2003 in spaceflight
This article outlines notable events occurring in 2003 in spaceflight, including major launches and EVAs. The Space Shuttle Columbia disaster occurred on 1 February 2003.
![]() Space Shuttle Columbia launches on its last mission, STS-107. The orbiter disintegrated during reentry, killing all seven crew. | |
| Orbital launches | |
|---|---|
| First | 11 January |
| Last | 29 December |
| Total | 63 |
| Successes | 60 |
| Failures | 3 |
| Partial failures | 0 |
| Catalogued | 61 |
| National firsts | |
| Satellite | |
| Space traveller | |
| Rockets | |
| Maiden flights | Atlas V 521 Delta II Heavy Delta IV Medium Strela |
| Retirements | Ariane 4 44L Ariane 5G Space Shuttle Columbia Titan 23G |
| Crewed flights | |
| Orbital | 4 |
| Total travellers | 13 |
Launches
| Date and time (UTC) | Rocket | Flight number | Launch site | LSP | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Payload (⚀ = CubeSat) |
Operator | Orbit | Function | Decay (UTC) | Outcome | ||
| Remarks | |||||||
January | |||||||
| 6 January 14:19 |
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| US Air Force | Low Earth | Technology development | In orbit | Operational | |||
| 9 January 03:17 |
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| IDRDL | Suborbital | Missile test | 9 January | Successful | |||
| 13 January 00:45 |
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| NASA | Low Earth | Oceanography | 30 August 2010 09:00[2] | Partial spacecraft failure | |||
| NASA | Low Earth | Astrophysics | In orbit | Operational | |||
| Laser reliability issues limited ICESat operations. ICESat deactivated in February 2010 following failure of last laser in October 2009. | |||||||
| 16 January 20:39 |
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| NASA | Low Earth | Research | 1 February 13:59 | Failure | |||
| NASA | Low Earth (Columbia) | Microgravity and Earth science research | |||||
| NASA | Low Earth (Columbia) | Cryogenic mission duration extension pallet | |||||
| Crewed orbital flight with 7 astronauts, including the first Israeli space traveler Final flight of Space Shuttle Columbia, disintegrated during re-entry resulting in loss of crew and vehicle. | |||||||
| 25 January 20:13 |
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| NASA | Low Earth | investigate total solar irradiance | In orbit | Operational | |||
| 29 January 18:06 |
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| US Air Force | Medium Earth | Navigation | In orbit | Operational | |||
| US Air Force | Low Earth | Technology demonstration | In orbit | Successful | |||
| XSS-10 deactivated 30 January 2003 | |||||||
February | |||||||
| 2 February 12:59 |
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| Roskosmos | Low Earth (ISS) | Logistics | 27 August | Successful | |||
| ISS flight 10P | |||||||
| 15 February 07:00 |
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| Intelsat | Geosynchronous | Communications | In orbit | Operational | |||
| Final flight of Ariane 4 44L | |||||||
March | |||||||
| 11 March 00:59 |
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| US Air Force | Geosynchronous | Communications | In orbit | Operational | |||
| Maiden flight of Delta IV Medium | |||||||
| 26 March 06:00 |
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| IDRDL | Suborbital | Missile test | 26 March | Successful | |||
| 28 March 01:27 |
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| Japanese Government | Low Earth | Reconnaissance | 18 July 2014 | Successful | |||
| Japanese Government | Low Earth | Reconnaissance | 26 July 2012 | Partial spacecraft failure | |||
| IGS-1B lost power in 2007, and concluded operations after just over half of its design life[3] | |||||||
| 31 March 22:09 |
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| US Air Force | Medium Earth | Navigation | In orbit | Operational | |||
April | |||||||
| 2 April 01:53 |
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| VKS | Molniya | Communications | In orbit | Operational | |||
| 8 April 14:43 |
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| US Air Force | Geosynchronous | Communications | In orbit | Operational | |||
| 9 April 22:52 |
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| ISRO | Geosynchronous | Communications | In orbit | Operational | |||
| PanAmSat | Geosynchronous | Communications | In orbit | Operational | |||
| 12 April 00:47 |
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| AsiaSat | Geosynchronous | Communications | In orbit | Operational | |||
| 26 April 03:53 |
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| Roskosmos | Low Earth (ISS) | ISS Expedition 7 | 28 October | Successful | |||
| Crewed orbital flight with 2 cosmonauts | |||||||
| 24 April 04:23 |
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| VKS | Geosynchronous | Missile warning | In orbit | Operational | |||
| 28 April 12:00 |
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| NASA | Low Earth | Ultraviolet astronomy | In orbit | Operational | |||
| 29 April 05:50 |
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| IDRDL | Suborbital | Missile test | 29 April | Successful | |||
May | |||||||
| 8 May 11:28 |
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| ISRO | Geosynchronous | Communications | In orbit | Operational | |||
| 9 May 04:29 |
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| ISAS | Heliocentric | Asteroid sample-return probe | 13 June 2010 | Partial spacecraft failure | |||
| ISAS | Heliocentric | Asteroid lander | In orbit | Spacecraft failure | |||
| Explored asteroid 1998 SF36 | |||||||
| 13 May 22:10 |
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| Hellas-Sat | Geosynchronous | Communications | In orbit | Operational | |||
| First Greek satellite | |||||||
| 24 May 16:34 |
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| Geosynchronous | Navigation | In orbit | Operational | ||||
June | |||||||
| 2 June 17:45 |
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| ESA | Areocentric | Mars probe | In orbit | Operational | |||
| ESA | Heliocentric | Mars lander | 25 December 2003 | Spacecraft failure | |||
| Maiden flight of Soyuz-FG/Fregat Beagle 2 failed to contact Earth after landing on Mars | |||||||
| 4 June 19:23 |
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| MO RF | Low Earth | In orbit | Operational | ||||
| 6 June 22:15 |
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| SES Americom | Geosynchronous | Communications | In orbit | Operational | |||
| 8 June 10:34 |
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| Roskosmos | Low Earth (ISS) | Logistics Earth observation | 3 October | Successful | |||
| ISS flight 11P | |||||||
| 10 June 13:55 |
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| Thuraya | Geosynchronous | Communications | In orbit | Operational | |||
| 10 June 17:58 |
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| NASA | Heliocentric | Mars rover | 4 January 2004 | Operational | |||
| NASA | Heliocentric | Mars lander | 4 January 2004 | Successful | |||
| 11 June 22:38 |
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| Optus/Australian Government | Geosynchronous | Communications | In orbit | Operational | |||
| BSAT | Geosynchronous | Communications | In orbit | Operational | |||
| 19 June 20:00 |
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| VKS | Molniya | Communications | In orbit | Operational | |||
| 26 June 18:55 |
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| Orbview | Low Earth | Imaging | 3 March 2011 | Satellite failure | |||
| Ceased operations on 4 March 2007 after camera malfunction | |||||||
| 30 June 14:15 |
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| Low Earth | 18 December 2011 | Successful | |||||
| DTUSat | Low Earth | In orbit | Operational | ||||
| Low Earth | Space telescope | In orbit | Operational | ||||
| Cute-I | Low Earth | In orbit | Operational | ||||
| Stanford University | Low Earth | Earth observation | In orbit | Operational | |||
| AAU-Cubesat | Low Earth | In orbit | Operational | ||||
| Can X-1 | Low Earth | In orbit | Operational | ||||
| Cubesat XI | Low Earth | In orbit | Operational | ||||
| Cubesat XII | Low Earth | In orbit | Operational | ||||
| Cubesat XIII | Low Earth | In orbit | Operational | ||||
| Cubesat XIV | Low Earth | In orbit | Operational | ||||
| Low Earth | In orbit | Operational | |||||
July | |||||||
| 8 July 04:18 |
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| NASA | Heliocentric | Mars rover | In orbit | Operational | |||
| NASA | Heliocentric | Mars lander | In orbit | Successful | |||
| Maiden flight of Delta II Heavy | |||||||
| 17 July 23:45 |
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| Cablevision | Geosynchronous | Communications | In orbit | Operational | |||
| Maiden flight of Atlas V 521 | |||||||
August | |||||||
| 8 August 03:31 |
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| EchoStar | Geosynchronous | Communications | In orbit | Operational | |||
| 12 August 14:20 |
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| Low Earth | Reconnaissance | 9 December | Failure | ||||
| Film capsule failed to deorbit | |||||||
| 13 August 02:09 |
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| CSA | Low Earth | Atmospheric research | In orbit | Operational | |||
| 19 August 10:50 |
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| Low Earth | In orbit | Operational | |||||
| Low Earth | In orbit | Operational | |||||
| 22 August 16:30 |
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| SATEC | Intended: Low Earth | Never left ground | Launch failure | ||||
| Unosat | Intended: Low Earth | Never left ground | |||||
| Rocket exploded on the launch pad | |||||||
| 25 August 05:35 |
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| NASA | Heliocentric | Infrared astronomy | In orbit | Operational | |||
| 29 August 01:47 |
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| Roskosmos | Low Earth (ISS) | Logistics | 28 January 2004 | Successful | |||
| ISS flight 12P | |||||||
| 29 August 23:13 |
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| US Air Force | Geosynchronous | Communications | In orbit | Operational | |||
September | |||||||
| 9 September 04:29 |
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| NRO | Geosynchronous | ELINT | In orbit | Operational | |||
| 16 September | |||||||
| Intended: Low Earth | Microsat | 16 September | Launch failure | ||||
| Fourth stage failed to ignite | |||||||
| 27 September 06:11 |
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| Low Earth | In orbit | Operational | |||||
| Low Earth | In orbit | Operational | |||||
| Low Earth | In orbit | Operational | |||||
| BILSAT-1 | Low Earth | In orbit | Operational | ||||
| Larets | Low Earth | In orbit | Operational | ||||
| STSat-1 | Low Earth | In orbit | Operational | ||||
| Rubin-4-DSI | Low Earth | In orbit | Operational | ||||
| NigeriaSat-1 is the first Nigerian satellite | |||||||
| 27 September 23:14 |
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| Eutelsat | Geosynchronous | Communications | In orbit | Operational | |||
| ISRO | Geosynchronous | Communications | In orbit | Successful[4] | |||
| ESA | Selenocentric | Lunar probe | 27 September 2006 05:42:22 | Successful | |||
| Final flight of Ariane 5G | |||||||
October | |||||||
| 1 October 04:02 |
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| PanAmSat | Geosynchronous | Communications | In orbit | operational | |||
| 15 October 01:00 |
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| CMSA | Low Earth | 15 October 22:53 | Successful | ||||
| CMSA | Low Earth | Reconnaissance | 30 May 2004 | Successful | |||
| Crewed orbital flight with 1 astronaut (Yang Liwei), first Chinese space traveller and indigenous crewed spaceflight | |||||||
| 17 October 04:54 |
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| ISRO | Low Earth | Earth observation | In orbit | Operational | |||
| 18 October 05:38 |
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| Roskosmos | Low Earth (ISS) | ISS Expedition 8 | 30 April 2004 | Successful | |||
| Crewed orbital flight with 3 cosmonauts | |||||||
| 18 October 16:17 |
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| US Air Force | Low Earth | Weather satellite | In orbit | Operational | |||
| Final flight of Titan 23G | |||||||
| 21 October 03:16 |
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| CAAC/INPE | Low Earth | Earth resources | In orbit | Operational | |||
| CAS | Low Earth | Communications | In orbit | Operational | |||
| 30 October 13:43 |
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| Low Earth | In orbit | Operational | |||||
November | |||||||
| 3 November 07:20 |
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| SAST | Low Earth | Imaging | 18 December | Successful | |||
| 14 November 16:34 |
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| Geosynchronous | Communications | In orbit | Operational | ||||
| 24 November 06:22 |
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| Gazprom | Geosynchronous | Communications | In orbit | Operational | |||
| Gazprom | Geosynchronous | Communications | In orbit | Operational | |||
| 29 November 04:33 |
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| Japanese Government | Low Earth | Reconnaissance | T+60 seconds | Launch failure | |||
| Low Earth | Reconnaissance | ||||||
| SRB failed to separate. Destroyed by RSO. | |||||||
December | |||||||
| 2 December 10:04 |
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| NRO | Low Earth | Naval SIGINT | In orbit | Operational | |||
| NRO | Low Earth | Naval SIGINT | In orbit | Operational | |||
| NRO launch 18 | |||||||
| 5 December 06:00 |
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| Low Earth | In orbit | Successful | |||||
| Maiden flight of Strela rocket | |||||||
| 10 December 17:42 |
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| KNITs | Medium Earth | Navigation | In orbit | Operational | |||
| KNITs | Medium Earth | Navigation | In orbit | Operational | |||
| KNITs | Medium Earth | Navigation | In orbit | Operational | |||
| 18 December 02:30 |
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| US Navy | Geosynchronous | Communications | In orbit | Operational | |||
| 21 December 08:05 |
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| US Air Force | Medium Earth | Navigation | In orbit | Operational | |||
| 24 December | |||||||
| NSPO | Suborbital | Ionospheric research | 24 December | Successful | |||
| Apogee: ~280 km (174 mi) | |||||||
| 27 December 21:30 |
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| Spacecom | Geosynchronous | Communications | In orbit | Operational | |||
| 28 December 20:37 |
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| RSCC | Geosynchronous | Communications | In orbit | Operational | |||
| 29 December 19:06 |
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| CNSA/ESA | High Earth (High-eccentricity) | Magnetosphere research | 14 October 2007 | Successful | |||
Deep Space Rendezvous
| Date (GMT) | Spacecraft | Event | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|
| 19 June | Nozomi | 3rd flyby of the Earth | |
| 21 September | Galileo | Deorbited into the Jovian atmosphere | |
| 9 December | Nozomi | Flyby of Mars | Damaged by solar flares |
| 24 December | Beagle 2 | Crashed at Isidis Planitia, Mars | |
| 24 December | Mars Express | Areocentric orbit injection |
EVAs
| Start Date/Time | Duration | End Time | Spacecraft | Crew | Function | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15 January 12:50 |
6 hours 51 minutes |
19:41 | Expedition 6 ISS Quest |
Released the remaining launch locks on the P1 radiator assembly, removed debris on a sealing ring of Unity's docking port, and tested an ammonia reservoir on the station's P6 truss.[5] | ||
| 8 April 12:40 |
6 hours 26 minutes |
19:06 | Expedition 6 ISS Quest |
Reconfigured cables on the S0 (S-Zero), S1 and P1 trusses, replaced a Power Control Module on the Mobile Transporter, installed Spool Positioning Devices on Destiny, and reinstalled a thermal cover on an S1 Radiator Beam Valve Module.[5] |
Orbital launch summary
By country
| Country | Launches | Successes | Failures | Partial failures |
Remarks | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7 | 6 | 1 | 0 | |||
| 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | |||
| 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | |||
| 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | |||
| 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |||
| 21 | 21 | 0 | 0 | |||
| 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | |||
| 23 | 22 | 1 | 0 | |||
| World | 64 | 60 | 4 | 0 | ||
By rocket
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
By family
| Family | Country | Launches | Successes | Failures | Partial failures | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ariane | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Atlas | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Delta | 9 | 9 | 0 | 0 | ||
| H-II | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | ||
| Kaituozhe | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ||
| Long March | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Mu | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Pegasus | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | ||
| R-7 | 10 | 10 | 0 | 0 | ||
| R-14 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Space Shuttle | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | Columbia disintegrated on reentry | |
| SLV | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Titan | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Universal Rocket | 8 | 8 | 0 | 0 | ||
| VLS | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | Vehicle exploded on launch pad | |
| Zenit | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
By type
| Rocket | Country | Family | Launches | Successes | Failures | Partial failures | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ariane 4 | Ariane | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | Final flight | |
| Ariane 5 | Ariane | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Atlas II | Atlas | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Atlas III | Atlas | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Atlas V | Atlas | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Delta II | Delta | 7 | 7 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Delta IV | Delta | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | ||
| GSLV | SLV | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | ||
| H-IIA | H-II | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | ||
| Kaituozhe-1 | Kaituozhe | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ||
| Kosmos | R-12/R-14 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Long March 2 | Long March | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Long March 3 | Long March | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Long March 4 | Long March | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Molniya | R-7 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | ||
| M-V | Mu | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Pegasus | Pegasus | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | ||
| PSLV | SLV | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Proton | Universal Rocket | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Soyuz | R-7 | 8 | 8 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Space Shuttle | Space Shuttle | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ||
| Titan II | Titan | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | Final flight | |
| Titan IV | Titan | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | ||
| UR-100 | Universal Rocket | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | ||
| VLS-1 | VLS | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ||
| Zenit | Zenit | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
By configuration
By spaceport
5
10
15
20
25
30
Brazil
China
France
India
International waters
Japan
Kazakhstan
Russia
United States
| Site | Country | Launches | Successes | Failures | Partial failures | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alcântara | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ||
| Baikonur | 14 | 14 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Cape Canaveral | 16 | 16 | 0 | 0 | Two launches used Stargazer aircraft | |
| Jiuquan | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Kennedy | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ||
| Kourou | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Ocean Odyssey | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Plesetsk | 7 | 7 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Satish Dhawan | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Taiyuan | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | ||
| Tanegashima | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | ||
| Uchinoura | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Vandenberg | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0 | Two launches used Stargazer aircraft | |
| Xichang | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Total | 64 | 60 | 4 | 0 | ||
By orbit
5
10
15
20
25
30
- Transatmospheric
- Low Earth
- Low Earth (ISS)
- Low Earth (SSO)
- Low Earth (retrograde)
- Medium Earth
- Geosychronous
(transfer) - Inclined GSO
- High Earth
- Heliocentric
| Orbital regime | Launches | Successes | Failures | Accidentally achieved |
Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Transatmospheric | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Low Earth | 29 | 26 | 3 | 0 | 5 to ISS |
| Medium Earth / Molniya | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0 | |
| Geosynchronous / GTO | 23 | 23 | 0 | 0 | |
| High Earth / Lunar transfer | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| Heliocentric / Planetary transfer | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | |
| Total | 64 | 61 | 3 | 0 |
References
- Bergin, Chris. "NASASpaceFlight.com".
- Clark, Stephen. "Spaceflight Now".
- Kelso, T.S. "Satellite Catalog (SATCAT)". CelesTrak.
- Krebs, Gunter. "Chronology of Space Launches".
- Kyle, Ed. "Space Launch Report". Archived from the original on 5 October 2009. Retrieved 13 August 2022.
- McDowell, Jonathan. "Jonathan's Space Report".
- Pietrobon, Steven. "Steven Pietrobon's Space Archive".
- Wade, Mark. "Encyclopedia Astronautica".
- Webb, Brian. "Southwest Space Archive".
- Zak, Anatoly. "Russian Space Web".
- "ISS Calendar". Spaceflight 101.
- "NSSDCA Master Catalog". NASA Space Science Data Coordinated Archive. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.
- "Space Calendar". NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
- "Space Information Center". JAXA.
- "Хроника освоения космоса" [Chronicle of space exploration]. CosmoWorld (in Russian).
Footnotes
- Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center (January 2009). "Columbia Crew Survival Investigation Report" (PDF). NTRS - NASA Technical Reports Server. Houston, Texas. p. 91. Archived (PDF) from the original on 15 May 2021. Retrieved 15 May 2021.
- "Icesat Satellite". Center for Orbital and Reentry Debris Studies. The Aerospace Corporation. Archived from the original on 13 May 2012.
- Blau, Patrick (31 July 2012). "IGS 1B Re-Entry". Spaceflight 101. Archived from the original on 28 October 2012. Retrieved 21 August 2012.
- S, Madhumathi D. (2 April 2014). "After 10 years in orbit, INSAT-3E expires". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 7 January 2016. Retrieved 2 April 2014.
- NASA (2003). "Expedition Six Spacewalks". NASA. Archived from the original on 5 October 2008. Retrieved 7 October 2008.
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