Floating launch vehicle operations platform

A floating launch vehicle operations platform is a <a href="/facts/Marine_vessel/XX8YawP1">marine vessel</a> used for launch or landing operations of an <a href="/facts/Orbital_spaceflight/xdzKmkvt">orbital</a> <a href="/facts/Launch_vehicle/g1GCGFJB">launch vehicle</a> by a <a href="/facts/Launch_service_provider/zAIh2zt4">launch service provider</a>: putting satellites into orbit around Earth or another celestial body, or recovering <a href="/facts/First_stage_(rocketry)/WNrmgztj">first-stage boosters</a> from orbital-class flights by making a propulsive landing on the platform.
In the early decades of spaceflight technology, all orbital launch vehicle operations were exclusively from land, and all booster stages were <a href="/facts/Expendable_launch_system/CaW43W5z">expended</a> after a single use for nearly 60 years after the first orbital spaceflight, <a href="/facts/Sputnik_1/GQ5KLlNC">Sputnik 1</a>.
After the late 1990s and into the 2010s, new marine options for launch were built. Landing of orbital-class boosters began to be accomplished in 2015. More platforms, both for launch and landing, are currently in construction or planned. 
<a href="/facts/Suborbital_spaceflight/NdLRlGIq">Suborbital</a> <a href="/facts/Sounding_rocket/em1GgGND">rockets</a> and <a href="/facts/Submarine_launched_ballistic_missiles/AypqGmQ9">ballistic missiles</a> had been launched from marine platforms earlier than the 1990s, but are not the topic of this article.

Floating launch vehicle operations platform open-in-new

Floating launch vehicle operations platform