The Zenit-2M, Zenit-2SB or Zenit-2SLB is an Ukrainian

Ukraine

Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...

 expendable

Expendable launch system

An expendable launch system is a launch system that uses an expendable launch vehicle to carry a payload into space. The vehicles used in expendable launch systems are designed to be used only once , and their components are not recovered for re-use after launch...

 carrier rocket derived from the Zenit-3SL

Zenit-3SL

The Zenit-3SL is an expendable carrier rocket operated by Sea Launch. First flown in 1999, it has been launched 30 times, with two failures and one partial failure. It is a member of the Zenit family of rockets, and is built by the Yuzhnoye Design Bureau. RKK Energia produces the Block DM-SL upper...

. It is a member of the Zenit family of rockets, which were designed by the Yuzhnoye Design Bureau

Yuzhnoye Design Bureau

Yuzhnoye Design Bureau , located in Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine, is a designer of satellites and rockets, and formerly of Soviet intercontinental ballistic missiles established by Mikhail Yangel. Yuzhnoye's OKB designation was OKB-586....

. It is a modernised version of the Zenit-2

Zenit-2

The Zenit-2 is a Ukrainian, previously Soviet, expendable carrier rocket. First flown in 1985, it has been launched 37 times, with six failures. It is a member of the Zenit family of rockets, and was designed by the Yuzhnoye Design Bureau. A modified version, the Zenit-2S, is used as the first two...

, incorporating modifications and upgrades made to the design for the 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...

 programme.

Launches of Zenit-2M rockets are conducted from Baikonur Cosmodrome

Baikonur Cosmodrome

The Baikonur Cosmodrome , also called Tyuratam, is the world's first and largest operational space launch facility. It is located in the desert steppe of Kazakhstan, about east of the Aral Sea, north of the Syr Darya river, near Tyuratam railway station, at 90 meters above sea level...

 Site 45/1

Baikonur Cosmodrome Site 45

Site 45 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome is a launch site used by Zenit rockets. It consists of two pads, one of which is still in use. It has been the launch site for all Soviet and Russian government Zenit launches, along with a commercial launch conducted for Globalstar in 1998, and continuing...

. Commercial launches are conducted by 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....

, and use the designation 2SLB, however as of 2011, no commercial launches have been ordered. Launches conducted by Roskosmos or the Russian Space Forces use the designation 2M. The designation 2SB can also be applied to the rocket when it is being used as part of a larger vehicle, such as the Zenit-3SLB

Zenit-3SLB

The Zenit-3SLB or Zenit-3M is a Ukrainian expendable carrier rocket derived from the Zenit-2SLB. It is a member of the Zenit family of rockets, which were designed by the Yuzhnoye Design Bureau...

.

The first launch of a Zenit-2M occurred on 29 June 2007, carrying the last Tselina-2 ELINT satellite for the Russian Space Forces, Tselina-2 satellites having been previously launched by older Zenit-2 rockets. The second launch, carrying the Fobos-Grunt and Yinghuo-1 spacecraft, was conducted on 8 November 2011, using a modified configuration also designated the Zenit-2FG. This configuration incorporated the payload fairing used on the Zenit-3F

Zenit-3F

The Zenit-3F, Zenit-3SLBF or Zenit-2SB/Fregat is an Ukrainian expendable carrier rocket. It is a member of the Zenit family of rockets, which were designed by the Yuzhnoye Design Bureau....

 rocket, and a special adaptor for the Fobos-Grunt spacecraft, which incorporated a Fregat

Fregat

Fregat is a type of rocket stage developed by NPO Lavochkin in the 1990s. Its main engine is a liquid propellant rocket that uses UDMH and N2O4 as propellants.- Specifications :...

-derived propulsion system.