2023
Annual launch attempts, 2022, 2023, 2024 projection
The pace is expected to quicken, with a dozen more new launch vehicles preparing for flight.
SNAPSHOT: New launch vehicles
The launches included successful maiden flights for three new launch vehicles. With a dozen more new launch vehicles expected to debut, 2024 appears poised to be a game-changing year in orbital flight.
Space Development Agency’s Tournear still has need for speed
Four years into his tenure atop the Pentagon’s Space Development Agency, Derek Tournear saw key goals realized in 2023. The first small, commercially built satellites for missile warning and communications are set to change how the Pentagon detects missile threats
U.S. spaceports hosting successful orbital launches, 2014-2023
Launch services conducted 83 launches from Vandenberg and 72 from Kennedy, while Virginia’s Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS) at Wallops Island performed 19 launches.
Space Force Guardians, FY2022 and FY 2023
The Space Force, which falls under the Department of the Air Force, employed 13,716 Guardians and civilian workers at the end of Fiscal Year (FY) 2023, an increase of 34.7%
SNAPSHOT: Human spaceflight
As of mid-March, 685 astronauts have reached at least 80 kilometers above the Earth’s surface. This total includes 86 private astronauts, 22 times as many as there were two decades ago.
Cape Canaveral customer mission share 2014–2023
Launches from Cape Canaveral were military-focused for the first few years, with civil missions not far behind.
Satellites lost by launch operator country and type, 2003-2023
Despite the rising number of lost payloads, satellite operators are getting better at mitigating the harm done to their mission by a launch failure.
Launch service launches from Cape Canaveral and Vandenberg 2014-2023
Launches from the Cape and Vandenberg have increased primarily due to one launch service provider: SpaceX.
