How orbital rockets are made

To reach orbit a rocket has to climb to about 150 km and then reach a sideways speed of at least 7,814 m/s.

stations: 7
things upstream: 67
raw sources: 22
steps from the ground: 9

The short version

An orbital rocket is mostly thin-walled tanks, with engines at the bottom and a payload on top. Plants weld aluminum tank sections, build engines from precisely machined parts, and join the stages and avionics. Engines are fired on a test stand, and the stages are then shipped and stacked at the launch site.

Form and weld the tanks

Most of a rocket by volume is propellant tank. Thin aluminum alloy sheets are formed into barrels and domes, then welded into tall cylinders. They must be light and still hold pressure.

Goes in
Aluminum
Machine the engine parts

Combustion chambers, injectors, nozzles and turbopumps are machined to tight tolerances. The engine's injectors are arrays of holes that spray propellants into the chamber.
Assemble the engines

Pumps, chambers and nozzles are joined with their plumbing and valves into complete engines. A liquid engine needs a way to push propellant in at higher pressure than the chamber.

Goes in
Copper
Wire up the avionics

Computers, sensors, radios and guidance electronics are installed in the upper stage and in a ring around the base.

Goes in
Printed circuit board Microchip Copper wire
Fire the engines on a stand

Engines, and sometimes whole stages, are bolted to a test stand and fired to verify thrust and cooling before flight.

Goes in
Oxygen gas
Join the stages at the pad

Stages travel to the launch site and are stacked one on top of another with the payload at the very top.
Fill the tanks

Shortly before launch, super-cold liquid propellants, such as liquid oxygen and a fuel, are pumped into the tanks. The vehicle is then ready to count down.

Goes in
Oxygen gas Hydrogen

End of the lineOrbital rocket

Worth repeating

A modified SS-520 sounding rocket put a 4-kilogram payload, TRICOM-1R, into orbit in 2018.
As of 2023, every reusable launch vehicle that had operated was only partially reusable.