Following an exceptionally busy December, this week started the new year with only four scheduled missions, with the possibility of two flights of heavy launch vehicles within the first ten days of January. On the same day as Starship\u2019s seventh flight, Blue Origin\u2019s New Glenn is expected to take its maiden voyage from Florida. This highly anticipated debut launch will also include an attempt to propulsively land the first stage booster on a sea platform.<\/p>\n
The Indian Space Research Organisation\u2019s (ISRO) SPADEX mission closed 2024 with a record 259 orbital missions, placing 25 crew and over 2,700 payloads into orbit and across the solar system. SpaceX\u2019s Falcon 9 carried over 2,300 payloads (85%), including over 1,900 Starlink satellites.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Launch sites in the U.S. and China accounted for 80% of the year\u2019s orbital launch traffic, with 54% and 26% of the share, respectively. An anomaly on the final launch of a Lijian-1 rocket from Jiuquan on Dec. 27 denied China a record number of successful launches. As a result, China matched its 2023 total of 65 successful orbital missions despite launching two more missions in 2024. Russia continued to decline by two launches per year, closing 2024 with 17 flights. While India dropped to just five missions in 2024, it is expected to ramp up flights in 2025 as it pushes forward with its Gaganyaan program.<\/p>\n
Europe matched last year\u2019s three orbital missions from its spaceport in French Guiana but is also planning to increase its launch cadence in 2025. The final quarter of the year was significantly more active globally, with a record 14 launches inside seven days in November and 30 orbital launch attempts in December, averaging almost one launch per day!<\/p>\n
Rocket Lab broke its launch record with 16 missions launched in 2024 \u2014 a 60% increase on the previous year, all successful. SpaceX finished the year with 134 orbital launches, again breaking its annual cadence record. SpaceX\u2019s 134 launches are only two launches shy of the company\u2019s revised goal of 136 following the flight delays caused in the summer by the failure of Starlink 9-3 and the failed landing of booster B1062. SpaceX reached its 400th orbital launch in October, followed by its 400th Falcon 9 flight in November. This coming year will see the company reach and exceed 25 flights by a flight-proven booster and, in the coming weeks, the 400th successful landing and recovery of a Falcon vehicle first stage.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n