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2022 in spaceflight

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2022 in spaceflight
Rendering of the Tiangong space station, its construction complete with the addition of the Wentian and Mengtian modules
View of Europa taken by Juno in its September flyby
Short animation of photographs depicting DART's asteroid impact and its corresponding plume
An Orion spacecraft conducting a flyby of the lunar far side as part of the Artemis 1 mission
Orbital launches
First6 January
Last30 December
Total186
Successes178
Failures7
Partial failures1
Catalogued169
National firsts
Satellite
Space traveller
Suborbital launch
Rockets
Maiden flights
Retirements
Crewed flights
Orbital7
Orbital travellers24
Suborbital3
Suborbital travellers18
Total travellers42
EVAs15
2022 in spaceflight
← 2021
2023 →

The year 2022 witnessed the number of launches of SpaceX's Falcon rocket family (61 launches) surpassing the CNSA's Long March rocket family (53 launches), making the United States the country with the highest number of launches in 2022 instead of China. This year also featured the first successful launch of Long March 6A, Nuri, Angara 1.2, Vega C, Kinetica-1, and Jielong-3. National space agencies' activities in this year was also affected by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which led to tensions between Roscosmos and Western space agencies, leading to threats of ending collaboration on the International Space Station (ISS), and resulting in several delays on various space missions.

In terms of national-level scientific space missions, this year is a focal year on lunar exploration. 2022 saw the launch of NASA's CAPSTONE orbiter, KARI's Danuri orbiter and NASA's Artemis 1, the first mission of the Artemis program. In particular, Artemis 1 has two major goals: testing the Orion spacecraft and Space Launch System, and deployment of CubeSats. This year also saw the impact of Double Asteroid Redirection Test on Dimorphos marking the first time a planetary defense technique is tested, NASA's Juno flyby of Europa, and the loss of communication from ISRO's Mars Orbiter Mission and NASA's InSight Martian probe.

Two crewed space stations, the ISS and Tiangong, are in operation in 2022. This year also marks docking of Wentian and Mengtian modules to Tiangong. In terms of crewed missions, the ISS saw Expedition 66, 67, and 68, while Tiangong saw Shenzhou 13, 14, and 15. The ISS also briefly hosted private crews of Soyuz MS-20. The ISS also saw docking of Starliner's Boeing Orbital Flight Test 2.

This year also saw the first time citizens of Egypt and Portugal crossed the 50 mi (80 km) altitude mark, which is the United States's definition of outer space. They did so in a suborbital launch organized by Virgin Galactic, however, they did not managed to cross the Kármán line (100 km or 62 mi). Slovenia performed its first ever suborbital launch in 2022. Moldova, Armenia, Uganda and Zimbabwe have their own satellite in orbit for the first time in 2022.

Overview

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Exploration of the Solar System

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NASA continued the mission of the Juno spacecraft at Jupiter by conducting a flyby of Europa on 29 September 2022.[1]

In Mars exploration, the European Space Agency (ESA) had partnered with Roscosmos to launch the Rosalind Franklin rover using the Kazachok lander as part of ExoMars 2022.[2] In March 2022, the launch was cancelled in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the subsequent suspension of ESA–Roscosmos cooperation on ExoMars.[3]

On 3 October 2022, the Indian Space Research Organisation released a statement that all attempts to revive their Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM), also called Mangalyaan, had failed and officially declared it dead citing the loss of fuel and battery power to the probe's instruments.[4]

On 20 December 2022, NASA announced that the InSight lander had lost communications with Earth on 15 December 2022, with the end of the mission being declared on 21 December 2022.[5][6]

Lunar exploration

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NASA's CAPSTONE lunar orbiter launched on 28 June and arrived in lunar orbit on 14 November 2022.

Artemis 1, the first flight of NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) and the first lunar mission for Orion, was launched on 16 November 2022.[7] Artemis 1 transported as secondary payloads many small research spacecraft, with multiple of those spacecraft intended to study the Moon. Unfortunately most of the spacecraft (especially those studying the Moon) failed in their missions. Japan launched the OMOTENASHI lunar lander as a secondary payload of the Artemis 1 mission; contact with OMOTENASHI was lost and the mission failed before the landing sequence to the lunar surface had begun.[citation needed]

The United States planned to also launch a number of commercial lunar landers and rovers. As part of NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services program, the launch of Astrobotic Technology's Peregrine lander and Intuitive Machines' Nova-C lander was scheduled. However, all the launches of US commercial lunar landers and rovers planned for 2022 were delayed and did not launch in 2022.[citation needed]

On 4 August 2022, South Korea's first lunar orbiter Danuri was launched into space by a Falcon 9 rocket. The orbiter took several months to enter lunar orbit; lunar orbit insertion happened on 16 December 2022 (UTC).[8]

On 11 December 2022[9] a Falcon 9 rocket launched the Hakuto-R Mission 1, a private Moon mission by the Japanese company ispace. Onboard the Hakuto-R lunar lander were the Lunar Excursion Vehicle 1 (LEV-1, also called Transformable Lunar Robot)[10] lunar rover from Japan and the Rashid lunar rover flying the Emirates Lunar Mission. Landing to Moon was planned to occur in April 2023. The NASA lunar orbiter, Lunar Flashlight,[11] was launched as piggyback payload; a failure of the craft's propulsion system resulted in Lunar Flashlight being unable to enter orbit around the Moon and NASA terminated the mission on 12 May 2023.[12] The Hakuto-R Mission 1 was lost during the final moments of descent to the lunar surface at 16:40 UTC on 25 April 2023. The ispace team confirmed that the spacecraft had crashed into the Moon.[13][14]

Human spaceflight

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China finished the construction of the Tiangong space station with the addition of the Wentian and Mengtian lab modules.[15] Wentian was successfully launched and docked to the space station on 24 July 2022,[16] while Mengtian was launched on 31 October 2022 and was docked to the space station later that day.[17][18][19] On 29 November 2022 with Shenzhou 15 docking to the Tiangong space station, China started its first crew handover.

On 19 May 2022, Boeing launched the almost six-day (landing 25 May 2022) second uncrewed test flight of its Starliner space capsule. The test flight was successful and led the way for Starliner's first crewed test flight in 2024.[20][21]

Space tourism

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Blue Origin's New Shepard launched six passengers each on a suborbital trajectory in three flights, NS-20 on 31 March, NS-21 on 4 June and NS-22 on 4 August. The failure of the uncrewed flight NS-23 in September paused launches of the system.[22]

On 8 April 2022, SpaceX's Crew Dragon space capsule was launched by a Falcon 9 rocket for the first American space tourist mission to the International Space Station. The crew on board the Axiom Space-operated mission included one professional astronaut (space vehicle commander) and three tourists. The mission, known as Axiom Mission 1, lasted a little over 17 days and was the first wholly commercially operated crewed mission to the ISS.

Rocket innovation

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Arianespace's Ariane 6 was expected to make its long-delayed maiden flight,[23] targeting a per-satellite launch cost similar to a Falcon 9,[24] but was delayed to 2023.[25]

After suborbital tests in 2020 and 2021, SpaceX planned to conduct the first orbital test flight of the fully reusable Starship launch vehicle.[26] This was further delayed to 2023, where it launched.

The maiden flight of Vulcan Centaur was planned for 2022.[23] The launch vehicle is designed by United Launch Alliance to gradually replace Atlas V and Delta IV Heavy at lower costs.[27] However, the maiden flight was delayed to 2023.[28]

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries's H3 launch vehicle, which was scheduled to enter service in 2022, targeted a cost less than half that of its predecessor H-IIA. The maiden flight of H3 did not take place in 2022.[29]

On 21 January 2022, the Atlas V 511 launched for the first time. This was the only planned flight of the Atlas V in the 511 configuration. The launch was successful.

On 29 March 2022, the Long March 6A rocket performed its maiden launch, successfully reaching orbit.

On 29 April 2022, the Angara 1.2 rocket had its maiden launch, successfully reaching orbit.

On 2 May 2022, Rocket Lab attempted first mid-air helicopter capture of the first stage of their Electron rocket. Attempt was successful at initially grabbing the rocket, but the vehicle was dropped in order to ensure the safety of the helicopter and its pilot.[30]

On 13 July 2022, Vega C had its debut flight during which it delivered the LARES 2 and six other satellites from French Guiana to orbit.[31]

On 27 July 2022, CAS Space's Kinetica-1 rocket performed its maiden launch, successfully sending six satellites into orbit.

On 7 August 2022, SSLV had its debut flight. However, due to the final VTM stage failure, the stage as well as the two satellite payloads were injected into an unstable elliptical orbit measuring 356 km x 76 km and subsequently destroyed upon reentry.[32] According to the ISRO, the mission software failed to identify and correct a sensor fault in the VTM stage.[33]

On 16 November 2022, Artemis 1 saw the debut flight of NASA's Space Launch System, which is designed to return humans to the Moon in the Artemis program.[34][35]

On 9 December 2022, Jielong-3 performed its maiden launch from the Yellow Sea, successfully sending fourteen satellites into orbit.[36]

On 14 December 2022, Zhuque-2 had its debut flight, but failed to reach orbit due to the failure of vernier thrusters on its second stage, which are expected to ignite and carry the second stage and payloads into orbit after the burn by the second stage main engine that did happen[37][38][39] It was the world's first orbital launch attempt of a methane-fueled launch vehicle.[40]

Space debris and satellites management

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According to a space monitoring company, in January a Chinese satellite, SJ-21, grabbed an unused satellite and "threw" it into an orbit with a lower risk for the space debris to collide.[41][42] In March, the IAU announced the Centre for the Protection of the Dark and Quiet Sky from Satellite Constellation Interference to coordinate or aggregate measures to mitigate the detrimental effects of satellite constellations on astronomy.[43][44][45] On 4 March, for the first time, human space debris – most likely a spent rocket body, Long March 3C third stage from the 2014 Chang'e 5 T1 mission – unintentionally hit the lunar surface, creating an unexpected double crater.[46][47]

Consequences of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine

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See also: International sanctions during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine

Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022, a large number of countries imposed further international sanctions against individuals, businesses and officials from Russia, Crimea and Belarus.[48][49] Russia responded with sanctions against a number of countries. This led to tensions between the Russian space agency and its partners.

Orbital and Suborbital launches

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Main articles: List of spaceflight launches in January–June 2022 and List of spaceflight launches in July–December 2022
Orbital launches by month
Month Num. of successes Num. of failures Num. of partial failures
January 8 0 0
February 12 1 0
March 12 0 0
April 14 0 0
May 11 1 0
June 15 1 0
July 16 0 0
August 17 1 0
September 16 0 0
October 21 1 1
November 20 0 0
December 16 2 0
Total 178 7 1

Deep-space rendezvous

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Date (UTC) Spacecraft Event Remarks
23 June BepiColombo Second gravity assist at Mercury
3 September Solar Orbiter Third gravity assist at Venus This is the first fly-by of Venus that increased Solar Orbiter's orbital inclination relative to the Sun.[54]
26 September Double Asteroid Redirection Test Impact at a minor planet moon Dimorphos DART kinetically impacted Dimorphos, the minor-planet moon of the 65803 Didymos binary asteroid system. It also performed a flyby of Didymos.[55]
26 September LICIACube Flyby of asteroids LICIACube flew by the 65803 Didymos binary asteroid system at a targeted altitude of 55 km (34 mi).
29 September Juno 45th perijove On this perijove, Juno flew by Europa at a distance of 352 km (219 mi). Orbital period around Jupiter reduced to 38 days.[1]
16 October Lucy First gravity assist at Earth Target altitude: 300 km (190 mi).
14 November CAPSTONE Lunar orbital insertion First mission to use a Near-rectilinear halo orbit around the Moon
21 November Artemis 1 Powered flyby of the Moon Target altitude: 60 nmi (110 km)
25 November Artemis 1 Distant Retrograde Orbit insertion at the Moon Second mission ever to use a Distant Retrograde Orbit around the Moon
1 December Artemis 1 Distant Retrograde Orbit departure burn Spacecraft exited lunar orbit en route to an Earth return trajectory
5 December Artemis 1 Powered flyby of the Moon Target altitude 80.6 nmi (149.3 km)
11 December [56] Artemis 1 Splashdown at Earth
16 December[8] Danuri Lunar orbital insertion

Extravehicular activities (EVAs)

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See also: List of spacewalks since 2015
Start date/time Duration End time Spacecraft Crew Remarks
19 January 2022
12:17 		7 hours, 11 minutes 19:28 Expedition 66

Poisk Airlock

Russia Anton Shkaplerov

Russia Pyotr Dubrov

Spacewalk to connect the Prichal Node Module to the ISS. Tasks included: relocating the Strela crane over to Nauka so it can be used as a translation path for this spacewalk and the next one, connecting telemetry and power cables installing handrails, relocating television cameras and docking antennas, installing docking targets, and jettisoning unneeded hardware and trash.[57][58][59]

15 March 2022
12:11 		6 hours, 54 minutes 19:06 Expedition 66
ISS Quest
 United States Raja Chari
United States Kayla Barron 		First spacewalk to install the IROSA mounting brackets on the S4 Truss. Task included installing the struts, mounting brackets, and triangles at the 3A Array in preparation for the delivery of the IROSA solar arrays on SpaceX CRS-25 at the end of May. The astronauts also tied back insulation on S6 so Dextre can replace the Battery Charge Discharge Modules at this location which has shown signs of decay and will be replaced at a later date. As a get ahead the astronauts photographed a worn keel pin cover which has come loose on one of the pins that were used to secure the airlock in the shuttle bay when it was launched.[60][61][62]
23 March 2022
12:32 		6 hours, 54 minutes 19:26 Expedition 66
ISS Quest
 United States Raja Chari
Germany Matthias Maurer 		The astronauts will install and vent ammonia jumpers on the P1 Truss and reposition a radiator beam valve module which has been giving them trouble. The astronauts will also route cables, install cable clamps on the Bartolomeo platform, tie back thermal insulation on the Kibo Exposed Facility Berthing Mechanism, break torque on the P4 electronics boxes, replace Camera 8 on the truss which has a bad filter and light, outfit the radiator grapple bars for a future spacewalk, and also do other maintenance tasks outside the station.[63]
18 April 2022
14:01 		6 hours, 37 minutes 21:37 Expedition 67

Poisk Airlock

Russia Oleg Artemyev
Russia Denis Matveev 		Third spacewalk in a series to activate Nauka and Prichal and to commission ERA. During the spacewalk the cosmonauts will remove covers and install electrical cables so ERA can be activated at the end of the spacewalk. They will also install handrails, experiments, and work platforms outside, and break torque on bolts that secure ERA to the lab.[64]
28 April 2022
10:58 		7 hours, 42 minutes 18:40 Expedition 67

Poisk Airlock

Russia Oleg Artemyev
Russia Denis Matveev 		Fourth spacewalk in a series to activate Nauka and Prichal and to commission ERA. During the spacewalk the cosmonauts will jettison thermal cover, release launch locks, and lube the joints and the grapple fixtures before they walk off the arm to its stowage point on the side of the lab in preparation for its first grapple at the end of the spacewalk.[64]

Artemyev and Matveev completed their major objectives during the spacewalk, which included monitoring the first commanded movements of the robotic arm from its grapple fixtures after removing thermal blankets and launch locks. The duo monitored the robotic arm as its end effectors translated one at a time to a new base points. The crew also installed more handrails on Nauka multipurpose laboratory module. Shortly after the spacewalk ended, cosmonaut Sergey Korsakov completed the grapple of the second of the two end effectors on the new European Robotic Arm to a grapple mechanism on the Nauka module to successfully wrap up the major tasks of the excursion.[65]

21 July 2022

14:50

7 hours, 5 minutes 21:55 Expedition 67

Poisk Airlock

Russia Oleg Artemyev
Italy Samantha Cristoforetti 		Russian cosmonaut Oleg Artemyev and Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti worked on the ERA robotic arm as part of the work scheduled to commission the Nauka module and robotic arm. They launched two Tsiolkovsky-Ryazan (No. 1-2) and eight YUZGU-55 (No. 5-12) satellites, installed an ERA grapple point on Poisk to facilitate future relocation of the experiment airlock on the next spacewalk, translated a work platform over to Nauka, reconfigured ERA and set the control panel from grapple mode to stowed, replaced a camera port window on ERA that prevented grappling on the previous spacewalk, replaced MLI blankets on Nauka that were knocked loose by the thruster firings when the module arrived, and installed retainers on Strela 1 on Poisk. The final task to relocate Strela 2 on Zarya over to Poisk and install its retainer was deferred to the next spacewalk because they ran out of time and they had a late start. Cristoforetti become the first female European astronaut to perform a spacewalk, and only the third woman to perform a spacewalk using the Russian Orlan spacesuit (after Svetlana Savitskaya and Peggy Whitson).[66][67][68][69]
17 August 2022
13:53 		4 hours, 1 minute 17:54 Expedition 67

Poisk Airlock

Russia Oleg Artemyev
Russia Denis Matveev 		Sixth spacewalk in a series to outfit Nauka and to prepare the Russian Segment for module transfers which will take place in the fall. The primary task to install cameras on the elbow joint was completed on time and both cameras passed their telemetry checkouts. The final tasks to relocate the ERA control panel, set the arm back to "grapple mode", and remove the launch rings from the wrist of ERA will be moved to the next spacewalk. Artemyev was in the process of removing the launch ring at worksite 2 from ERA when he suffered a voltage drop in his spacesuit batteries. Mission Control Moscow ordered him back inside the airlock where he connected to internal power to recharge his suit. Because they were ahead and then behind the timeline, in light of the battery issue Mission Control Moscow gave the order to terminate the EVA at 16:34 GMT and the spacewalk concluded at 17:54 GMT, 4 hours and 1 minute into the spacewalk.[70] Artemyev was never in any danger and they will be replacing the battery before the next spacewalk. Because of the early EVA termination, the getahead task to relocate Strela 2 over to Poisk was also moved to the next spacewalk along with the other tasks.[71][72][73][74]
1 September 2022
10:26 		6 hours, 7 minutes 16:33 Shenzhou 14

TSS Wentian airlock

China Chen Dong
China Liu Yang 		The spacewalkers completed a series of tasks including installing an additional pump on the exterior, raising panoramic camera B, installing a workbench, demonstrating emergency return, etc. This is the first time the Wentian airlock was used, and it will be used for all future spacewalks.
2 September 2022
13:25 		7 hours 47 minutes 21:12 Expedition 67

Poisk Airlock

Russia Oleg Artemyev
Russia Denis Matveev 		Seventh in a series of spacewalks to outfit Nauka and to prepare ERA for operations. The spacewalkers completed the tasks that were moved from the previous two spacewalks and installed two payload adapters on Nauka. Because of time and the lack of consumables the task to break torque on bolts that secure the airlock and the radiator to Rassvet was deferred to the next spacewalk. This was the longest EVA of Expedition 67 and the final one of this mission.[75][76][77]
17 September 2022
05:35 		4 hours 12 minutes 09:47 Shenzhou 14

TSS Wentian airlock

China Chen Dong
China Cai Xuzhe 		The spacewalkers completed a series of tasks, including the completion of the installation of foot limiters and extravehicular workbenches, and will follow up with the support of the small robotic arm, and cooperate with each other to carry out the installation of the outboard booster handle, the installation of the load circuit expansion pump set, and the verification of the outboard rescue.
15 November 2022
14:14 		7 hours 11 minutes 21:25 Expedition 68
ISS Quest
 United States Josh Cassada
United States Frank Rubio 		Cassada and Rubio installed the final IROSA mounting bracket on the S6 Truss at Array 1B. As part of get-ahead tasks, they prepared the 3A mounting bracket at P4 for the delivery of two IROSAs on the 18th and routed cables along the truss to be mated at the end of EVA 3. Because of time they did not install the slip collars on S6 and the cable routing was partly completed. The S6 cables will be routed on a later spacewalk when IROSA arrives.[78][79][80]
17 November 2022
03:16 		5 hours 34 minutes 08:50 Shenzhou 14

TSS Wentian airlock

China Chen Dong
China Cai Xuzhe 		The spacewalkers completed a series of tasks, including the installation of a connection device between Tianhe core cabin and Wentian experimental cabin, inter-chamber connection device between Tianhe core cabin and Mengtian experimental cabin, lifting of panoramic camera A of Wentian experimental cabin and installation of small mechanical arm power-assisted handle.
17 November 2022
14:39 		6 hours 25 minutes 21:07 Expedition 68

Poisk Airlock

Russia Sergey Prokopyev
Russia Dmitry Petelin 		Eighth in a series of spacewalks to outfit Nauka and to prepare ERA for operations. The spacewalkers changed a grapple fixture so the airlock can be used as a base point for the arm, broke torque on bolts that secure the airlock and radiator to Rassvet, removed launch restraints from the radiator, vented nitrogen jumpers, replaced a retainer on Strela 2 with one that has a stop, and transferred a MLM outfitting work platform called the SKKO that is, the Nauka Means of attachment of large payloads over to Nauka and installed it at the ERA base point facing aft where ERA use to be when it was launched.[81][82][83]
3 December 2022
12:16 		7 hours 5 minutes 19:21 Expedition 68
ISS Quest
 United States Josh Cassada
United States Frank Rubio 		Assisted by Canadarm 2, Cassada and Rubio installed an IROSA at Array 3A and connected it to the US power system. The spacewalkers undid bolts and installed cables and at 17:37 GMT the array was deployed and is receiving power. As part of get-ahead tasks, they prepared the 4A array for the next spacewalk, demated the 1B array, broke torque on the P4 electronic boxes, and installed cables along the truss to be mated at the end of EVA 5.[78] Spacewalk faced a delay when Cassada's suit did not power up. Troubleshooting steps were done and power was restored to Cassada's suit so they could continue the spacewalk. Nick Hague was ground IV.[84][85]
22 December 2022
13:19 		7 hours 8 minutes 20:27 Expedition 68
ISS Quest
 United States Josh Cassada
United States Frank Rubio 		Assisted by Canadarm 2, Rubio and Cassada will install the fourth IROSA at Array 4A. Task include releasing bolts, installing cables, and deploying the array and connecting it to the US power system. Once these task are complete Rubio and Cassada will stow the array stowage beams on the carrier and remove their foot restraints from the arm in perpetration for astronaut Nicole Mann to grapple the carrier and load it into the trunk of SpaceX CRS-26 for disposal. If they have time they will photograph Soyuz MS-22 which has suffered a cooling leak in its primary radiator.[78]

Space debris events

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See also: List of space debris producing events
Date/Time (UTC) Source object Event type Pieces tracked Remarks
12 November China Long March 6A upper stage Breakup 781[86] Energetic fragmentation event; Cause Unknown; but may be related to upper stage passivization or insulation.[87][88] It later expanded from its initial 50 pieces to 350 and subsequently 781 pieces.[89]
17 November Japan H2-A 202 Payload fairing Breakup 50+ Energetic fragmentation event; Cause Unknown

Orbital launch statistics

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By country

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For the purposes of this section, the yearly tally of orbital launches by country assigns each flight to the country of origin of the launch vehicle, not to the launch services provider or the spaceport. For example, Soyuz launches by Arianespace in Kourou are counted under Russia because Soyuz-2 is a Russian launch vehicle.

China: 64Europe: 5India: 5Iran: 1South Korea: 1Japan: 1Russia: 22UK: 0USA: 87
Country Launches Successes Failures Partial
failures 		Remarks
 China 64 62 2 0
 Europe 5 4 1 0
 India 5 4 1 0
 Iran 1 1 0 0
 Japan 1 0 1 0
 Russia 22 22 0 0 Includes Soyuz launches from Kourou and Baikonur
 South Korea 1 1 0 0
 United States 87 84 2 1 Includes Electron launches from Māhia
World 186 178 7 1

By rocket

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By family

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By type

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By configuration

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By spaceport

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10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
China
France
India
Iran
Japan
Kazakhstan
New Zealand
Russia
South Korea
United States
Site Country Launches Successes Failures Partial failures Remarks
Baikonur  Kazakhstan 7 7 0 0
Cape Canaveral  United States 38 36 2 0
East China Sea  China 1 1 0 0
Jiuquan  China 25 23 2 0
Kennedy  United States 19 19 0 0
Kourou  France 6 5 1 0
Māhia  New Zealand 9 9 0 0
MARS  United States 2 2 0 0
Mojave  United States 2 2 0 0
Naro  South Korea 1 1 0 0
PSCA  United States 1 1 0 0
Plesetsk  Russia 13 13 0 0
Satish Dhawan  India 5 4 1 0
Shahroud  Iran 1 1 0 0
Taiyuan  China 14 14 0 0
Uchinoura  Japan 1 0 1 0
Vandenberg  United States 16 15 0 1
Vostochny  Russia 1 1 0 0
Wenchang  China 6 6 0 0
Xichang  China 16 16 0 0
Yellow Sea  China 2 2 0 0
Total 186 178 7 1

By orbit

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  •   Transatmospheric
  •   Low Earth
  •   Low Earth (ISS)
  •   Low Earth (CSS)
  •   Low Earth (SSO)
  •   Low Earth (retrograde)
  •   Medium Earth
  •   Molniya
  •   Geosynchronous
  •   Tundra
  •   Lunar transfer
  •   Heliocentric
Orbital regime Launches Achieved Not achieved Accidentally
achieved 		Remarks
Transatmospheric 0 0 0 1 SSLV-D1 was intended to reach low Earth orbit, but achieved a transatmospheric orbit instead
Low Earth / Sun-synchronous 154 147 7 0 Including flights to ISS and Tiangong
Geosynchronous / Tundra / GTO 23 23 0 0
Medium Earth / Molniya 6 6 0 0
High Earth / Lunar transfer 1 1 0 0
Heliocentric orbit / Planetary transfer 2 2 0 0
Total 186 179 7 1

Suborbital launch statistics

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By country

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For the purposes of this section, the yearly tally of suborbital launches by country assigns each flight to the country of origin of the rocket, not to the launch services provider or the spaceport. Flights intended to fly below 80 km (50 mi) are omitted.

Brazil: 3Canada: 11China: 16France: 0India: 8Iran: 5Israel: 3Japan: 2The Netherlands: 3North Korea: 22Pakistan: 1Russia: 8Slovenia: 1South Korea: 6Taiwan: 0Turkey: 1United Kingdom: 1USA: 35Ukraine: 0Yemen: 5
Country Launches Successes Failures Partial
failures 		Remarks
 Brazil 3 3 0 0
 Canada 11 11 0 0
 China 16 16 0 0
 India 8 8 0 0
 Iran 5 5 0 0
 Israel 3 3 0 0
 Japan 2 2 0 0
 Netherlands 3 2 1 0
 North Korea 22 21 1 0
 Pakistan 1 1 0 0
 Russia 8 8 0 0
 Slovenia 1 0 0 1
 South Korea 6 5 1 0
 Turkey 1 1 0 0
 United Kingdom 1 0 1 0
 United States 35 31 4 0 3 crewed flights
 Yemen 5 5 0 0
World 131 123 7 1

See also

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Notes

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References

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  1. ^ a b "NASA's Juno Shares First Image From Flyby of Jupiter's Moon Europa". NASA. 29 September 2022. Archived from the original on 1 October 2022. Retrieved 1 October 2022.
  2. ^ Amos, Jonathan (12 March 2020). "ExoMars Rosalind Franklin: Rover mission delayed until 2022". BBC. Archived from the original on 12 March 2020. Retrieved 12 March 2020.
  3. ^ a b Foust, Jeff (17 March 2022). "ESA suspends work with Russia on ExoMars mission". SpaceNews. Archived from the original on 24 March 2022. Retrieved 17 March 2022.
  4. ^ "Mangalyaan mission is dead! ISRO Mars Orbiter breaks Indian hearts; it was truly SPECIAL". MSN. Archived from the original on 4 October 2022. Retrieved 11 October 2022.
  5. ^ Chang, Kenneth (22 December 2022). "NASA's InSight Mission Dies After 4 Years of Listening for Marsquakes - After four years of making important discoveries about the interior of the red planet, the stationary lander lost power because of Martian dust covering its solar panels". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 21 December 2022. Retrieved 21 December 2022.
  6. ^ Massengill, Dacia (20 December 2022). "Saying 'Farewell' to InSight Mars Lander". NASA. Archived from the original on 20 December 2022. Retrieved 21 December 2022.
  7. ^ Harwood, William (26 September 2022). "Hurricane Ian prompts NASA to move Artemis moon rocket back to its hangar". Spaceflight Now. Archived from the original on 26 September 2022. Retrieved 27 September 2022.
  8. ^ a b Jones, Andrew (17 December 2022). "South Korea's 1st moon probe Danuri begins to enter lunar orbit". Space.com. Archived from the original on 19 December 2022. Retrieved 20 December 2022.
  9. ^ Rosenstein, Sawyer (11 December 2022). "SpaceX launches Falcon 9 carrying private Japanese moon lander". NASASpaceFlight. Archived from the original on 16 December 2022. Retrieved 11 December 2022.
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Generic references:

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