Intercontinental ballistic missile

An Intercontinental Ballistic Missile, or ICBM, is a long-range (greater than 5,500 km or 3,500 miles) ballistic missile typically designed for nuclear weapons delivery, that is, delivering one or more nuclear warheads. Due to their great range and firepower, in an all-out nuclear war, submarine and land-based ICBMs would carry most of the destructive force, with nuclear-armed bombers the remainder. ICBMs are differentiated by having greater rang... more

Also known as:

  • ICBM
top ↑

Similar topics in Freebase

  • Human spaceflight

    Human spaceflight

    Human spaceflight is spaceflight with a human crew and possibly passengers. This makes it unlike robotic space probes or remotely-controlled satellites. Human spaceflight is sometimes called manned spaceflight, a term now deprecated by major space agencies in favor of its gender-neutral alternative...
  • Satellite

    Satellite

    In the context of spaceflight, a satellite is an object which has been placed into orbit by human endeavor. Such objects are sometimes called artificial satellites to distinguish them from natural satellites such as the Moon. The first artificial satellite, Sputnik 1, was launched by the Soviet...
  • Single-stage-to-orbit

    Single-stage-to-orbit

    A single-stage-to-orbit (or SSTO) vehicle reaches orbit from the surface of a body without jettisoning hardware, expending only propellants and fluids. The term usually, but not exclusively, refers to reusable vehicles. No Earth-launched SSTO launch vehicles have ever been constructed. Current...
  • Space station

    Space station

    A space station is an artificial structure designed for humans to live in outer space. To date, only low earth orbital (LEO) stations have been implemented, otherwise known as orbital stations. A space station is distinguished from other manned spacecraft by its lack of major propulsion or landing...
  • Space tourism (Personal Spaceflight)

    Space tourism (Personal Spaceflight)

    Space tourism is the recent phenomenon of tourists paying for flights into space. As of 2009, orbital space tourism opportunities are limited and expensive, with only the Russian Space Agency providing transport. The price for a flight brokered by Space Adventures to the International Space Station...
  • Sounding rocket

    Sounding rocket

    A sounding rocket, sometimes called a research rocket, is an instrument-carrying rocket designed to take measurements and perform scientific experiments during its sub-orbital flight. The origin of the term comes from nautical vocabulary, it refers to to sound, which means to throw a weighted line...
  • Reusable launch system

    Reusable launch system

    A reusable launch system (or reusable launch vehicle, RLV) is a launch system which is capable of launching a launch vehicle into space more than once. This contrasts with expendable launch systems, where each launch vehicle is launched once and then discarded. No true orbital reusable launch...
  • Spaceplane

    Spaceplane

    A spaceplane is an aircraft designed to pass the edge of space. It combines some of the features of an aircraft and some of a spacecraft. Typically, it takes the form of a spacecraft equipped with wings, and may be airbreathing or be purely rocket based. To date, only pure rocket spaceplanes have...
  • EELV

    EELV

    Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) is an expendable launch system program of the United States Air Force, intended to assure access to space for Department of Defense and other United States government payloads. The program, which began in in the 1990s with the goal of making government space...
  • Orbital spaceflight

    Orbital spaceflight

    An orbital spaceflight (or orbital flight) is a spaceflight in which a spacecraft is placed on a trajectory where it could remain in space for at least one orbit. To do this around the Earth, it must be on a free trajectory which has an altitude at perigee (altitude at closest approach) above 100...

These people have edited this topic:

Edit this topic
Edit and Show details

Add or delete facts, download data in JSON or RDF formats, and explore topic metadata.

Freebase Logo
What is Freebase?

Freebase is a huge collection of facts, built by people like you. Freebase connects facts in ways other sites can't, giving you new ways to explore millions of subjects.
You can help improve it!

Freebase Attribution

Freebase data is free for use under the CC-BY license.

The original description for Intercontinental ballistic missile was automatically generated from Wikipedia.org licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
[1]
Learn more about Freebase licensing and attribution