KYIV. Feb 7 (Interfax-AVN) - The 2014 plan for launching booster rockets made by Ukraine alone and in cooperation with the United States and the European Union as part of international cooperation involves eleven launches, head of Ukraine's State Space Agency Yuriy Alexeyev told Interfax.
Of the total number of planned launches, six are for the booster rockets made as part of international cooperation in Ukraine, the space agency chief said. These include three Dnepr rocket launches under the Ukrainian-Russian Dnepr program and three Zenit rocket launches under two international programs: Sea Launch (a maritime space launch pad in the Pacific Ocean) and Land Launch (from Baikonur, Kazakhstan).
"The first Ukrainian telecommunications satellite, Lybid, is due to be launched into orbit as part of the April launch of the Zenit-3SLBF booster rocket under Land Launch," he recalled.
Also, this year's program includes three launches in the U.S. with Ukraine's participation of a medium-class booster rocket, Antares, to deliver supplies to the International Space Station (Ukraine designed and is manufacturing the first stage of the rocket), and two launches of a new European lightweight booster rocket, Vega (Ukraine designed and is manufacturing the fourth stage's propulsion unit), the space agency chief said.
In 2013, there were four successful launches of the rockets made in Ukraine: two launches of the Zenit rocket and two of the Dnepr rocket, which delivered 25 satellites from 16 countries into orbit, according to the Ukrainian space agency. Furthermore, there were two successful launches of the Antares rocket and one of the European Vega booster.
The launch of the Zenit-3SL rocket with the Intelsat-27 satellite under the Sea Launch project was a failure.
On average, Ukrainian-made rockets account for over 10% of the global market of space launch services each year, according to experts.