Strela (, ''arrow'') is a Russian

orbit In celestial mechanics, an orbit (also known as orbital revolution) is the curved trajectory of an object such as the trajectory of a planet around a star, or of a natural satellite around a planet, or of an artificial satellite around an ...

carrier rocket A launch vehicle is typically a rocket-powered vehicle designed to carry a payload (a crewed spacecraft or satellites) from Earth's surface or lower atmosphere to outer space. The most common form is the ballistic missile-shaped multistag ...

, derived from the

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

/Russian UR-100NU missile. It conducted its maiden test launch on 5 December

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

, carried its first functional payload on 27 June 2013, and a second one on 19 December 2014. Strela was originally planned to be launched from the Svobodny Cosmodrome, with test launches being conducted from existing UR-100 silos at the

Baikonur Cosmodrome The Baikonur Cosmodrome is a spaceport operated by Russia within Kazakhstan. Located in the Kazakh city of Baikonur, it is the largest operational space launch facility in terms of area. All Russian Human spaceflight, crewed spaceflights are l ...

. Svobodny was closed in 2007, without seeing any Strela launches. It is unclear whether a Strela launch complex will be incorporated into the

Vostochny Cosmodrome The Vostochny Cosmodrome () is a Russian space launch facility in the Amur Oblast, located above the 51st parallel north in the Russian Far East. It was built to help reduce Russia’s reliance on the Baikonur Cosmodrome which is located on lan ...

, which is being built on the site of Svobodny. Strela differs from the Rockot, which is also derived from the UR-100, in that it has undergone fewer modifications, such as the absence of an additional Briz-KM upper stage, as used on the Rockot. However it is equipped with a repurposed APB as upper stage, which was originally a maneuvrable warhead "bus" from MIRV system of UR-100 missile. It is also launched from silos, whereas the Rockot is launched from flat pads.

Launch history

References

* Space launch vehicles of Russia Universal Rocket (rocket family) Vehicles introduced in 2003 {{Russia-stub

Launch history

See also

References