International Launch Services (ILS) stands as an unparalleled success in the space industry. This joint venture has set the standard for Russian-American space cooperation for 13 years.

 

ILS traces its roots back to 1993, when what was then Lockheed Corp. of the United States established a venture to market the Proton launch vehicles worldwide. This international partnership involved Lockheed and two Russian companies: Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center and RSC Energia. The joint venture, called Lockheed Khrunichev Energia International (LKEI), signed its first launch customer that same year.

 

Lockheed merged with Martin Marietta in 1995, creating the Lockheed Martin Corp. Martin Marietta's Commercial Launch Services organization, which manufactured and launched the Atlas rockets, was then consolidated with LKEI, creating a new entity called International Launch Services.

 

ILS answered the need to manage two distinctly different launch vehicles (Atlas and Proton), at three separate launch facilities (Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, Vandenberg Air Force Base in California and Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan), for a myriad of government and private industry customers worldwide. ILS used a single, integrated customer management system for both vehicles, interfacing with the customer along all aspects of the launch campaign from beginning to end. ILS managed both commercial and U.S. government missions aboard Atlas vehicles, and commercial missions only aboard the Proton rockets.

 

In 2000, ILS relocated its headquarters to McLean, Va., a suburb of Washington, D.C., from San Diego, Calif. It also dominated the marketplace, consistently capturing 40 to 50 percent of available missions annually.

 

In October 2006, Space Transport Inc., a privately held corporation, acquired Lockheed Martin's shares in LKEI and ILS. Continuing to use the brand of ILS, the company now provides commercial launch services only on Proton, with exclusive rights to market Khrunichev's Angara next-generation vehicle when it becomes available.

 

The Proton vehicle is the mainstay of the Russian launch fleet, in addition to being a top choice among commercial customers. Russian government and ILS missions together average 6 to 10 flights a year, giving the Proton the best launch tempo in the industry.

Khrunichev, builder of the Proton, is one of the world' s largest aerospace corporations, having been formed in 1993 from the Khrunichev Machine-building Plant and the Salyut Design Bureau. The company can boast more than 40 years of rocket and space expertise.

 

The Proton vehicle's first launch was July 16, 1965. Initially known as UR-500, the vehicle was originally conceived to serve as both an intercontinental ballistic missile and a space launch vehicle. The first four flights lofted "Proton" satellites, and the vehicle then adopted that name. From the two-stage configuration of its early years, the Proton has grown to the three- and four-stage vehicle of today.

 

Proton rockets have played a role in many historic events, such as launching interplanetary missions that produced the first samples of the lunar surface to be returned by an unmanned spacecraft, and the first soft landing on the surface of Venus. The Proton orbited the Salyut series space stations and MIR space station modules, and has delivered elements for the International Space Station. It continues to support the Russian government's space launch requirements.