vehicles and provides components as well as mission engineering for space missions...

medium rocket - - development
Scorpius Space Launch Company
(Spin-off of Microcosm)
Scorpius Space Launch Company
Scorpius Space Launch Company is an American private space launch company that aims to provide space launch vehicles and provides components as well as mission engineering for space missions...

Space Freighter
Scorpius Space Launch Company
Scorpius Space Launch Company is an American private space launch company that aims to provide space launch vehicles and provides components as well as mission engineering for space missions...

medium rocket - - proposed
Space Services Inc. of America
Space Services Inc.
Space Services, Inc. of America is a space services company that provides star naming services as well as space memorial services through its subsidiary company, Celestis...

Percheron light rocket 1 suborbit cancelled
Space Services Inc. of America
Space Services Inc.
Space Services, Inc. of America is a space services company that provides star naming services as well as space memorial services through its subsidiary company, Celestis...

Conestoga 1620
Space Services Inc.
Space Services, Inc. of America is a space services company that provides star naming services as well as space memorial services through its subsidiary company, Celestis...

medium rocket 4 LEO cancelled
Space Systems/Loral
Space Systems/Loral
Space Systems/Loral , of Palo Alto, California, is the wholly owned manufacturing subsidiary of Loral Space & Communications. It was acquired in 1990 for $715 million by Loral Corp. from Ford Motor Company as the Space Systems Division of Ford Aerospace...

Aquarius
Aquarius Launch Vehicle
Space Systems/Loral's Aquarius Launch Vehicle is a low-cost launch vehicle designed to carry small, inexpensive payloads into LEO. The vehicle will be primarily intended to launch into orbit bulk products, like water, fuel, and other consumables, that are inexpensive to replace in the event of a...

light rocket 1 LEO development
Space Transport Corp.
Space Transport Corporation
Space Transport Corporation, or STC, was a company based in Forks, Washington whose goal is to commercialize space. The company was founded in 2002 by Eric Meier and Philip Storm. The company planned to provide small payload launch and space tourism services...

Spartan light rocket 3 suborbit cancelled
SpaceX
SpaceX
Space Exploration Technologies Corporation, or more popularly and informally known as SpaceX, is an American space transport company that operates out of Hawthorne, California...

Falcon 1
Falcon 1
The Falcon 1 is a partially reusable launch system designed and manufactured by SpaceX, a space transportation company in Hawthorne, California. The two-stage-to-orbit rocket uses LOX/RP-1 for both stages, the first powered by a single Merlin engine and the second powered by a single Kestrel engine...

light rocket 2 LEO operational (2/5)
SpaceX
SpaceX
Space Exploration Technologies Corporation, or more popularly and informally known as SpaceX, is an American space transport company that operates out of Hawthorne, California...

Falcon 1e
Falcon 1e
The Falcon 1e is an American small partially reusable launch system which is being developed by SpaceX. It will replace the Falcon 1, which was retired in 2009 following five launches, two of which were successful. The Falcon 1e consists of a new first stage, the same second stage used on the...

light rocket 2 LEO testing
SpaceX
SpaceX
Space Exploration Technologies Corporation, or more popularly and informally known as SpaceX, is an American space transport company that operates out of Hawthorne, California...

Falcon 5
Falcon 5
The Falcon 5 was a proposed two-stage-to-orbit partially reusable launch vehicle designed by SpaceX, since canceledand replaced by the larger, more powerful Falcon 9.-Overview:...

medium rocket 2 GTO cancelled
SpaceX
SpaceX
Space Exploration Technologies Corporation, or more popularly and informally known as SpaceX, is an American space transport company that operates out of Hawthorne, California...

Falcon 9
Falcon 9
Falcon 9 is a rocket-powered spaceflight launch system designed and manufactured by SpaceX. Both stages of its two-stage-to-orbit vehicle use liquid oxygen and rocket-grade kerosene propellants...

medium rocket 2 GTO operational (2/2)
SpaceX
SpaceX
Space Exploration Technologies Corporation, or more popularly and informally known as SpaceX, is an American space transport company that operates out of Hawthorne, California...

Falcon Heavy
Falcon Heavy
Falcon Heavy, previously known as the Falcon 9 Heavy, is a spaceflight launch system that uses rocket engines currently being designed and manufactured by SpaceX. Both stages of the two-stage-to-orbit vehicles use liquid oxygen and rocket-grade kerosene propellants...

heavy rocket 2+boosters lunar orbit development First Launch planned for 2012
Texas Spacelines Inc / TSI. Sol Cazador light rocket 7 HEO/lunar/escape development

Landers, rovers and probes

Company name Craft name Craft type Craft status Ref
Armadillo Aerospace
Armadillo Aerospace
Armadillo Aerospace is an aerospace startup company based in Mesquite, Texas. Its initial goal is to build a manned suborbital spacecraft capable of space tourism, but it has stated long-term ambitions of orbital spaceflight. The company was founded by John Carmack.On October 24, 2008, Armadillo...

unnamed craft rocket module testing
BlastOff! Corporation
BlastOff! Corporation
Blastoff! Corporation was a small aerospace company in Pasadena, California that operated from 1999 to early 2001. Blastoff! was one of dozens of Idealab's incubator companies, created to capitalize on the public interest in space travel and exploration....

Lunar 1 rover cancelled
Odyssey Moon
Odyssey Moon
On December 6, 2007, Odyssey Moon was the first team to register for the Google Lunar X Prize competition, an event that hopes to rekindle the efforts of humans to return to the moon. The competition is referred to as "Moon 2.0" and is composed of other private organizations like Odyssey Moon...

MoonOne (M-1) rover development
Astrobotic Technology
Astrobotic Technology
Astrobotic Technology is a privately held seed-stage company formed by Carnegie Mellon professor Red Whittaker and his associates, with the goal of winning the Google Lunar X Prize...

Artemis Lander lander development
Astrobotic Technology
Astrobotic Technology
Astrobotic Technology is a privately held seed-stage company formed by Carnegie Mellon professor Red Whittaker and his associates, with the goal of winning the Google Lunar X Prize...

Red Rover rover development
Team Italia rover development
Micro Space development
Next Giant Leap development
Team FREDNET
Team FREDNET
Team FREDNET is an international Open Source and Open Participation competitor in the Google Lunar X PRIZE competition. Uniquely, the team also allows organizations and individuals to participate freely in its mission through the team's website...

development
TransOrbital
TransOrbital
TransOrbital is a California-based company which became the first private company granted U.S. government permission to explore, photograph, and land on the moon. The company has been covered in over 2,000 news articles worldwide, and announced a sponsorship agreement with Hewlett-Packard in 2003...

TrailBlazer lunar orbiter cancelled
ARCASPACE
ARCASPACE
Asociația Română pentru Cosmonautică și Aeronautică or Romanian Cosmonautics and Aeronautics Association is a non-governmental organization that promotes aerospace projects as well as other space-related activities...

ELE lunar orbiter development
Lunatrex development
Chandah development
Advaeros development
STELLAR
Stellar
Stellar is an adjective referring to one or more stars. It may also refer to:* Hyundai Stellar, a car built by Hyundai Motor Company* "Stellar*", a New Zealand-based rock band.* "Stellar" , a song by Incubus...

development
JURBAN development
Omega Envoy development
Independence-X development
SYNERGY MOON development
Euroluna
Euroluna
The European Lunar Exploration Association is a Danish-Italian-Swiss team led by Palle Haastrup, which is participating in the Google Lunar X Prize Challenge.- The team :The members of the Euroluna team are:*Palle Haastrup*Søren Rasmussen...

ROMIT development
Team Selene LuRoCa 1 rocket car development
SCSG cancelled
Quantum3 cancelled
Puli Space Technologies
Puli Space Technologies
Puli Space Technologies is a Hungarian company established by individuals in June 2010 in order to take part in Google Lunar X Prize Challenge and other competitions, and further to facilitate development of space industry in Hungary, to promote scientific thinking and encourage students to choose...

Puli rover fundraising

Research craft and tech demonstrators

Company name Craft name Craft purpose Craft status Ref
Armadillo Aerospace
Armadillo Aerospace
Armadillo Aerospace is an aerospace startup company based in Mesquite, Texas. Its initial goal is to build a manned suborbital spacecraft capable of space tourism, but it has stated long-term ambitions of orbital spaceflight. The company was founded by John Carmack.On October 24, 2008, Armadillo...

Quad
Quad (rocket)
In rocketry, the Armadillo aerospace Quad vehicle is a computer controlled VTVL rocket that is used to compete in the Lunar Lander Challenge.-General description:...

demonstrate VTOL operational
Blue Origin
Blue Origin
Blue Origin is a privately funded aerospace company set up by Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos. The company was awarded $3.7 million in funding in 2009 by NASA via a Space Act Agreement under the Commercial Crew Development program for development of concepts and technologies to support future human...

Goddard
Blue Origin Goddard
Blue Origin Goddard is the name of the first development vehicle in the Blue Origin New Shepard program, which flew for the first time on November 13, 2006. Named after rocketry pioneer Robert Goddard, the vehicle is a subscale demonstrator and flew at a 285 ft altitude during its initial flight...

demonstrate VTOL operational
Interorbital Systems
Interorbital Systems
Interorbital Systems Corporation is an American aerospace company based in Mojave, California. It was founded in 1996 by Roderick and Randa Milliron, who also co-founded Trans Lunar Research....

Neutrino systems testing operational
Interorbital Systems
Interorbital Systems
Interorbital Systems Corporation is an American aerospace company based in Mojave, California. It was founded in 1996 by Roderick and Randa Milliron, who also co-founded Trans Lunar Research....

Tachyon systems testing operational
Lockheed Martin
Lockheed Martin
Lockheed Martin is an American global aerospace, defense, security, and advanced technology company with worldwide interests. It was formed by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta in March 1995. It is headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, in the Washington Metropolitan Area....

X-33
Lockheed Martin X-33
The Lockheed Martin X-33 was an unmanned, sub-scale technology demonstrator suborbital spaceplane developed in the 1990s under the U.S. government-funded Space Launch Initiative program. The X-33 was a technology demonstrator for the VentureStar orbital spaceplane, which was planned to be a...

demonstrate SSTO cancelled
Masten Space Systems
Masten Space Systems
Masten Space Systems is an aerospace startup company in Mojave, California that is developing a line of vertical takeoff, vertical landing spacecraft, initially for unmanned suborbital research flights and eventually intended to support unmanned orbital launches.- Overview :Masten Space Systems...

XA-0.1 demonstrate VTOL retired
Masten Space Systems
Masten Space Systems
Masten Space Systems is an aerospace startup company in Mojave, California that is developing a line of vertical takeoff, vertical landing spacecraft, initially for unmanned suborbital research flights and eventually intended to support unmanned orbital launches.- Overview :Masten Space Systems...

XA-0.1B Lunar Lander Challenge Level 1 operational
Masten Space Systems
Masten Space Systems
Masten Space Systems is an aerospace startup company in Mojave, California that is developing a line of vertical takeoff, vertical landing spacecraft, initially for unmanned suborbital research flights and eventually intended to support unmanned orbital launches.- Overview :Masten Space Systems...

XA-0.1E Lunar Lander Challenge Level 2, commercial precursor flights operational
Masten Space Systems
Masten Space Systems
Masten Space Systems is an aerospace startup company in Mojave, California that is developing a line of vertical takeoff, vertical landing spacecraft, initially for unmanned suborbital research flights and eventually intended to support unmanned orbital launches.- Overview :Masten Space Systems...

XA-0.1E2 commercial flights development
McDonnell Douglas
McDonnell Douglas
McDonnell Douglas was a major American aerospace manufacturer and defense contractor, producing a number of famous commercial and military aircraft. It formed from a merger of McDonnell Aircraft and Douglas Aircraft in 1967. McDonnell Douglas was based at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport...

DC-X
McDonnell Douglas DC-X
The DC-X, short for Delta Clipper or Delta Clipper Experimental, was an unmanned prototype of a reusable single stage to orbit launch vehicle built by McDonnell Douglas in conjunction with the United States Department of Defense's Strategic Defense Initiative Organization from 1991 to 1993...

demonstrate VTOL retired (11 test flights)
Rotary Rocket
Rotary Rocket
Rotary Rocket, Inc, was a rocketry company headquartered in a facility at Mojave Airport that developed the Roton concept in the late 1990s as a fully reusable single-stage-to-orbit manned spacecraft. Roton was intended to reduce costs of launching payloads into low earth orbit by a factor of...

Roton ATV demonstrate VTOL retired (3 test flights)
Space Services Inc.
Space Services Inc.
Space Services, Inc. of America is a space services company that provides star naming services as well as space memorial services through its subsidiary company, Celestis...

Conestoga I
Conestoga (rocket)
The Conestoga was a rocket consisting originally of surplus Minuteman missile stages with additional strap-on boosters, as required, for larger payloads. It was the world's first privately-funded commercial rocket, but was used only three times before the program was shut down due to a lack of...

systems testing retired (1 test)
Swedish Space Corp.
Swedish Space Corporation
The Swedish Space Corporation is a comprehensive space company covering the entire field, from the definition of innovative business concepts and space projects to the development, tests and operation of the systems....

Maxus
Maxus (rocket)
Maxus is a sounding rocket that are used in the MAXUS microgravity rocket programme, a joint venture between Swedish Space Corporation and EADS Astrium Space Transportation used by ESA...

payload to 700 km operational
Swedish Space Corp.
Swedish Space Corporation
The Swedish Space Corporation is a comprehensive space company covering the entire field, from the definition of innovative business concepts and space projects to the development, tests and operation of the systems....

Maser
Maser (rocket)
Maser is a sounding rocket that is used in the MASER microgravity research rocket programme, which is operated by the Swedish Space Corporation . The main customer is the European Space Agency , and in particular its EMIR and ELIPS programmes....

payload to 300 km operational
UP Aerospace
UP Aerospace
UP Aerospace, Inc. is a private spaceflight corporation based out of Denver, Colorado. UP Aerospace provides ultra-low cost space access and payload transportation for corporate, military and educational payloads, via their SpaceLoft XL Sounding rocket launch vehicles.- History and Future Plans...

SpaceLoft XL
SpaceLoft XL
The SpaceLoft XL is a sounding rocket developed by UP Aerospace. The rocket has a diameter of 10 inches , and is 20 feet long. It is capable of lofting a 110 lb payload to a sub-orbital trajectory with an apogee of 140 miles...

payload to 140 km operational

Space mining

Company name Body to be mined Mining craft Mining status Ref
Shackleton Energy Company
Shackleton Energy Company
Shackleton Energy Company was formed in 2007 in Del Valle, Texas with the explicit goal to prepare the equipment and technologies necessary for mining the Moon. Shackleton is a subsidiary of Stone Aerospace.-Approach:...

Moon
Moon
The Moon is Earth's only known natural satellite,There are a number of near-Earth asteroids including 3753 Cruithne that are co-orbital with Earth: their orbits bring them close to Earth for periods of time but then alter in the long term . These are quasi-satellites and not true moons. For more...

Unknown Unknown
Moon Express
Moon Express
Moon Express, or MoonEx, is a privately held seed-stage company formed by a group of Silicon Valley and space entrepreneurs, with the goal of winning the Google Lunar X Prize, and ultimately mining the Moon for resources of economic value.-History:...

Moon
Moon
The Moon is Earth's only known natural satellite,There are a number of near-Earth asteroids including 3753 Cruithne that are co-orbital with Earth: their orbits bring them close to Earth for periods of time but then alter in the long term . These are quasi-satellites and not true moons. For more...

Unknown Unknown

Propulsion manufacturers

Company name Engine Engine type Applications Ref
Ad Astra Rocket Company
Ad Astra Rocket Company
The Ad Astra Rocket Company is a rocket propulsion company dedicated to the development of advanced plasma rocket propulsion technology. Located in Webster, Texas, several miles from NASA's Johnson Space Center, the company was incorporated on January 14, 2005. The President and CEO of Ad Astra...

VASIMR magnetoplasma may be used for future Mars missions
Exploration of Mars
The exploration of Mars has been an important part of the space exploration programs of the Soviet Union, the United States, Europe, and Japan. Dozens of robotic spacecraft, including orbiters, landers, and rovers, have been launched toward Mars since the 1960s...

AE Aerospace HIRE hybrid ion rocket
AE Aerospace Scearamjet Electric Scramjet
Scramjet
A scramjet is a variant of a ramjet airbreathing jet engine in which combustion takes place in supersonic airflow...

American Rocket Company
American Rocket Company
Founded in 1985 by George Koopman, Bevin McKinney and Jim Bennett, veterans of Starstruck , the American Rocket Company, or AMROC, was a company that developed hybrid rocket motors....

hybrid rocket
Hybrid rocket
A hybrid rocket is a rocket with a rocket motor which uses propellants in two different states of matter - one solid and the other either gas or liquid. The Hybrid rocket concept can be traced back at least 75 years....

The Elwing Company Electrodeless Plasma Thruster
Electrodeless plasma thruster
The electrodeless plasma thruster is a spacecraft propulsion engine. It was created by Mr. Gregory Emsellem based on technology developed by French Atomic Energy Commission scientist Dr Richard Geller and Dr...

Electric Propulsion may be used for future explorations missions
Exploration of Mars
The exploration of Mars has been an important part of the space exploration programs of the Soviet Union, the United States, Europe, and Japan. Dozens of robotic spacecraft, including orbiters, landers, and rovers, have been launched toward Mars since the 1960s...

 
Firestar Technologies
Reaction Engines Ltd.
Reaction Engines Limited
Reaction Engines Limited is a British aerospace company based in Oxfordshire, England.- History & personnel :Reaction Engines was founded in 1989 by Alan Bond and Richard Varvill and John Scott-Scott...

SABRE precooled air-breathing rocket planned to be used in Skylon
SpaceDev
SpaceDev
SpaceDev, a part of the "Space Systems Business" of Sierra Nevada Corporation, is prominent for its spaceflight and microsatellite work. It designed and built the hybrid rocket motors for Paul Allen's Tier One suborbital SpaceShipOne space program operated by Scaled Composites...

hybrid rocket
Hybrid rocket
A hybrid rocket is a rocket with a rocket motor which uses propellants in two different states of matter - one solid and the other either gas or liquid. The Hybrid rocket concept can be traced back at least 75 years....

SpaceShipOne and SpaceShipTwo
SpaceX
SpaceX
Space Exploration Technologies Corporation, or more popularly and informally known as SpaceX, is an American space transport company that operates out of Hawthorne, California...

Kestrel (rocket engine)
Kestrel (rocket engine)
The Kestrel engine is an LOX/RP-1 pressure-fed rocket engine. The Kestrel engine was developed by SpaceX for upper stage use on the Falcon 1 rocket....

Liquid Oxygen
Liquid oxygen
Liquid oxygen — abbreviated LOx, LOX or Lox in the aerospace, submarine and gas industries — is one of the physical forms of elemental oxygen.-Physical properties:...

/RP-1
RP-1
RP-1 is a highly refined form of kerosene outwardly similar to jet fuel, used as a rocket fuel. Although having a lower specific impulse than liquid hydrogen , RP-1 is cheaper, can be stored at room temperature, is far less of an explosive hazard and is far denser...

Falcon 1
Falcon 1
The Falcon 1 is a partially reusable launch system designed and manufactured by SpaceX, a space transportation company in Hawthorne, California. The two-stage-to-orbit rocket uses LOX/RP-1 for both stages, the first powered by a single Merlin engine and the second powered by a single Kestrel engine...

 second stage
SpaceX
SpaceX
Space Exploration Technologies Corporation, or more popularly and informally known as SpaceX, is an American space transport company that operates out of Hawthorne, California...

Merlin (rocket engine)
Merlin (rocket engine)
Merlin is a rocket engine developed by SpaceX for use on its Falcon 1 and Falcon 9 rockets. Merlin uses RP-1 and liquid oxygen as propellants in a gas-generator power cycle...

Liquid Oxygen
Liquid oxygen
Liquid oxygen — abbreviated LOx, LOX or Lox in the aerospace, submarine and gas industries — is one of the physical forms of elemental oxygen.-Physical properties:...

/RP-1
RP-1
RP-1 is a highly refined form of kerosene outwardly similar to jet fuel, used as a rocket fuel. Although having a lower specific impulse than liquid hydrogen , RP-1 is cheaper, can be stored at room temperature, is far less of an explosive hazard and is far denser...

Falcon 1
Falcon 1
The Falcon 1 is a partially reusable launch system designed and manufactured by SpaceX, a space transportation company in Hawthorne, California. The two-stage-to-orbit rocket uses LOX/RP-1 for both stages, the first powered by a single Merlin engine and the second powered by a single Kestrel engine...

, Falcon 9
Falcon 9
Falcon 9 is a rocket-powered spaceflight launch system designed and manufactured by SpaceX. Both stages of its two-stage-to-orbit vehicle use liquid oxygen and rocket-grade kerosene propellants...

, Falcon 9 Heavy first stage
SpaceX
SpaceX
Space Exploration Technologies Corporation, or more popularly and informally known as SpaceX, is an American space transport company that operates out of Hawthorne, California...

Merlin Vacuum Liquid Oxygen
Liquid oxygen
Liquid oxygen — abbreviated LOx, LOX or Lox in the aerospace, submarine and gas industries — is one of the physical forms of elemental oxygen.-Physical properties:...

/RP-1
RP-1
RP-1 is a highly refined form of kerosene outwardly similar to jet fuel, used as a rocket fuel. Although having a lower specific impulse than liquid hydrogen , RP-1 is cheaper, can be stored at room temperature, is far less of an explosive hazard and is far denser...

Falcon 9
Falcon 9
Falcon 9 is a rocket-powered spaceflight launch system designed and manufactured by SpaceX. Both stages of its two-stage-to-orbit vehicle use liquid oxygen and rocket-grade kerosene propellants...

, Falcon 9 Heavy second stage
SpaceX
SpaceX
Space Exploration Technologies Corporation, or more popularly and informally known as SpaceX, is an American space transport company that operates out of Hawthorne, California...

Raptor (rocket stage)
Raptor (rocket stage)
,Raptor is a rocket engine design concept by SpaceX for a higher performance upper stage for the Falcon 9 launch vehicle. The engine would be powered by liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen,...

Liquid Oxygen
Liquid oxygen
Liquid oxygen — abbreviated LOx, LOX or Lox in the aerospace, submarine and gas industries — is one of the physical forms of elemental oxygen.-Physical properties:...

/Liquid Hydrogen
Liquid hydrogen
Liquid hydrogen is the liquid state of the element hydrogen. Hydrogen is found naturally in the molecular H2 form.To exist as a liquid, H2 must be pressurized above and cooled below hydrogen's Critical point. However, for hydrogen to be in a full liquid state without boiling off, it needs to be...

Falcon 1
Falcon 1
The Falcon 1 is a partially reusable launch system designed and manufactured by SpaceX, a space transportation company in Hawthorne, California. The two-stage-to-orbit rocket uses LOX/RP-1 for both stages, the first powered by a single Merlin engine and the second powered by a single Kestrel engine...

, Falcon 9
Falcon 9
Falcon 9 is a rocket-powered spaceflight launch system designed and manufactured by SpaceX. Both stages of its two-stage-to-orbit vehicle use liquid oxygen and rocket-grade kerosene propellants...

, Falcon 9 Heavy upper stage

Satellite launchers

  • Arianespace
    Arianespace
    Arianespace SA is a French company founded in 1980 as the world's first commercial space transportation company. It undertakes the production, operation, and marketing of the Ariane 5 rocket launcher as part of the Ariane programme....

     - Ariane, Vega
  • Eurockot Launch Services
    Eurockot Launch Services
    Eurockot Launch Services GmbH is a commercial spacecraft launch provider and was founded in 1995. Eurockot uses an expendable launch vehicle called the Rockot to place satellites into Low-Earth orbit . Eurockot is jointly owned by EADS Astrium, which holds 51 percent, and by Khrunichev State...

     - Rockot
  • International Launch Services
    International Launch Services
    International Launch Services is a U.S.-Russian joint venture with exclusive rights to the worldwide sale of commercial Proton rocket launch services from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.- Ownership :...

     - Proton
  • ISC Kosmotras
    ISC Kosmotras
    The International Space Company Kosmotras or ISC Kosmotras is a joint project, between Russia, Ukraine, and the Kazakhstan, established in 1997. It developed and now operates a commercial expendable launch system using the Dnepr rocket. The Dnepr is a converted Soviet era SS-18 ICBM decommissioned...

     - Dnepr
  • Orbital Sciences Corporation
    Orbital Sciences Corporation
    Orbital Sciences Corporation is an American company which specializes in the manufacturing and launch of satellites. Its Launch Systems Group is heavily involved with missile defense launch systems...

     - own launchers
  • SpaceX
    SpaceX
    Space Exploration Technologies Corporation, or more popularly and informally known as SpaceX, is an American space transport company that operates out of Hawthorne, California...

     - own launchers
  • Sea Launch
    Sea Launch
    Sea Launch is a spacecraft launch service that uses a mobile sea platform for equatorial launches of commercial payloads on specialized Zenit 3SL rockets...

     (and subsidiary Land Launch
    Land Launch
    Land Launch, a subsidiary of Sea Launch, conducts commercial launches of Zenit rockets from Baikonur Cosmodrome Site 45. It operates two-stage Zenit-2SLB and three stage Zenit-3SLB rockets....

    ) - Zenit
  • Starsem
    Starsem
    Starsem is a European-Russian company that was created in 1996 to commercialise the Soyuz launcher. Starsem is headquartered in Évry, France and has the following shareholders:* Russian Federal Space Agency...

     - Soyuz

Spaceliner companies

Company name Contracts for Craft utilised Status
Benson Space Company SpaceDev
SpaceDev
SpaceDev, a part of the "Space Systems Business" of Sierra Nevada Corporation, is prominent for its spaceflight and microsatellite work. It designed and built the hybrid rocket motors for Paul Allen's Tier One suborbital SpaceShipOne space program operated by Scaled Composites...

Dream Chaser
SpaceDev Dream Chaser
The Dream Chaser is a crewed suborbital and orbital vertical-takeoff, horizontal-landing lifting-body spaceplane being developed by SpaceDev, a wholly owned subsidiary of Sierra Nevada Corporation . The Dream Chaser design is planned to carry seven people to and from low earth orbit...

waiting for hardware
MirCorp
MirCorp
MirCorp was a commercial space company created in 1999 by space entrepreneurs and involving the Russian space program that successfully undertook a number of firsts in the business of space exploration by using the aging Russian space station Mir as a commercial platform...

none Soyuz TM
Soyuz TM-30
Soyuz TM-30 , also known as Mir EO-28, was a Soyuz mission, the 39th and final human spaceflight to the Mir space station. The crew of the mission was sent by MirCorp, a privately funded company, to reactivate and repair the station...

, Progress M1
Progress M1-2
Progress M1-2 was a Progress spacecraft which was launched by Russia in 2000 to resupply the Mir space station. It was a Progress-M1 11F615A55 spacecraft, with the serial number 252....

 and Mir
Mir
Mir was a space station operated in low Earth orbit from 1986 to 2001, at first by the Soviet Union and then by Russia. Assembled in orbit from 1986 to 1996, Mir was the first modular space station and had a greater mass than that of any previous spacecraft, holding the record for the...

defunct, Mir deorbited
Space Adventures
Space Adventures
Space Adventures, Ltd. is a Virginia, USA-based space tourism company founded in 1998 by Eric C. Anderson. , offerings include zero-gravity atmospheric flights, orbital spaceflights , and other spaceflight-related experiences including cosmonaut training, spacewalk training, and launch tours...

none Soyuz and the ISS
International Space Station
The International Space Station is a habitable, artificial satellite in low Earth orbit. The ISS follows the Salyut, Almaz, Cosmos, Skylab, and Mir space stations, as the 11th space station launched, not including the Genesis I and II prototypes...

active (6 tourists sent)
RocketShip Tours
RocketShip Tours
RocketShip Tours is an American space tourism company founded by travel industry entrepreneur Jules Klar which plans to provide sub-orbital human spaceflights to the paying public, in partnership with rocketplane developer XCOR Aerospace...

XCOR Lynx rocketplane
Lynx rocketplane
The Lynx rocketplane is a suborbital horizontal-takeoff, horizontal-landing ,rocket-powered spaceplane being developed by the California-based company XCOR to compete in the emerging suborbital space flight market. The Lynx is projected to carry one pilot, a ticketed passenger, and/or a payload or...

waiting for hardware
Virgin Galactic
Virgin Galactic
Virgin Galactic is a company within Richard Branson's Virgin Group which plans to provide sub-orbital spaceflights to the paying public, along with suborbital space science missions and orbital launches of small satellites...

Scaled Composites
Scaled Composites
Scaled Composites is an aerospace company founded by Burt Rutan and currently owned by Northrop Grumman that is located at the Mojave Spaceport, Mojave, California, United States...

SpaceShipTwo
Scaled Composites SpaceShipTwo
The Scaled Composites Model 339 SpaceShipTwo is a suborbital, air-launched spaceplane, designed for space tourism. It is under development by The Spaceship Company, a California-based joint venture between Scaled Composites and the Virgin Group, as part of the Tier 1b program.SpaceShipTwo is...

waiting for hardware

Spacecraft component manufacturers

  • Andrews Space
    Andrews Space
    Andrews Space is a small aerospace company based in Seattle, Washington, founded in 1999 to develop space systems. Andrews provides aerospace services for commercial, civil, and military clients.-Current projects:...

  • EADS Astrium Satellites
  • EADS Astrium Space Transportation
  • Rocketstar Robotics, Inc.
  • Thortek Laboratories, Inc.
  • Starsys
    STARSYS
    Starsys as a term could refer to the following:*Convergent Technologies Operating System*Starsys Company - Merging with SpaceDev...

     (merged with SpaceDev)
  • SpaceDev
    SpaceDev
    SpaceDev, a part of the "Space Systems Business" of Sierra Nevada Corporation, is prominent for its spaceflight and microsatellite work. It designed and built the hybrid rocket motors for Paul Allen's Tier One suborbital SpaceShipOne space program operated by Scaled Composites...

  • SpaceQuest, Ltd.
    SpaceQuest, Ltd.
    SpaceQuest, Ltd. is a spacecraft components and engineering company located in Fairfax, Virginia, which focuses on the operations of small satellites....

  • Talis Enterprises, Ltd.

See also

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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