[2][3] It was founded in 1955 as a Propulsion laboratory of the Soviet Academy of Sciences; in 1962 it obtained status of Design Bureau, OKB.

[4] Fakel specializes in spacecraft attitude control thrusters, ion engines and plasma sources.

[2] Many companies have used Fakel electrically powered spacecraft propulsion systems on their hardware flown in space.

Company's hardware were used on SESAT 1, Alphasat, LS-1300, Meteor spacecraft, USP bus, AMOS-6, MobaHo!, Inmarsat-4 F3, Astra 1K, Luch, and many others as well.

ISS-Reshetnev - Khrunichev - TsSKB-Progress - NPO Lavochkin - RKK Energiya - Keldysh Research Center - CNIIHM - Moscow Aviation Institute - Aerojet Rocketdyne - Snecma - Thales Alenia Space - Airbus Defence and Space - Space Systems/Loral - RUAG - Israel Aerospace Industries - OHB Sweden - Aerospazio.