This is a timeline of first orbital launches by country. While a number of countries, incl. Canada, Australia, Germany, Brazil, Algeria, Kazakhstan, Turkey, Argentina, Italy, Malaysia, Poland, South Africa, the Philippines, Egypt, Spain, Mexico, Thailand and Chile, have built or launched satellites, as of 2022, eleven countries, incl. the United States, Japan, China, India, Iran, Israel, France, the United Kingdom and South Korea, have had the capability to send objects into orbit with their own launch vehicles. Russia and Ukraine inherited the capability of the space launchers and satellites from the Soviet Union, following its dissolution in 1991. Russia launches its rockets from its own and foreign (Kazakh) spaceports.
This comparison of orbital launch systems lists the attributes of all current and future individual rocket configurations designed to reach orbit. A first list contains rockets that are operational or have attempted an orbital flight attempt as of 2024; a second list includes all upcoming rockets. For the simple list of all conventional launcher families, see: Comparison of orbital launchers families. For the list of predominantly solid-fueled orbital launch systems, see: Comparison of solid-fueled orbital launch systems.
In 2015, the maiden spaceflights of the Chinese Long March 6 and Long March 11 launch vehicles took place.
This article compares different orbital launcher families. The article is organized into two tables: the first contains a list of currently active and under-development launcher families, while the second contains a list of retired launcher families.
LandSpace Technology Corporation is a Chinese commercial space launch provider based in Beijing. It was founded in 2015 by Zhang Changwu.
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.
This article documents expected notable spaceflight events during the 2020s.
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.
For the fourth year in a row, new world records were set for both orbital launch attempts and successful orbital launches. The year featured successful maiden launches of Vulcan Centaur, Gravity-1, Long March 12, Ariane 6, and notably more developmental launches of SpaceX's Starship, including the first ever landing on Flight 5. 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.
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.
Orbital Express Launch Ltd., or Orbex, is a United Kingdom-based aerospace company that is developing a small commercial orbital rocket called Prime. Orbex is headquartered in Forres, Moray, in Scotland and has subsidiaries in Denmark and Germany. Its future launch complex, Sutherland spaceport, is being built on the A' Mhòine peninsula in the county of Sutherland, northern Scotland.
Skyrora Ltd is a British private space company based in Glasgow, Scotland, since 2017.
This article documents expected notable spaceflight events during the year 2026.
SaxaVord Spaceport, previously known as Shetland Space Centre, is a UK spaceport located on the Lamba Ness peninsula on Unst, the most northerly of the inhabited Shetland Islands off the coast of Scotland. The site is near the RAF Saxa Vord radar station and the settlement of Skaw, adjacent to the Saxa Vord distillery.
Space Pioneer, also known as Beijing Tianbing Technology Co., Ltd., is a Chinese aerospace company developing reusable orbital rocket technology—both launch vehicles and liquid rocket engines—to access the market for low-cost space launch services. The company is aiming to meet launch requirements for both the Chinese national satellite internet project and also the CNSA solicitation for resupply of the Tiangong space station.
HyImpulse is a German private space launch enterprise headquartered in Neuenstadt am Kocher and developing a small launch vehicle designed around hybrid-propellant rockets. The company is a DLR spinoff founded in 2018 out of the chemical propulsion center of the German space agency's Lampoldshausen facility. HyImpulse is bankrolled by Rudolf Schwarz, chairman of German technology company IABG.
This article documents expected notable spaceflight events during the year 2029.
