2023 in spaceflight

Last updated

2023 in spaceflight
Orbital launches
First3 January
Last30 December
Total223
Successes211
Failures11
Partial failures1
Catalogued 212
National firsts
Spaceflight
Flag of Oman.svg  Oman (suborbital spaceflight due to failed orbital launch)
Satellite
Space traveller
Rockets
Maiden flights
Retirements
Crewed flights
Orbital6
Orbital travellers21
Suborbital5
Suborbital travellers30
Total travellers51
2023 in spaceflight
  2022
2024  

The year 2023 saw rapid growth and significant technical achievements in spaceflight. For the third year in a row, new world records were set for both orbital launch attempts (223) and successful orbital launches (211). The growth in orbital launch cadence can in large part be attributed to SpaceX, as they increased their number of launches from 61 in 2022 to 98 in 2023. The deployment of the Starlink satellite megaconstellation was a major contributing factor to this increase over previous years. This year also featured numerous maiden launches of new launch vehicles. In particular, SSLV, Qaem 100, Tianlong-2, Chollima-1,and Zhuque-2 performed their first successful orbital launch, while SpaceX's Starship – the world's largest rocket – launched two times during its development stage: IFT-1 and IFT-2.

Contents

In terms of national-level scientific space missions, ISRO successfully soft-landed Chandrayaan-3 on the Moon, Roscosmos's Luna 25 failed to land on the Moon, NASA's OSIRIS-REx returned an asteroid sample from 101955 Bennu back to Earth and NASA's Lucy probe performed a flyby of asteroid 152830 Dinkinesh. This year also saw the launch of ESA's Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer probe, JAXA's XRISM space telescope, JAXA's SLIM lunar lander, and NASA's Psyche asteroid probe.

Two crewed space stations, the International Space Station (ISS) and Tiangong, were in operation in 2023. In terms of crewed missions, the ISS saw Expedition 68, 69, and 70, while Tiangong saw Shenzhou 15, 16, and 17. The ISS also briefly hosted crews of Axiom Mission 2, a private spaceflight mission. Notably, because Soyuz MS-22 was afflicted by a coolant leak, Soyuz MS-23 was launched as a replacement crew return vehicle.

This year also saw the first time citizens of Antigua and Barbuda and Pakistan crossed the 50 mi (80 km) altitude mark, which is the United States's definition of outer space. They did so in a suborbital launch organized by Virgin Galactic, however, they did not managed to cross the Kármán line (100 km or 62 mi). Albania, Djibouti, Ireland, Oman and Vatican City (on behalf of Italy) have their own satellite in orbit for the first time in 2023.

Overview

Astronomy and Astrophysics

European Space Agency's (ESA) Euclid satellite was launched towards Sun-Earth L2 point by a Falcon 9 rocket on July 1. The satellite observes distant galaxies to study dark matter and dark energy.

ISRO launched Aditya-L1 to study the Sun on September 2.

JAXA launched XRISM (X-Ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission) X-ray space telescope and SLIM lunar lander on September 6.

Exploration of the Solar System

On 14 April, ESA launched the Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) spacecraft to explore Jupiter and its large ice-covered moons following an eight-year transit. [1]

The OSIRIS-REx mission returned to Earth on 24 September with samples collected from asteroid Bennu. [2]

NASA launched the Psyche spacecraft on 13 October 2023, an orbiter mission that will explore the origin of planetary cores by studying the metallic asteroid 16 Psyche, on a Falcon Heavy launch vehicle.

On November 1, NASA's Lucy probe performed a flyby of asteroid 152830 Dinkinesh, revealing it to be a binary pair. [3] [4]

Lunar exploration

ISRO launched its third lunar mission Chandrayaan-3 on 14 July 2023 at 9:05 UTC; [5] it consisted of lander, rover and a propulsion module, [6] and successfully landed in the south pole region of the Moon on 23 August 2023. For technology demonstration experiments, hop experiment on the Vikram Lander was conducted and the Propulsion Module (PM) of Chandrayaan-3 was moved from an orbit around Moon to an orbit around Earth, where it operated until 22 August 2024. [7] [8]

Russian lunar lander Luna 25 was launched on 10 August 2023, 23:10 UTC, atop a Soyuz-2.1b rocket from the Vostochny Cosmodrome. [9] It is the first Russian attempt to land a spacecraft on the Moon since the Soviet lander Luna 24 in 1974. It crashed on the Moon on 19 August after technical glitches.

JAXA launched SLIM (Smart Lander for Investigating Moon) lunar lander (carrying two mini rovers) and a space telescope (XRISM) on 6 September. SLIM entered orbit around the Moon on 25 December (UTC).

Human spaceflight

A new record for the number of people in space at the same time, though not necessarily all in orbit, was reached on 25 May 2023. 20 people were in space simultaneously, with eleven people aboard the ISS, three on Tiangong, and six on VSS Unity. [10] Five days later on 30 May, the record for the number of people in orbit simultaneously was broken as well, with 17 people in orbit at once; 6 people on Tiangong from Shenzhou 15 and 16, 7 people from Expedition 69 on the ISS as well 4 crew members from Axiom-2 also on the ISS. [11] [10]

Private Human Spaceflight and Tourism

Axiom Mission 2 private crew mission to the International Space Station was launched on 21 May 2023 on a SpaceX Falcon 9. The mission ended with the successful return of the crew to Earth on 31 May 2023.

Virgin Galactic Unity 25 mission took place 25 May 2023. This was the first mission for Virgin Galactic's suborbital spaceplane VSS Unity since 2021. On 29 June 2023, Virgin Galactic flew their first commercial suborbital spaceflight mission, Galactic 01, with their suborbital spaceplane VSS Unity. Onboard Unity were three employees of the company and three passengers (whose flight had been paid from outside the company) from the Italian Air Force and Italy’s National Research Council. [12] On 10 August Virgin Galactic flew their Galactic 02 mission, the first VSS Unity flight carrying a space tourist. Galactic 03 mission flew on 8 September, followed by Galactic 04 on 6 October and Galactic 05 on 2 November 2023. All of these crewed suborbital missions were flown by Unity.

Rocket innovation

On 10 January, ABL Space Systems' RS1 had its debut flight, but failed to reach orbit. [13]

On 10 February, SSLV rocket developed by ISRO had its first successful orbital launch.

On 4 March, IRGC's Qaem 100 performed its orbital maiden flight following a successful suborbital test flight in 2022. However the vehicle, which was carrying the Nahid-1 satellite, failed to put the payload in orbit. [14] [15]

On 7 March, JAXA/MHI H3's maiden flight was terminated in-flight due to failure to ignite the second stage, resulting in the loss of the ALOS-3 land observation satellite. [16]

On 23 March, Relativity Space's Terran 1 had its debut flight. The flight goal, which was to demonstrate the viability of 3D printing for major structural components of a rocket, was achieved when Terran 1 passed max q and continued to perform nominally. However, after stage separation, the second stage failed to ignite, ending the mission. [17] Following the failed launch, Relativity retired the rocket in favor of developing the much larger, reusable Terran R vehicle. [18]

On 2 April, Space Pioneer's Tianlong-2 had its debut flight, and successfully reached orbit. It was the first successful launch of a Chinese privately-funded liquid-fueled rocket. Space Pioneer is the first private company to reach orbit on its first attempt using a fully liquid fueled rocket. [19]

On 20 April, SpaceX's Starship had its first test flight, [20] aiming to complete about three-quarters of an orbit and landing in the Pacific Ocean northwest of Kauai. [21] Several engines on the booster failed during the flight and the flight termination system was triggered, ending the flight before stage separation.

On 22 April, Evolution Space completed its first suborbital space flight test with the Gold Chain Cowboy solid-fueled rocket. [22]

On 30 May, the North Korean Chollima-1 made its first orbital launch attempt, carrying the military reconnaissance satellite Malligyong-1. [23] However, the launch failed to achieve orbit when the second stage ignited too early in the mission. [24] The launch vehicle crashed into the Yellow Sea. [25]

On 12 July, LandSpace's Zhuque-2 rocket, in its second flight, became the world's first methane-fuelled rocket to successfully reach orbit. [26]

On 5 September, the sea-launched version of the Ceres-1 launch vehicle, designated Ceres-1S, made its successful debut.

On 15 September, the Firefly Alpha made its successful flight for a tactically responsive mission for the U.S. Space Force. [27]

On November 18, 2023, SpaceX Starship attempted its second flight test, becoming the heaviest rocket to enter space, although the first stage exploded shortly after separation, while the second stage was lost nearly eight minutes after launch. In the same month, they completed the construction of crew access tower at CCSFS SLC-40 launch pad, where they completed 50 launches alone on that launch pad. They also completed 250th Falcon booster landing.

In December 2023, USA broke the world record of most launches by a nation (108), held by Soviet Union in 1982. [28] [29] In the same month, they completed 200th successful Falcon booster autonomous spaceport droneship landing.

Satellite technology

On January 27, ESA reported the successful demonstration of a braking sail-based satellite deorbiter, ADEO, which could be used by space debris mitigation measures. [30] [31]

In April, Chinese media first reported on tests of flexible organic solar cells on balloons in the 35 km stratosphere. [32] [33]

On 29 July a Falcon Heavy rocket launched the Jupiter-3 (EchoStar-24) [34] communications satellite to geosynchronous orbit. With a mass of over 9 tonnes, EchoStar's Jupiter-3 is the heaviest geostationary satellite ever launched. [35]

On 1 June, Caltech reported the first successful demonstration of solar energy from space via its SSPD-1 spacecraft. [36] [37]

Orbital launches

List of orbital launches
MonthNum. of successesNum. of failuresNum. of partial failures
January 1420
February 1200
March 2230
April 1110
May 1910
June 1300
July 1800
August 2110
September 2120
October 1700
November 1510
December 2801
Total211111

Deep-space rendezvous

Date (UTC)SpacecraftEventRemarks
21 March Hakuto-R Mission 1 Lunar orbit insertionSuccess [38]
25 April Hakuto-R Mission 1 Lunar landingCommunications were lost, landing failed. [39]
19 June BepiColombo Third gravity assist at Mercury
31 July Juno 53rd perijoveOn this perijove Juno flew by Io at a distance of 22,000 km. [40]
5 August Chandrayaan-3 Lunar orbit insertion Success [41]
16 August Luna 25 Lunar orbit insertion Success [42]
19 August Luna 25 Lunar landingCommunications were lost, crashed onto the Moon's surface. [43]
21 August Parker Solar Probe Sixth gravity assist at Venus
23 August Chandrayaan-3 Lunar landingSuccess [44]
24 September OSIRIS-REx Sample return to Earth and gravity assist at EarthSuccess [45]
4 October SLIM Flyby of the Moon Part of the spacecraft's approach to lunar orbit via a Weak stability boundary like trajectory
Between 13 October and 10 November Chandrayaan-3 4 Lunar flybys on Earth returnSuccess [7]
1 November Lucy Flyby of 152830 Dinkinesh The spacecraft flew by the asteroid at a distance of 425 km. [46]
25 December SLIM Lunar orbit insertionSuccess [47]
30 December Juno 57th perijoveOn the day of this perijove, Juno flew by Io at a distance of 1,500 km. Orbital period around Jupiter reduced to 35 days. [48] [49]

Extravehicular activities (EVAs)

Start Date/TimeDurationEnd TimeSpacecraftCrewRemarks
20 January 2023
13:14
7 hours 21 minutes20:35 Expedition 68
ISS Quest
Flag of Japan.svg Koichi Wakata
Flag of the United States.svg Nicole Mann
First spacewalk of 2023 to finish installation of the IROSA mounting brackets on the starboard side of the station. Wakata and Mann installed cables on the 1B Array at the S6 truss, which was not completed on the last spacewalk, tightened bolts and installed a terminator on a cable along with its connected jumper on the SSDCDC converter box to isolate the 1B array until the IROSA solar arrays are installed following the arrival of SpaceX CRS-28 in June. They also assembled and installed the IROSA mounting bracket onto the 1A array, which was also left incomplete on the last spacewalk. Wakata and Mann were unable to secure the final strut on the 1A solar array because of debris in the guide track of the mounting pad and only one of the jumpers was installed. The astronauts returned the strut to the Quest Airlock and will use special tools to clean the tracks before it is remounted on the next spacewalk. They were also unable to connect the cables for 1A due to time constraints. NASA astronaut Zena Cardman was Ground IV, assisted by JAXA astronaut Akihiko Hoshide, who was the Capcom for the astronauts inside the ISS during the spacewalk. [50] [51] [52]
2 February 2023
12:45
6 hours 41 minutes19:26 Expedition 68
ISS Quest
Flag of the United States.svg Nicole Mann
Flag of Japan.svg Koichi Wakata
Final spacewalk to install the mounting brackets for the 1A solar array in preparation for the delivery of IROSA on SpaceX CRS-28. Tasks included installing the final strut, securing the bolts on the 1A solar array, relocating foot restraints that were left on P6 inboard, and routing cables. NASA astronaut Zena Cardman was Ground IV. [53] [54]
9 February 2023
9:10
7 hours 6 minutes16:16 Shenzhou 15
TSS Wentian airlock
Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg Fei Junlong
Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg Zhang Lu
They completed a series of tasks, including installing the fourth external pump (Z01-04) on the Mengtian lab module and other tasks related to Mengtian's payload airlock, which allows astronauts to deploy science payloads and small satellites using the station's robotic arms. After successfully completing the installation and commissioning of the extended pump set in the Mengtian experimental cabin, Fei Junlong needs to transfer to the core cabin of Tianhe, remove the foot stopper in the tool box outside the node, and then return to the Mengtian experimental cabin, and install it in the designated location for the second time out of the cabin to install large equipment. For the first time, Fei Junlong held a large-scale foot stopper and an external operating platform to carry out a large-scale transfer, which put forward higher requirements for the safety of the task. [55] It is China's longest spacewalk to date. [56]
2 March 2023
??:??
 ? hours ? minutes ??:?? Shenzhou 15

TSS Wentian airlock

Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg Fei Junlong
Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg Zhang Lu
Fei Junlong and Zhang Lu went out of the cabin again to perform tasks such as the installation of external equipment on the space station. After leaving the cabin, Fei Junlong and Zhang Lu first autonomously transferred to the operating point with the help of the handrail outside the cabin. During the crawling process, Fei Junlong had to take off the two safety rope hooks of the previous handrail and hang them on the next handrail every time he moved a handrail. Repeatedly picking and hanging the hooks was a small challenge and not good for the strength of the astronaut’s upper limbs.

The equipment that Fei Junlong and Zhang Lu are going to install for the second time out of the cabin has about 20 plugs, and these plugs have protective covers. [57] When installing, you need to pull out the protective covers before inserting the plugs. Do a power test. Other tasks were to dump trash bags during spacewalk. [58]

30 March 2023
??:??
 ? hours ? minutes ??:?? Shenzhou 15

TSS Wentian airlock

Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg Fei Junlong
Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg Zhang Lu
Fei Junlong and Zhang Lu partnered again to perform the third out-of-cabin activity and complete the task of installing and connecting cables across the cabin. There are more than 40 plugs at both ends of the cross-cabin cable, and the work intensity and difficulty are greater than last time.

Fei Junlong and Zhang Lu successfully completed this mission in a way that they had not trained before. [59] Other tasks were to dump trash bags during spacewalk. [60]

15 April 2023
??:??
 ? hours ? minutes ??:?? Shenzhou 15

TSS Wentian airlock

Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg Fei Junlong
Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg Zhang Lu
During the fourth spacewalk, the three astronauts of the Shenzhou 15 crew worked closely together inside and outside the cabin, and successfully completed the installation of the fifth extended pump (Z02-01) set outside the Mengtian, the installation and connection of cross-cabin cables, and the external load exposure platform. The installation of support rods and other tasks laid the foundation for the subsequent large-scale extravehicular science and technology experiments. Other tasks were to dump trash bags during spacewalk. [61]
19 April
01:40
7 hours 55 minutes09:35 Expedition 69

ISS Poisk

Flag of Russia.svg Sergey Prokopyev
Flag of Russia.svg Dmitry Petelin
Ninth in a series of spacewalks to outfit Nauka and to prepare ERA for operations. The spacewalkers used ERA to pick up the radiator with the arm where it was relocated at the end of the spacewalk. They closed valves on the nitrogen jumpers, removed covers over the nitrogen jumpers, disconnected the radiator heater cable and capped it, removed bolts and launch restraints, and transferred the radiator over to Nauka and installed it into a socket on the forward face where it will be deployed at the end of EVA 4. As part of get-ahead tasks, they will prepare the airlock for transfer to Nauka on the next spacewalk and stowed the ERA adapter on the airlock. Because of time and issues with matting the radiator the task to jettison the covers was moved to the next spacewalk. This was the longest spacewalk of this expedition and a critical one to get the lab activated. [62]
28 April
13:11
7 hours 1 minute20:12 Expedition 68
ISS Quest
Flag of the United States.svg Stephen Bowen
Flag of the United Arab Emirates.svg Sultan Al Neyadi
Bowen and Al Neyadi, who became the first Arab astronaut to perform a spacewalk, finished routing cables and secured the struts with MLI at the 1B and 1A solar arrays in preparation for the arrival of the IROSA arrays in June. The primary task to retrieve the Space to Ground Antenna (SASA) was deferred to the next spacewalk because a stuck bolt on the electronics box prevented the antenna from being released from the FRAM. NASA Astronaut Anne McClain was Ground IV CAPCOM. [63] [64] [65]
4 May
20:00
7 hours 11 minutes03:11 Expedition 69

ISS Poisk

Flag of Russia.svg Sergey Prokopyev
Flag of Russia.svg Dmitry Petelin
Tenth in a series of spacewalks to outfit Nauka and to prepare ERA for operations. The spacewalkers removed bolts, removed covers, disconnected cables, and used ERA to transfer the airlock over to Nauka where it was installed on the forward facing port. Once the airlock was installed they mated cables and jettisoned their trash which included hardware and covers from the previous spacewalks and this spacewalk. Spacewalk faced a delay when ERA entered an uncontrolled roll placing the airlock out of alignment. Prokopyev and Petelin improvised with a little elbow grease and got the airlock rotated into the correct position and got it latched in place. Spacewalk faced another delay when tape was found on the electrical connectors requiring Prokopyev to cut it before the cables were connected. [66] [67] [68] [69]
12 May
15:47
5 hours 14 minutes23:01 Expedition 69

ISS Poisk

Flag of Russia.svg Sergey Prokopyev
Flag of Russia.svg Dmitry Petelin
Eleventh and final spacewalk to outfit Nauka and to prepare ERA for operations. To wrap up work on Nauka, the cosmonauts deployed the radiator, and installed nitrogen and ammonia jumpers to cool the Russian Segment and connected the radiator to electrical power, hydraulics, and mechanical connections. As a getahead task while the radiator was being filled with coolant the cosmonauts installed gap spanners on ERA's boom to allow for translation on future spacewalks. [70] [71]
9 June
13:15
6 hours 3 minutes19:18 Expedition 69
ISS Quest
Flag of the United States.svg Stephen Bowen
Flag of the United States.svg Woody Hoburg
NASA astronauts Steve Bowen and Woody Hoburg exited the station’s Quest airlock and installed an upgraded IROSA (International Space Station Roll-Out Solar Array) on the 1A power channel on the starboard truss of the station. Task included removing bolts, deploying the rollers, and installing cables before the solar array was picked up by Hoburg with assistance from Canadarm 2 and installed on the 1A solar array on the S4 Truss. The array was deployed at 16:32 hours and is receiving power. [72] [73]
15 June
12:42
5 hours 35 minutes18:17 Expedition 69
ISS Quest
Flag of the United States.svg Stephen Bowen
Flag of the United States.svg Woody Hoburg
NASA astronauts Steve Bowen and Woody Hoburg exited the station’s Quest airlock to install the final upgraded IROSA (International Space Station Roll-Out Solar Array) on the 1B power channel on the starboard truss of the station. Task included removing bolts, deploying the rollers, and installing cables before the solar array was picked up by Hoburg with assistance from Canadarm 2 and installed on the 1B solar array on the S6 Truss. The array was deployed at 16:51 hours and is receiving power. As part of getahead task they covered the cables in MLI and secured the struts, relocated their foot restraints inboard, and stowed the support beams on the flight support structure for disposal. [74] [75]
22 June
14:24
6 hours 24 minutes20:48 Expedition 69

ISS Poisk

Flag of Russia.svg Sergey Prokopyev
Flag of Russia.svg Dmitry Petelin
Prokopyev and Petelin exited the Poisk airlock and routed an Ethernet cable to the port experiment frame on the Zvezda Service Module, jettisoned experiment hardware including the TMTC Monoblock antennas, the highspeed data transmission antenna, and the Seismo Prognos payload, installed a data transmission radio onto the port frame, removed experiments from the Zvezda Service Module, photographed Zvezda including the thrusters so they can patch the leak, inspected an antenna, and retrieved the Biorisk containers. As a getahead they cleaned the windows on the Russian segment, reposition the Plume Measurement Unit, and jettisoned a towel. [76] [77]
20 July 2023
05:45
7 hours 55 minutes13:40 Shenzhou 16
TSS Wentian airlock
Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg Jing Haipeng
Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg Zhu Yangzhu
They installed & lifted the bracket for panoramic camera B of core module, unlocked & lifted panoramic camera A/B of Mengtian lab module. Zhu Yangzhu became first Chinese flight engineer to conduct an extravehicular activity. [78]
9 August
14:44
6 hours 35 minutes21:19 Expedition 69

ISS Poisk

Flag of Russia.svg Sergey Prokopyev
Flag of Russia.svg Dmitry Petelin
Twelfth and final spacewalk to outfit Nauka and to prepare ERA for operations. Both cosmonauts ventured outside the station’s PoiskAirlock to attach three debris shields to the Rassvet module. They also tested the sturdiness of the last MLM outfitting called the ERA portable workpost , that will be affixed to the end of the European robotic arm attached to the Nauka multipurpose laboratory module. [79] [80] [81]
25 October
17:49
7 hours 41 minutes01:30 (next day) Expedition 70

ISS Poisk

Flag of Russia.svg Oleg Kononenko
Flag of Russia.svg Nikolai Chub
The cosmonauts ventured outside and installed a mini radar experiment on Nauka, launched a CubeSat which will test solar sails, and photographed the RTOd radiator and closed valves to isolate the radiator and vented residual coolant so plans can be done to fix a leaking cooling line that delayed two US spacewalks. During one of the vents, Kononenko got sprayed and the coolant got on one of his tethers. The tether was placed in a trash bag and stowed externally to decontaminate it, while Kononenko's suit was wiped down to prevent coolant from entering the station. During the radar deployment, one of the hinges got stuck. The cosmonauts will go out on the next spacewalk with a pole and lock the hinges so it can be deployed. During the satellite deployment, the telescoping booms did not come out and ground controllers are working to manually deploy them so the satellite can track the sun. [82] [83] [84]
1 November 2023
12:05
6 hours 42 minutes18:47 Expedition 70
ISS Quest
Flag of the United States.svg Jasmin Moghbeli
Flag of the United States.svg Loral O'Hara
Moghbeli and O'Hara ventured outside and removed an H fixture from the 3B mass canister on the P4 truss in preparation for the arrival of the struts and the IROSA solar arrays in 2025. They also replaced a damaged Trundle Bearing under Cover 2 which had been giving them trouble in the past and greased the tracks before the new Trundle Bearing was installed on the port SARJ, secured a cable on Camera 8 which was shorting out a light used for dockings, and released wedge clamps on the SASA antenna. The primary task to retrieve the SASA antenna from ESP2 so it can be returned to Earth on SpaceX CRS-29 was moved to the next spacewalk because of issues removing the covers from the SARJ. O'Hara was not secured properly during the removal and had to be assisted by Moghbeli to get the cover stowed. During the spacewalk, the bag containing the grease gun was lost, but the tools were not needed and the bag posed no collision risk to the station. This was the fourth all-female spacewalk on the station, following Christina Koch and Jessica Meir's three spacewalks during Expedition 61. [85] [86] [87]
21 December 2023
6:10
7 hours 25 minutes13:35 Shenzhou 17
TSS Wentian airlock
Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg Tang Hongbo
Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg Tang Shengjie
Tasks included a repair test of the Tianhe core module's solar panels, which have sustained minor damage caused by impacts of space debris and micrometeoroids. [88]

Space debris events

Date/Time (UTC)Source objectEvent typePieces trackedRemarks
4 January Flag of Russia.svg Kosmos 2499 Breakup85Energetic fragmentation event; Cause Unknown
11 March Flag of the United States.svg Orbcomm F36 Breakup7Unknown; likely energetic fragmentation event caused by a malfunction in the hydrazine orbit adjust system [89] [90]
29 June Flag of the Soviet Union.svg Kosmos 2143 (Strela-3)Breakup6Unknown; likely energetic fragmentation caused by battery overpressure. Six fragments alongside the primary vehicle. [91]
21 August Flag of Europe.svg Vega VV02 VESPA adapterBreakup7Unknown; likely debris impact [92] [93]

Orbital launch statistics

By country

For the purposes of this section, the yearly tally of orbital launches by country assigns each flight to the country of origin of the rocket, not to the launch services provider or the spaceport. As an example, Electron launches from Mahia in New Zealand are counted under USA.

Circle frame.svgChina: 67Europe: 3India: 7Iran: 2Israel: 1Japan: 3North Korea: 3Russia: 19South Korea: 2USA: 116
CountryLaunchesSuccessesFailuresPartial
failures
Remarks
Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg  China 676610
Flag of Europe.svg  Europe 3300
Flag of India.svg  India 7700
Flag of Iran.svg  Iran 2110
Flag of Israel.svg  Israel 1100
Flag of Japan.svg  Japan 3210
Flag of North Korea.svg  North Korea 3120
Flag of Russia.svg  Russia 191900
Flag of South Korea.svg  South Korea 2200
Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States 11610961Includes Electron launches from Mahia
Broke world record of most launches by a nation (108) held by Soviet Union in 1982. [94] [95]
World223211111

By rocket

10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100

By family

By type

By configuration

By spaceport

25
50
75
100
125
150
China
France
India
Iran
Israel
Japan
Kazakhstan
New Zealand
North Korea
Russia
South Korea
SiteCountryLaunchesSuccessesFailuresPartial failuresRemarks
Baikonur Flag of Kazakhstan.svg  Kazakhstan 9900
Cape Canaveral Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States 595810
Cornwall Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  United Kingdom 1010First launch
Jeju [96] Flag of South Korea.svg  South Korea 1100First launch
Jiuquan Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg  China 363510
Kennedy Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States 131300
Kourou Flag of France.svg  France 3300
Mahia Flag of New Zealand.svg  New Zealand 7610
MARS Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States 3300
Naro Flag of South Korea.svg  South Korea 1100
PSCA Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States 1010
Palmachim Flag of Israel.svg  Israel 1100
Plesetsk Flag of Russia.svg  Russia 7700
Satish Dhawan Flag of India.svg  India 7700
Shahroud Flag of Iran.svg  Iran 2110
Sohae Flag of North Korea.svg  North Korea 3120
South China Sea Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg  China 2200
Starbase Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States 2020First orbital launch
Taiyuan Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg  China 9900
Tanegashima Flag of Japan.svg  Japan 3210
Vandenberg Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States 302901
Vostochny Flag of Russia.svg  Russia 3300
Wenchang Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg  China 4400
Xichang Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg  China 151500
Yellow Sea Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg  China 1100
Total223211111

By orbit

50
100
150
200
  •   Low Earth
  •   Low Earth (ISS)
  •   Low Earth (CSS)
  •   Low Earth (SSO)
  •   Low Earth (retrograde)
  •   Medium Earth
  •   Molniya
  •   Geosynchronous
  •   Tundra
  •   Lunar transfer
  •   High Earth Orbit
  •   Heliocentric
  •  
Orbital regimeLaunchesAchievedNot achievedAccidentally
achieved
Remarks
Transatmospheric 2020
Low Earth / Sun-synchronous 18517690Including flights to ISS and Tiangong (CSS)
Geosynchronous / Tundra / GTO 252500
Medium Earth / Molniya 6600
High Earth / Lunar transfer 2200
Heliocentric orbit / Planetary transfer 3300
Total223212110

Suborbital launch statistics

By country

For the purposes of this section, the yearly tally of suborbital launches by country assigns each flight to the country of origin of the rocket, not to the launch services provider or the spaceport. Flights intended to fly below 80 km (50 mi) are omitted.

Circle frame.svgSpain: 1Brazil: 3Canada: 7China: 2France: 2Germany: 1India: 0Iran: 2Israel: 1Japan: 1The Netherlands: 0North Korea: 7Pakistan: 3Russia: 5Slovenia: 0South Korea: 1Taiwan: 0Turkey: 1United Kingdom: 0USA: 39Ukraine: 0Yemen: 1
CountryLaunchesSuccessesFailuresPartial
failures
Remarks
Flag of Brazil.svg  Brazil 3300
Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Canada 7610
Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg  China 2200
Flag of France.svg  France 2200
Flag of Germany.svg  Germany 1010
Flag of Iran.svg  Iran 2200
Flag of Israel.svg  Israel 1100
Flag of Japan.svg  Japan 1100
Flag of North Korea.svg  North Korea 7700
Flag of Pakistan.svg  Pakistan 3210
Flag of Russia.svg  Russia 5410
Flag of South Korea.svg  South Korea 1100
Flag of Turkey.svg  Turkey 1100
Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States 393540
Flag of Yemen.svg  Yemen 1100
World776980

Notes

    Related Research Articles

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Human spaceflight</span> Spaceflight with a crew or passengers

    Human spaceflight is spaceflight with a crew or passengers aboard a spacecraft, often with the spacecraft being operated directly by the onboard human crew. Spacecraft can also be remotely operated from ground stations on Earth, or autonomously, without any direct human involvement. People trained for spaceflight are called astronauts, cosmonauts (Russian), or taikonauts (Chinese); and non-professionals are referred to as spaceflight participants or spacefarers.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Space tourism</span> Human space travel for recreation

    Space tourism is human space travel for recreational purposes. There are several different types of space tourism, including orbital, suborbital and lunar space tourism. Tourists are motivated by the possibility of viewing Earth from space, feeling weightlessness, experiencing extremely high speed and something unusual, and contributing to science.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Spaceflight</span> Flight into or through outer space

    Spaceflight is an application of astronautics to fly objects, usually spacecraft, into or through outer space, either with or without humans on board. Most spaceflight is uncrewed and conducted mainly with spacecraft such as satellites in orbit around Earth, but also includes space probes for flights beyond Earth orbit. Such spaceflights operate either by telerobotic or autonomous control. The first spaceflights began in the 1950s with the launches of the Soviet Sputnik satellites and American Explorer and Vanguard missions. Human spaceflight programs include the Soyuz, Shenzhou, the past Apollo Moon landing and the Space Shuttle programs. Other current spaceflight are conducted to the International Space Station and to China's Tiangong Space Station.

    Human spaceflight programs have been conducted, started, or planned by multiple countries and companies. Until the 21st century, human spaceflight programs were sponsored exclusively by governments, through either the military or civilian space agencies. With the launch of the privately funded SpaceShipOne in 2004, a new category of human spaceflight programs – commercial human spaceflight – arrived. By the end of 2022, three countries and one private company (SpaceX) had successfully launched humans to Earth orbit, and two private companies had launched humans on a suborbital trajectory.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Space Adventures</span> American space tourism company

    Space Adventures, Inc. is an American space tourism company founded in 1998 by Eric C. Anderson. Its offerings include zero-gravity atmospheric flights, orbital spaceflights, and other spaceflight-related experiences including cosmonaut training, spacewalk training, and launch tours. Plans announced thus far include sub-orbital and lunar spaceflights, though these are not being actively pursued at present. Nine of its clients have participated in the orbital spaceflight program with Space Adventures, including one who took two separate trips to space.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Space Age</span> Historical period started in 1957

    The Space Age is a period encompassing the activities related to the space race, space exploration, space technology, and the cultural developments influenced by these events, beginning with the launch of Sputnik 1 on October 4, 1957, and continuing to the present.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Moon landing</span> Arrival of a spacecraft on the Moons surface

    A Moon landing or lunar landing is the arrival of a spacecraft on the surface of the Moon, including both crewed and robotic missions. The first human-made object to touch the Moon was Luna 2 in 1959.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Minotaur (rocket family)</span> Family of American rockets

    The Minotaur is a family of United States solid-fuel launch vehicles repurposed from retired Minuteman and Peacekeeper model intercontinental ballistic missiles. Built by Northrop Grumman under the Space Force's Rocket Systems Launch Program, these vehicles are used for various space and test launch missions.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">History of spaceflight</span>

    Spaceflight began in the 20th century following theoretical and practical breakthroughs by Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, Robert H. Goddard, and Hermann Oberth, each of whom published works proposing rockets as the means for spaceflight. The first successful large-scale rocket programs were initiated in Nazi Germany by Wernher von Braun. The Soviet Union took the lead in the post-war Space Race, launching the first satellite, the first animal, the first human and the first woman into orbit. The United States landed the first men on the Moon in 1969. Through the late 20th century, France, the United Kingdom, Japan, and China were also working on projects to reach space.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">2015 in spaceflight</span>

    In 2015, the maiden spaceflights of the Chinese Long March 6 and Long March 11 launch vehicles took place.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">2019 in spaceflight</span>

    This article documents notable spaceflight events during the year 2019.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Tourism on the Moon</span> Future plans to make the Moon available for tourism

    Lunar tourism may be possible in the future if trips to the Moon are made available to a private audience. Some space tourism startup companies are planning to offer tourism on or around the Moon, and estimate this to be possible sometime between 2023 and 2043.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">2021 in spaceflight</span>

    The year 2021 broke the record for the most orbital launch attempts till then (146) and most humans in space concurrently (19) despite the effects of COVID-19 pandemic.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">2022 in spaceflight</span>

    The year 2022 witnessed the number of launches of SpaceX's Falcon rocket family surpassing the CNSA's Long March rocket family, making the United States the country with the highest number of launches in 2022 instead of China. This year also featured the first successful launch of Long March 6A, Nuri, Angara 1.2, Vega C, Kinetica-1, and Jielong-3. National space agencies' activities in this year is also marred by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, leading to tension between Roscosmos and Western space agencies, threats of ending collaboration on the International Space Station (ISS), and delays on space missions.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">2024 in spaceflight</span>

    The year 2024 is expected to exceed 2023's 223 orbital launches. So far, the year saw the successful first launch of Vulcan Centaur, Gravity-1, Ariane 6, and notably more developmental launches of SpaceX's Starship. Additionally, the final launch of a Delta family rocket occurred in April with a Delta IV Heavy. In May, China launched the Chang'e 6, the first sample return from the far side of the Moon. The Polaris Dawn mission conducted the first ever commercial spacewalk in September.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Progress MS-21</span> 2022 Russian resupply spaceflight to the ISS

    Progress MS-21, Russian production No.451, identified by NASA as Progress 82P, was a Progress spaceflight launched by Roscosmos to resupply the International Space Station (ISS). It was the 174th flight of a Progress spacecraft.

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    Generic references:
    RocketSunIcon.svg Spaceflightportal