World's Launch Providers Reached Milestones in October
SpaceX broke its own launch record in October as Elon Musk’s company passed the century mark and the world exceeded 200 launches with two months left in the year. Notable launches included the spectacular fifth launch of Starship/Super Heavy, a pair of probes to Jupiter and an asteroid, and a crucial flight test of a new American rocket.
There were 203 launches through October 31, an increase of 25 over the 178 launches conducted during the same period in 2023. We are counting SpaceX’s three Starship/Super Heavy flights even though they did not make full orbits around the Earth.
The record of 223 launches in one year that was set in 2023 is easily within reach. It’s even possible that the number could reach 250 by the time the new year begins.
The United States leads all nations with 125 launches, nine more than in all of 2023. China is in second place with 52 launches, followed by Russia with 12. Five other nations have combined for 14 launches.
SpaceX leads the world with 108 launches, 10 more than it had in 2023. Falcon 9 was responsible for 103 launches followed by Starship/Super Heavy with three flight tests and Falcon Heavy with two launches.
Musk set a goal of 144 launches for the year. At a rate of 10.8 launches per month, it appears likely that SpaceX will not achieve that objective.
Seventy-one of 103 Falcon 9 launches were dedicated to launching more than 1,500 Starlink broadband satellites into orbit. SpaceX has successfully launched 7,193 Starlink satellites since 2018.
China’s Long March 2 family of rockets is in second place with 14 launches, followed by Rocket Lab’s Electron with 11 flights. Russia has launched its Soyuz-2 rocket nine times.
Launches by Spaceport
Florida remains the busiest launch site in the world with 73 flights. Vandenberg Space Force Base in California is in second place overall with 38 launches.
China’s Xichang and Jiuquan spaceports are in fourth and fifth place, respectively. Rocket Lab has conducted a record 10 launches from its base at Mahia in New Zealand.
Notable October Launches
The fifth Starship/Super Heavy flight on Oct. 13 was the most successful yet. The Super Heavy stage made it back to its launch site for the first time and was caught by a launch tower’s Mechazilla arms. The Starship upper stage landed on target in the Indian Ocean.
On Oct. 14, a Falcon Heavy rocket sent NASA’s Europa spacecraft on a nearly six-year long voyage to Jupiter. The spacecraft will study the Jovian moon Europa whose icy crust is believed to cover an ocean that could harbor life.
A Falcon 9 rocket launched the European Space Agency’s Hera spacecraft into deep space on Oct. 7. Hera will study the Didymos binary asteroid system that was struck by NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) probe in November 2021 in a planetary defense demonstration. Hera is carrying two CubeSats, Juventas and Milani, that will conduct additional studies of Didymos.
United Launch Alliance (ULA) conducted the second certification flight of its new Vulcan Centaur booster on Oct. 4. The nozzle on one of the two solid rocket boosters attached to the first stage fell off shortly after launch. The rocket was able to compensate for the loss of thrust and place its payload, a mass simulator, into its proper orbit.
Vulcan Centaur needs to be certified in order to carry defense payloads for the Pentagon. The booster is designed to replace the retired Delta IV rocket and the still operational Atlas V booster.
On Oct. 29, a Chinese Long March 2F rocket launched a new crew to the Tiangong space station aboard the Shenzhou 19 spacecraft. The crew includes Commander Cai Xuzhe on his second spaceflight and rookie astronauts Song Lingdong and Wang Haoze.