The launch vehicle is the part of a space vehicle which supplies the propulsion and guidance to reach the prescribed velocity, position, and attitude required for injection into the desired trajectory. Today's launch vehicles consist of two, three, or more propulsive stages, and can be classified in a number of ways. One of these is according to launch capacity, as shown in the table.

 

vehicle type	capacity (kg) to LEO	capacity (kg) to GTO	examples
HLLV	> 10,000	> 5,000	Ariane 5, Titan III, Space Shuttle, Zenit
LLV	5,000-10,000	2,000-5,000	Ariane 4, Atlas IIAS, CZ-2E, H-2, GSLV
MLV	2,000-5,000	1,000-2,000	Delta 7925, CZ-3, PSLV, Molniya, Tsyklon
SLV	< 2,000	< 1,000	Athena I/II, ASLV, Pegasus XL, Start, Taurus

 

Further classification is possible into expendable, or non-reusable, launch vehicles and non-expandable launch vehicles.