What every launch since Sputnik shows

Seven findings from Every launch since Sputnik, a 3D globe of every launch since 1957 and the satellites they carried. Each is computed from the same public data as the globe, links to the view that shows it, and says how it was worked out.

Satellite catalogue as of 6 October 2026. Launches from Launch Library 2, which records every one since Sputnik.

Europe launches most of its satellites on American rockets

8%

of the satellites registered to European countries and organisations in 2025 went up on a European rocket: 11 of 138. SpaceX launched 117 of them (85%).

Leaving out OneWeb, whose 600-plus satellites are registered to the UK and dominate some years, the share on European rockets was 36% from 2003 to 2012 (57 of 160), 17% from 2013 to 2019 and 13% from 2020 to 2025, when SpaceX carried 72%.

How: Counts satellites, not mass: many are small university and company satellites on SpaceX rideshares, while an Ariane carries a few large ones. European means registered by CelesTrak to a European country, ESA, EUMETSAT, Eutelsat or SES; European rockets are Ariane, Vega and Isar Aerospace's Spectrum. Soyuz flights from French Guiana count as not European.

Arianespace and Isar on the globe ↗ Link to this finding

The Cold War launch record stood for 54 years

1967 → 2021

In 1967 the world made 140 orbital launch attempts, 74 of them Soviet. No year beat that until 2021. Launches fell as low as 55 in 2004, then rose to 324 in 2025, 2.3 times the Cold War peak.

How: Orbital launch attempts of any outcome in each calendar year, from Launch Library 2; suborbital flights are left out.

The Soviet programme, from Sputnik ↗ Link to this finding

SpaceX flew half the world's launches in 2025

50%

of all launches in 2025 were SpaceX's: 170 of 341. The world launched 341 times that year, against 63 in 2003.

How: Launch attempts of any outcome, from Launch Library 2, including crewed and test suborbital flights.

SpaceX's tour, from FalconSAT-2 to today ↗ Link to this finding

56%

of the 20,038 satellites in Earth orbit on 6 October 2026 are Starlinks: 11,145.

How: Payloads in Earth orbit in CelesTrak's catalogue on that date, working or not; rocket stages and debris are not counted.

SpaceX's satellites on the globe ↗ Link to this finding

Six times as many satellites in orbit as in 2003

20,038

satellites in Earth orbit on 6 October 2026, against 3,231 at the start of 2003 and 5,419 at the start of 2020. 4,480 were launched in 2025 alone, against 83 in 2003.

How: Payloads in Earth orbit in CelesTrak's catalogue on each date.

The globe, at today ↗ Link to this finding

The military share of satellites fell from half to an eighth

50% → 13%

of satellites in orbit were military or intelligence ones at the start of 2003, and 13% are now. Commercial ones went from 20% to 74%.

How: Who uses each satellite, from the operators in Jonathan McDowell's GCAT: defence if any operator is military; otherwise the class of its first operator.

Defence satellites on the globe ↗ Link to this finding

New rockets often fail on their first flight

43%

of new rockets' first flights since 2003 failed: 29 of 68, against 4.8% of all orbital launches. Isar Aerospace's Spectrum was one, in March 2025; its second flight reached orbit.

How: The first orbital attempt of each new rocket. Versions of an existing rocket count as that rocket, so Falcon 9 Block 5, Ariane 64, PSLV-XL and Long March 7A are not new; Falcon Heavy and Delta IV Heavy are. The list of new rockets was checked by hand and is in findings.json. Partial failures count as failures. Starship counts from its first orbital attempt, flight 14 in September 2026; its earlier test flights were suborbital.

Isar Aerospace's two flights ↗ Link to this finding

Using these

Quote freely, with a link to this page or to the finding. The numbers are rebuilt with the data, so a finding's link always shows the latest. The same findings, with the counts behind each, are at findings.json, and the data they come from is free to download at mcval.org/launches/data (DOI 10.5281/zenodo.23184904).