The disclosure of previously unannounced successes of Ukrainian missile production and plans for creating a sovereign satellite constellation, made by Ukrainian Parliament member Fedir Venislavsky, is quite worth perceiving not only in the context of the space program.
In an interview published by Ukrainian outlet RBC-Ukraine, it's very worth paying attention to the following statements: (During the russia-Ukraine war) units of Ukraine’s military intelligence have already launched a rocket carrier from Ukrainian territory into space on two occasion. The first launch reached an altitude of over 100 kilometers, while the second reached 204 kilometers… These were combat mission executions…
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In other words, the combat mission's goal was hardly achieving a certain altitude specifically. This became the result of an unknown ballistic missile's flight, obviously with a warhead, to a target. This quite fits into another phrase: We have missiles that almost no one knows about, but which are capable of striking enemy territory at distances up to 500 kilometers and flying at hypersonic speeds.
However, Defense Express immediately notes that words about hypersonic speeds shouldn't be perceived in the context of developing a hypersonic missile specifically. Ballistic missiles that can cover ranges of about 500 km usually accelerate to speeds over Mach 5 (1,700 m/s).
This also means Ukraine already has ballistic missiles of this class, though obviously not in significant quantities. At the same time, exactly when and at what targets, as well as with what result, these launches were carried out is currently unknown.
What becomes known next is about another experiment: During the war, Ukraine from a transport aircraft at approximately 8,000 meters altitude carried out a rocket carrier launch, which potentially can also be used for putting various types of spacecraft into orbit.
It's also mentioned that the U.S. did this first in the mid-70s. We're talking about 1974, when Americans dropped a serial three-stage 39-ton Minuteman I intercontinental ballistic missile from a C-5A Galaxy from 6 km altitude.
In practice, launching a ballistic missile from an aircraft allows overcoming the first and most difficult kilometers of flight, when atmospheric resistance is very significant. Thus, with an already existing ballistic missile, it's possible to achieve even greater range, but its dimensions and weight will be limited by the carrier's capabilities.
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