Zenit (rocket family)

Zenit

Zenit-2 rocket (Baikonur, 10 December 2001)
Function	Medium-lift expendable carrier rocket
Manufacturer	Yuzhnoye (design) Yuzhmash (manufacturing)
Country of origin	Zenit-2: USSR Zenit-3SL: USSR, Ukraine, Russia
Size
Height	57–59.6 m (187–196 ft)
Diameter	3.9 m (13 ft)
Mass	444,900–462,200 kg (980,800–1,019,000 lb)
Stages	2 or 3
Capacity
Payload to LEO	Zenit-2: 13,740 kg (30,290 lb)
Payload to SSO	Zenit-2: 11,380 kg (25,090 lb)
Payload to GTO	Zenit-3SL: 6,000 kg (13,000 lb)
Launch history
Status	Active
Launch sites	Baikonur LC-45 Odyssey (ocean platform)
Total launches	83 36 Zenit 2 36 Zenit 3SL 2 Zenit 2M 6 Zenit 3SLB 3 Zenit 3F
Successes	70 28 Zenit 2 32 Zenit 3SL 2 Zenit 2M 5 Zenit 3SLB 3 Zenit 3F
Failures	10 7 Zenit 2 3 Zenit 3SL
Partial failures	3 1 Zenit 2 1 Zenit 3SL 1 Zenit 3SLB
First flight	Zenit 2: 13 April 1985 Zenit 3SL: 28 March 1999 Zenit 2M: 29 June 2007 Zenit 3SLB: 28 April 2008 Zenit 3F: 20 January 2011
Last flight	Zenit 2: 10 June 2004 Zenit 3SL: 26 May 2014 Zenit 2M: 8 November 2011 Zenit 3SLB: 31 August 2013 Zenit 3F: 11 December 2015
First stage
Engines	1 RD-171
Thrust	8,180 kilonewtons (1,840,000 lbf)
Specific impulse	337 seconds (3.30 km/s)
Burn time	150 seconds
Fuel	RP-1/LOX
Second stage
Engines	1 RD-120 1 RD-8
Thrust	912 kilonewtons (205,000 lbf) 79,500 newtons (17,900 lbf)
Specific impulse	349 seconds (3.42 km/s)
Burn time	315 seconds
Fuel	RP-1/LOX
Third stage (Zenit-3SL/3SLB) - Block DM-SL
Engines	1 RD-58M
Thrust	84,900 newtons (19,100 lbf)
Specific impulse	352 seconds (3.45 km/s)
Burn time	650 seconds
Fuel	RP-1/LOX
Third stage (Zenit-3F) - Fregat-SB
Engines	1 S5.92
Thrust	19,600 newtons (4,400 lbf)
Specific impulse	327 seconds (3.21 km/s)
Burn time	877 seconds
Fuel	N2O4/UDMH

Zenit (Ukrainian: Зеніт, Russian: Зени́т; meaning Zenith) is a family of space launch vehicles designed by the Yuzhnoye Design Bureau of Soviet Union, and since the early 1990s by the same design bureau but now a part of Ukraine. Zenit was built in the 1980s for two purposes: as a liquid rocket booster for the Energia rocket and, equipped with a second stage, as a stand-alone up-middle launcher greater than 7-ton payload Soyuz and smaller than 20-ton payload Proton. The last rocket family developed by the USSR, the Zenit was intended as an eventual replacement for the dated R-7 and Proton families, moreover it would employ propellants which were safer and less toxic than the Proton's nitrogen tetroxide/UDMH mix. Moreover, Zenit was planned to take over manned spaceship launches from Soyuz, but these plans were abandoned after the dissolution of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s.

Zenit-3SL is launched by the Sea Launch consortium's floating launch platform in the Pacific Ocean and Zenit-2 is launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The engines of the Zenit's first and second stages as well as the upper stage of the Zenit-3SL rocket are supplied by Russia. There are plans to use an improved Zenit-3SLB rocket for commercial launches from Baikonur Cosmodrome beginning in April 2008. This service is marketed as "Land Launch."

Zenit-3SL has launched 36 times with 32 successes, one partial success, and three failures. The first failure, the launch of a Hughes-built communications satellite owned by ICO Global Communications, occurred during the second commercial launch on March 12, 2000 and was blamed on a software error that failed to close a valve in the second stage of the rocket. The second failure occurred on January 30, 2007 when the rocket exploded on the Odyssey launch platform, seconds after engine ignition. The NSS-8 communication satellite on board was destroyed.