Infrastructure
Launch
2018 – Infrastructure: Space Infrastructure
Space infrastructure, like its terrestrial counterpart, is an invisible backbone for services used by people all over the world. Like terrestrial infrastructure, space infrastructure is increasingly relied upon for convenience, services, and . . .
2017 – Orbital Human Space Launch
During 2017, Russia was the only nation that launched humans into orbit. Russia continued providing its service, ferrying passengers to the International Space Station (ISS). Of the…
2017 – Suborbital Payload Launch
Suborbital launch activity continued throughout 2017. For many nations and a few organizations, suborbital launches are an excellent and relatively inexpensive way to gain…
Launch
Whether suborbital or orbital, the world remained busy launching vehicles into space. The distinction between suborbital and orbital launch is very specific. Suborbital launches lack…
2017 – Human Space Launch
During 2017, Russia was the only nation that launched humans into orbit. Russia continued providing its service, ferrying passengers to the International Space Station (ISS). Of the…
2017 – Russia Human Launch – Snapshot
Russia remained the only nation to launch humans to orbit during 2017, using its Soyuz launch vehicle and capsule. The continued depression of Russian launch activity during…
2017 – U.S. Suborbital – Snapshot
Many countries and organizations have floated plans for human suborbital spaceflight. However, there are very few building suborbital launch vehicles for this purpose, and even fewer…
2017 – U.S. Human Launch – Snapshot
The last U.S. human space launch was conducted in 2011. NASA now relies on Russia’s Soyuz space launch system, paying hundreds of millions of dollars to transport U.S. astronauts to…
2017 – European Spaceports – Snapshot
The European Space Agency (ESA) uses a single spaceport, the Guiana Space Centre (CSG) in Kourou, French Guiana. Orbital launch provider Arianespace carried out all…
2017 – Chinese Spaceports – Snapshot
In 2017, China continued using its four spaceports for orbital launches: Jiuquan, Taiyuan, Wenchang, and Xichang. The spaceports were involved in a total of . . .