The Guiana Space Centre, also called Europe's Spaceport, is a European spaceport to the northwest of Kourou in French Guiana, a region of France in South America. Kourou is located approximately 310 mi (500 km) north of the equator at a latitude of 5°. In operation since 1968, it is a suitable location for a spaceport because of its equatorial location and open sea to the east.
Vega is an expendable launch system in use by Arianespace jointly developed by the Italian Space Agency (ASI) and the European Space Agency (ESA). Development began in 1998 and the first launch took place from the Guiana Space Centre on 13 February 2012.
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 article lists all active and upcoming orbital launch systems. For retired launch vehicles, see Comparison of retired orbital launch systems.
Andøya Space, also named Andøya Space Center and formerly Andøya Rocket Range, is a rocket launch site, rocket range, and spaceport on Andøya island in Andøy Municipality in Nordland county, Norway. Since 1962, over 1,200 sounding and sub-orbital rockets of various configurations have been launched from the site.
Astra Space, Inc. is an American launch vehicle company based in Alameda, California. Astra was incorporated in October 2016 by Chris Kemp and Adam London. Formerly known in media as "Stealth Space Company", the company formally came out as Astra Space, Inc. in a Bloomberg L.P. article by Ashlee Vance. Investors include BlackRock, Advance, ACME, Airbus Ventures, Innovation Endeavors, Salesforce co-founder Marc Benioff, former Disney CEO Michael Eisner, and more.
Firefly Aerospace is an American private aerospace firm based in Cedar Park, Texas, that develops launch vehicles for commercial launches to orbit. The company completed its $75 million Series A investment round in May 2021, which was led by DADA Holdings. The current company was formed when the assets of the former company Firefly Space Systems were acquired by EOS Launcher in March 2017, which was then renamed Firefly Aerospace. Firefly's stated purpose is to increase access to space, similar to other private spaceflight companies.
Electron is a two-stage, partially reusable orbital launch vehicle developed by Rocket Lab, an American aerospace company with a wholly owned New Zealand subsidiary. Electron services the commercial small satellite launch market. It's the third most launched small-lift launch vehicle in history. Its Rutherford engines are the first electric-pump-fed engine to power an orbital-class rocket. Electron is often flown with a kickstage or Rocket Lab's Photon spacecraft. Although the rocket was designed to be expendable, Rocket Lab has recovered the first stage twice and is working towards the capability of reusing the booster. The Flight 26 (F26) booster has featured the first helicopter catch recovery attempt.
Firefly Alpha is a two-stage orbital expendable launch vehicle developed by the American company Firefly Aerospace to compete in the commercial small satellite launch market. Alpha is intended to provide launch options for both full vehicle and rideshare customers.
Gilmour Space Technologies is a venture-funded Australian aerospace company that is developing hybrid-propellant rocket engines and associated technologies to support the deployment of a low-cost launch vehicle.
Relativity Space Inc. is an American aerospace manufacturing company headquartered in Long Beach, California. Relativity Space is developing manufacturing technologies, launch vehicles, and rocket engines for commercial orbital launch services. The company is notable for manufacturing most of their Terran 1 and Terran R rocket parts using 3D printing. As of April 2024, Terran R is on track for initial launch in 2026.
i-Space —also known as Space Honor, Beijing Interstellar Glory Space Technology Ltd., Interstellar Glory or StarCraft Glory—is a Chinese private space technology development and space launch company based in Beijing, founded in October 2016.
Miura 5 is a two-stage European orbital recoverable launch vehicle currently under development by the Spanish company PLD Space. In a standard two-stage configuration, it will have a length of 34 m, be capable of inserting 1000 kg of payload into a low Earth orbit (LEO), featuring an optional kick stage that can circularize the orbits of satellites.
Skyrora Ltd is a British private space company based in Edinburgh, Scotland, since 2017.
Isar Aerospace is a German aerospace company based in Munich, Germany. The company was founded in 2018. The company is named after the river that flows through Munich.
Galactic Energy is a Chinese private space launch enterprise flying the Ceres-1 and developing the Pallas-1 orbital rockets. The company's long-term objective is to mine asteroids for rare metals and minerals.
ABL Space Systems is an American aerospace and launch service provider, based in El Segundo, California, that manufactures deployable launch vehicles and infrastructure for sending commercial small satellites into orbit. The company manufactures its components in the United States.
Rocket Factory Augsburg AG (RFA) is a German NewSpace start-up located in Augsburg. It was founded in 2018 with the mission to build rockets just like cars. Its multistage rocket, RFA One, is currently under development and scheduled to launch in the summer of 2024.
Launcher was an American aerospace company based in Hawthorne, California. It was founded in New York City in 2017 by Max Haot.
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.
