The phrase "an upper stage" is correct and usable in written English.
It can be used in contexts related to aerospace, engineering, or any situation where different levels or phases are being discussed.
Example: "The rocket's design includes an upper stage that will separate after the initial launch to propel the payload into orbit."
Alternatives: "a higher stage" or "an elevated stage".
An Ares V with an upper stage could capture these missions using direct flights with shorter interplanetary transfer times that would enable extensive in situ investigations and possibly the return of samples to Earth.
Earlier in August, the failure of an upper stage of a different Russian rocket put a communication satellite in a wrong orbit.
It was built during the last half of the Hellenistic period, sometime between 200 and 50 bce, and it includes a large scene building, with an upper stage, cut into the rock.
The Elizabethan theatre differed in that it had a main platform, an inner stage, and an upper stage level that made movement possible in all directions instead of simply along the length of a narrow stage.
When an upper stage has completed its mission, it either falls back to Earth's surface, enters orbit itself, or, most frequently, disintegrates and evaporates as it encounters atmospheric heating on its fall back toward Earth.
To extend the reach of the shuttle's payloads to higher altitudes (and to serve as an upper stage for the Titan IV launcher), Boeing produces the solid-fueled Inertial Upper Stage rocket.
Elon Musk took to Twitter Sunday night to announce a new recovery method for an upper-stage SpaceX rocket.
This paper studies the thrust vector control problem for an upper-stage rocket with fuel slosh dynamics.
The 6 will comprise lower-stages powered by solid-fuel motors, and an upper-stage that uses cryogenic liquids (hydrogen and oxygen).
Optimum design of an upper-stage with bipropellant propulsion system consists of optimization of three major subsystems including thruster, feeding subsystem, and propellant tanks.
The austere staging, directed by Anne Bogart and seen on Saturday afternoon, includes arresting visual effects: Giulietta's first appearance on an upper level of the stage coinciding with Romeo's exit below her, for instance.
