Launch
Payload Launch
ESA Sending Heroic, Fictional Sheep Aboard Artemis I


NASA says its Artemis I flight set to launch as soon as late August will be an uncrewed lunar fly-by. The Paris-based European Space Agency would beg to differ. Shaun is leaving the happy confines of Mossy Bottom Farm to lead the flight around the Moon, an agency press release announced.
Spacecraft Mission Segment Shares by Nation


2021 analysis shows how strongly communications spacecraft deployments continued to dominate payload launches.
2019 TSRQ4 – Infrastructure: Spaceports


Spaceport upgrades and new spaceport development are at an all-time high, with 40 active launch sites around the globe, 10 more in development in the United States, Sweden, Australia and Canada, and 13 more proposed in eight countries. . .
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…
2017 – U.S. Payload Launch – Snapshot


The U.S. share of global orbital launch activities continued to grow, from 26% in 2016 to 33% in 2017. In 2017, the nation’s launch service providers. . .
2017 – Sounding Rockets – Snapshot
NASA’s Sounding Rockets Program Office (SRPO) uses sounding rockets as training tools for engineers and scientists, as well as for educating future engineers and scientists. The program provides . . .
2017 – Suborbital Payload Launch – Snapshot
Compared to suborbital payload launch activities the previous year, 2017 was a relatively quiet year. The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) continued work with its…
2017 – Iran launches Simorgh – Snapshot


In 2017, Iran was the only other nation to attempt an orbital launch. Iran conducted a single test launch of . . .
2017 – Europe Payload Launch – Snapshot


European launch activities in 2017 accounted for 11 SLV launch attempts, the same rate as the previous two years. Although launch numbers remained the same . . .
2017 – Russia Payload Launch – Snapshot


In 2017, Russia conducted 21% of global orbital launch attempts, a negligible increase from 20% in 2016. While its share of launch activities remained almost static, the country’s . . .