The pace of orbital launches has accelerated dramatically. What once required years of planning and national budgets can now happen multiple times per day, driven by reusable rockets and commercial demand.
Launch Trends
SpaceX's Falcon 9 has become the workhorse of the modern launch industry, conducting 165 launches in 2025 alone — many carrying batches of Starlink satellites. China has also significantly increased its launch cadence to over 90 launches per year, with the Long March family of rockets supporting military, commercial and scientific missions, alongside new commercial vehicles.
Other active launch providers include Rocket Lab (Electron), Blue Origin (New Glenn), the European Space Agency (Ariane 6), United Launch Alliance (Vulcan, Atlas V), India's ISRO (PSLV, GSLV), and Japan's JAXA (H3). The US and China together accounted for approximately 88% of all orbital launches in 2025.
Historical Milestones
| Year | Notable Launch |
|---|---|
| 1957 | Sputnik 1 — first artificial satellite (USSR) |
| 1962 | Telstar 1 — first active communications satellite |
| 1990 | Hubble Space Telescope launched |
| 1998 | First ISS module (Zarya) launched |
| 2019 | First Starlink batch — beginning of the mega-constellation era |
| 2021 | James Webb Space Telescope launched |
| 2024 | Record year — ~259 orbital launches, ~2,800 payloads |
| 2025 | New record — ~320 launches, ~4,500 payloads. SpaceX: 165 Falcon 9 flights |
Track Launches Live
Orbital Radar's Orbital Events panel shows upcoming and recent launches, re-entries, and close encounters. Use the live tracker to see newly-launched objects appearing in orbit in real time.