World on Record Pace for 250 Launches in 2024
The world’s launch providers set a record pace with 63 attempts during the first quarter of 2024, putting them on pace for more than 250 launches this year. The figure is 10 attempts higher the 53 orbital launches conducted during the same period in 2023.
There were a record 223 launches last year, with 211 successes, 11 failures and one partial failure.
SpaceX led the world with 31 launches of the Falcon 9 rocket and the third flight test of the Starship/Super Heavy booster. Although it was a largely successful flight test, Starship is considered a partial failure because it did not achieve three key objectives. Starship burned up on reentry and failed to restart its engines in space. Super Heavy broke up during descent and didn’t reach the Gulf of Mexico intact.
Twenty of SpaceX’s 31 Falcon 9 launches have been dedicated to deploying 450 Starlink broadband communications satellites. One of the flights carried a pair of Starshield satellites for use by the U.S. military.
The China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation is in second place among launch providers with nine flights of its Long March family of boosters. No other company or agency has launched more than four times.
SpaceX accounted for all but five of 37 launches by U.S. providers. Rocket Lab has launched four times and United Launch Alliance once.
New Booster Debut
United Launch Alliance’s (ULA’s) Vulcan Centaur made a successful debut on Jan. 8 by send Astrobotic’s Peregrine lunar lander on a course for the moon. Vulcan became the first methane fueled booster to reach orbit on its first launch attempt. Peregrine suffered a propellant leak shortly after launch that prevented it from achieving its mission.
On Jan. 11, Orienspace’s Gravity-1 rocket succeeded on its maiden flight after liftoff from a platform in the Yellow Sea. Gravity-1 is the most powerful solid-fuel rocket in the world with the capability to place up to 6.5 tons into low Earth orbit or 4.2 tons into sun synchronous orbit. It is China’s most powerful privately developed launch vehicle.
Japanese startup Space One was not as lucky with its Kairos small satellite launcher. The solid-fuel booster exploded about five second after liftoff on March 13.
Launches by Spaceport
Florida remained the busiest launch site in the world with a total of 22 flights from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. Ten launches have been conducted from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.
China’s Jiuquan and Xichang spaceports are tied with four launches apiece.