The Start and Start-1 lightweight launch vehicles are designed to launch small-size spacecraft of various-purpose into low-Earth orbits from the Plesetsk and Svobodny Cosmodromes.

The above space missile systems were created on the basis of technologies developed and tried out in the course of creation and further operation of ground mobile combat systems.

The launch vehicles are made up of assemblies, systems and units of the RS-12M (SS-25) ICBM of the Topol Missile System. The Start LV features an additional engine between the engines used in the 1st and 2nd stages of the Start-1 LV and, correspondingly, differs by longer length, heavier launch weight and higher load-carrying capacity.

The engines are propelled by explosion-proof composite solid propellant providing high specific impulse. The launch vehicles of the Start family are permanently emplased inside launch canisters (LC) made of composite materials. During pre-launch operations the LV is kept in the horizontal position.

The LC is elevated along with the LV into the vertical position immediately before the launch. The missile is projected out of the canister by pressure of combustion materials of a solid propellant gas generator. The engine of the 1st stage is started after the LV leaves the LC. High accuracy of spacecraft orbital injection is provided by the LV's control system based on an on-board digital computer and high-precision gyro-devices.