Orbital Payload Launch
Other Payload Launches
2017 – Iran launches Simorgh – Snapshot
In 2017, Iran was the only other nation to attempt ##. Iran conducted ## launches of its…
2015 – Other Countries, Launch, Payload
Iran made another tentative foray into the global launch family during 2015. The country’s attempt gave it a ##% share of orbital SLVs launched globally. In 2015, ## Safir rocket was launched out of Semnan, Iran. ## lofted ## Earth observation satellite into orbit.
2014 – Other Countries, Launch, Payload
After one of its Zenit-3SL rockets suffered a launch failure in 2013, Sea Launch recovered in 2014. Sea Launch successfully launched a ## satellite into GTO in May 2014 after implementing recommended corrective actions in response to the 2013 accident.
2013 – Other Countries, Launch, Payload
South Korea conducted ## successful orbital launch in 2013. After suffering two previous launch failures of the Korea Space Launch Vehicle (KSLV)-1, arguments arose between the Russian manufacturers of the vehicle’s first stage and the South Korean manufacturers of the second stage over the responsibility for the vehicle’s failures.
2012 – Other Countries, Launch, Payload
In 2012, several smaller countries and organizations demonstrated their ability, or at least ambitions, to conduct an orbital space launch. The privately held Sea Launch company, which focuses on deploying commercial communications satellites to geosynchronous orbit (GEO), declared bankruptcy in 2010.
2008 – Other Countries, Launch, Payload
The Brazilian Space Agency has sporadically continued development of its proposed Veículo Lançador de Satélites (VLS) booster, designed to launch from the country’s Alcântara spaceport near the equator. Brazil hopes to perform further tests featuring a mockup rocket in 2010. Possibly as early as 2009, Brazil is expected to begin launching Ukrainian-built rockets under a joint venture between the two countries formalized in 2007.[
2011 – Iran, Sea Launch – Snapshot
Two other space programs made news in 2011, as space newcomer Iran successfully conducted ## launch and the multinational commercial venture Sea Launch resumed operations after a hiatus of nearly two and a half years.
2009 – Non U.S. Launch and Payload – Snapshot
The Sea Launch consortium operates a derivative of the Ukrainian Zenit 2 rocket, modified with Russian and American components and used by Sea Launch as its standard booster since the company’s first launch in 1999. The Zenit-3SL rocket launches from Sea Launch’s ocean platform. A variant of this system, the Zenit-3SLB, launches from the Zenit pad at Baikonur, Kazakhstan.