Infrastructure
SpaceX reaches 50 launches at its fastest pace in three years


The 50th SpaceX Falcon 9 mission of the year launched successfully May 14 from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. The launch makes 2024 the third consecutive year the space company has achieved at least 50 annual launches.
Rocket Lab launches NASA solar sail test, South Korean observation satellite


Rocket Lab launched two satellites on April 24. One is an Earth observation satellites for a Korea university and the other is a solar sail technology demonstration.
As launch failures grow, satellite operators are more resilient to risk


Increasing annual launches and new players in the launch market have led to several notable payload delivery failures over the past few years.
2 U.S. spaceports gain funds amid huge upswing in launch pace


In the last decade, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (the Cape) in Florida and Vandenberg Space Force Base in California have supported more launches than other U.S. launch facilities.
2020s is the busiest decade for Moon landings in 50 years


In the span of six months from 2023 to 2024, three countries landed spacecraft on the Moon, and many more are in the works.
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.
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.
Commercial offerings continue to grow, shape future of space


After Russian ASAT leak, superpowers back away from showdown


Growing threats from anti-satellite weapons were spotlighted in February when U.S. officials warned Congress about a Russian weapons development program targeting spacecraft with nuclear weapons.
Launch records topple in 2024 with busiest January of space age


Averaging a liftoff every 33 hours and 49 minutes, January’s 22 successful launches to space marked the busiest start to a year since the Space Age dawned in 1957, and put the globe on track for 259 launches in 2024, which would easily eclipse records set in 2023, according to a Space Foundation database.