This is a timeline of first orbital launches by country. While a number of countries, incl. Canada, Australia, Germany, Brazil, Algeria, Kazakhstan, Turkey, Argentina, Italy, Malaysia, Poland, South Africa, the Philippines, Egypt, Spain, Mexico, Thailand and Chile, have built or launched satellites, as of 2022, eleven countries, incl. the United States, Japan, China, India, Iran, Israel, France, the United Kingdom and South Korea, have had the capability to send objects into orbit with their own launch vehicles. Russia and Ukraine inherited the capability of the space launchers and satellites from the Soviet Union, following its dissolution in 1991. Russia launches its rockets from its own and foreign (Kazakh) spaceports.
Ukraine launched only from foreign (Kazakh and Russian) launch facilities until 2015, after which political differences with Russia effectively halted Ukraine's ability to produce orbital rockets.[1] [2] France became a space power independently, launching a payload into orbit from Algeria, before joining space launcher facilities in the multi-national Ariane project. The United Kingdom became a space power independently following a single payload insertion into orbit from Australia.
Ten countries and one inter-governmental organisation (ESA) have a proven orbital launch capability, . Three countries (France, Italy[3] and the United Kingdom) formerly had such an independent capability. In all cases where a country has conducted independent human spaceflights (as of 2021, three — China, the Soviet Union/Russia, and the United States), these launches were preceded by independent uncrewed launch capability.
The race to launch the first satellite was closely contested by the Soviet Union and the United States, and was the beginning of the Space Race. The launching of satellites, while still contributing to national prestige, is a significant economic activity as well, with public and private rocket systems competing for launches, using cost and reliability as selling points.
Countries like Italy are not included since they have not yet developed an orbital rocket from scratch; i.e., an orbital rocket that was designed and engineered in its entirety in the country in question.
| Order | Country[4] | Sector | width=250pt | Satellite | Rocket | Location | Date (UTC) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Governmental | Sputnik 1 | Sputnik-PS | Baikonur, Soviet Union (today Kazakhstan) | 4 October 1957 | ||
| 2 |  | Explorer 1 | Juno I | Cape Canaveral, United States | 1 February 1958 | ||
| 3 |  | Astérix | Diamant A | CIEES/Hammaguir, Algeria | 26 November 1965 | ||
| 4 |  | Ohsumi | Lambda-4S | Uchinoura, Japan | 11 February 1970 | ||
| 5 |  | Dong Fang Hong 1 | Long March 1 | Jiuquan, China | 24 April 1970 | ||
| 6 |  [5] | Prospero | Black Arrow | Woomera, Australia | 28 October 1971 | ||
| — < | --do not appropriate a historical number--> | European Space Agency[6] | CAT-1 (Obélix[7]) | Ariane 1 | Kourou, French Guiana | 24 December 1979 | |
| 7 |  | Rohini 1 (RS1) | SLV | Sriharikota, India | 18 July 1980 | ||
| 8 |  | Ofeq 1 | Shavit | Palmachim, Israel | 19 September 1988 | ||
| — < | --do not appropriate a historical number--> |  [8] | Strela-3 (x6, Russian) | Tsyklon-3 | Plesetsk, Soviet Union (today Russia) | 28 September 1991 | |
| — < | --do not appropriate a historical number--> | Kosmos 2175 | Soyuz-U | Plesetsk, Russia | 21 January 1992 | ||
| 9 | [9] | Omid | Safir-1A | Semnan, Iran | 2 February 2009 | ||
| 10 | Kwangmyŏngsŏng-3 Unit 2 | Unha-3 | Sohae, North Korea | 12 December 2012 | |||
| 11 | STSat-2C | Naro-1 | Goheung, South Korea | 30 January 2013 |
Two countries, Italy and New Zealand, have contributed in the creation or continuation of orbital launch systems.
| Order | Country | Sector | Satellite | Rocket | Location | Date (UTC) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Italy | Governmental | San Marco 1 | Scout-X4 | San Marco platform, Kenya | 15 December 1964 | |
| 2 | New Zealand | Private | Humanity Star | Electron | Mahia LC-1A, New Zealand | 21 January 2018 |
The above list includes confirmed satellite launches with rockets produced by the launching country, like Algeria, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Egypt, France, Germany, India, Iran, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, South Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, the Philippines, Poland, Russia, South Africa, Spain, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, the United Kingdom or the United States. Lists with differing criteria might include the following launches:
had yet to launch a satellite into orbit independently and its space program suffered three satellite launch failures, the latest being the explosion of a VLS-1 rocket on 22 August 2003 at the Alcântara Launch Centre, which resulted in 21 deaths.[10]Some countries have no self-developed rocket systems, but have provided their spaceports for launches of their own and foreign satellites on foreign launchers:
with the first successful launch from Hammaguir of the French satellite Astérix on 26 November 1965 by French Diamant A. The last orbital launch from Hammaguir was on 15 February 1967 by French Diamant A and there are no further launches scheduled (the first Algerian satellite is AlSAT-1 launched by Russian Kosmos-3M from Plesetsk, Russia on 28 November 2002).
with the first successful launch from the San Marco platform of its satellite San Marco 2 on 26 April 1967 by US Scout B (the first Italian satellite is San Marco 1 launched by another Scout from Wallops, USA on 15 December 1964). The last orbital launch from San Marco was on 25 March 1988 by US Scout G-1 and there are no further launches scheduled.
with the first successful launch from Woomera Test Range of its first satellite WRESAT on 29 November 1967 by US Sparta.[11] The second and final successful orbital launch from Woomera was performed on 28 October 1971 by the UK Black Arrow.
with the first launch after its independence from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on 21 January 1992 of the Russian Soyuz-U2 and Progress M-11 (the first Kazakh satellite is KazSat launched by Russian Proton-K from Baikonur on 17 June 2006). Currently the spaceport continues to be utilized for launches of various Russian rockets.
with a successful launch of a Pegasus-H rocket from Orbital Sciences' Stargazer aircraft flying from Kwajalein Atoll in October 2000. Five ground-based launches were made by SpaceX using Falcon 1 rockets between 2006 and 2009, with the first success on 28 September 2008.[12] Three further Pegasus launches occurred between 2008 and 2012, using the Pegasus-XL configuration. Currently there are no plans announced for a Marshall Islands satellite. Orbital Sciences Corporation (USA) became the first company to launch a privately developed rocket into orbit, the Pegasus on April 5, 1990.[13] Orbital subsequently developed the Minotaur rocket family. Orbital joined SpaceX as one of only two private entities to supply the International Space Station with its launch of the Cygnus Orb-D1 mission on its Antares rocket on September 28, 2013.[14] SpaceX (USA) became the second company to launch a rocket into orbit using a rocket developed with private—not government—funds.[15] Its first successful launch was performed on September 28, 2008, by Falcon 1 from the Omelek Island, Marshall Islands and its first launch from a US spaceport was Falcon 9 Flight 1 on June 4, 2010, from Cape Canaveral. Its Dragon spacecraft docked with the International Space Station on October 11, 2012, to deliver supplies. With a launch of Dragon 2 on May 30, 2020 SpaceX became the first company to launch humans to orbit. American private company Rocket Lab successfully launched its Electron rocket from Mahia Launch Center in New Zealand on January 21, 2018, carrying three cubesats into low Earth orbit. This was the first time that a rocket entered orbit after launching from a privately owned and operated spaceport. Chinese private company i-Space successfully launched its Hyperbola-1 rocket from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center and sent several small payloads, including the CAS-7B amateur radio satellite into Earth orbit on July 25, 2019.[16] Galactic Energy successfully launched its Ceres-1 solid rocket from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center into Sun-synchronous orbit on November 7, 2020, becoming the second Chinese private company capable of launching satellites into orbit.[17] Virgin Orbit successfully achieved orbit on January 17, 2021, using their LauncherOne vehicle to deploy 10 CubeSats into Low Earth Orbit for NASA.[18] But the company filed for bankruptcy after a launch failure in 2023.[19] Astra Rocket 3.3 vehicle successfully reached orbit on November 20, 2021, after launching from Pacific Spaceport Complex – Alaska (PSCA) carrying the demonstration payload STP-27AD2 for the United States Space Force.[20] Firefly Aerospace launched Firefly Alpha rocket, which successfully reached an orbit lower than the expected one, on October 1, 2022.[21] Space Pioneer successfully launched its first rocket Tianlong-2 into orbit on April 2, 2023. It was the first Chinese company that achieved the goal with the liquid rocket.[22] [23] LandSpace became a private company with orbital launch capability by successfully launched Zhuque-2, world's first methane-fueled rocket to reach orbit, on July 12, 2023.[24] Orienspace was the fifth private company in China to reach orbit after the successful maiden launch of Gravity-1 on January 11, 2024.[25] launched its first satellite, named Astérix, from Algeria in late 1965. launched its first satellite, named Ohsumi, in early 1970. launched its first satellite in early 1975.
was developing larger designs in the Aggregat series as early as 1940. A combination of A9 to A12 components could have produced orbital capability as early as 1947 if work had continued. Further preliminary development of numerous rocket space launchers and re-usable launch systems (Sänger II, etc.) took place after WWII, although these were never realized as national or European projects. Also, in the late 1970s and early 1980s, the private German company OTRAG tried to develop low-cost commercial space launchers. Only the sub-orbital tests of the first prototypes of the rockets were carried out.
had developed the gun-based space launchers Martlet and GLO as the joint Canadian-American Project HARP in the 1960s. The rockets were never tested. In fact, in different periods, they worked in cooperation with Australia, Brazil, South Korea and the United Kingdom.
Iraq built and tested the Al-Abid, a three-stage space launch vehicle without a payload or its upper two stages on 5 December 1989. The rocket's design had a clustered first stage composed of five modified scud rockets strapped together and a single scud rocket as the second stage in addition to a SA-2 liquid-fueled rocket engine as the third stage. The video tape of a partial launch attempt which was retrieved by UN weapons inspectors, later surfaced showing that the rocket prematurely exploded 45 seconds after its launch.[26] [27] [28]
previous attempts at developing space launcher based on their Condor missile were scrapped in 1993.[29] [30] The VLS-1 was cancelled after decades of development and high expenditures with poor results and a failed association with Ukraine that slowed the program for years.[31]
tried to develop space launcher as part of its various ballistic missile programs in the second half of the 20th century. In different periods, they worked either independently or in cooperation with Algeria, Argentina, Canada, Iraq and North Korea.[32] developed the space launcher Capricornio (Capricorn) in the 1990s. The rocket was related to the Condor missile from Argentina and its test, scheduled for 1999/2000, was not conducted. As a result, in different periods, they worked in cooperation with Japan and the United States.[33]
Swiss Space Systems company planned to develop the micro satellite launcher-spaceplane SOAR by 2018 but went bankrupt. Thus, in different periods, they worked in cooperation with Chile, Poland and Ukraine. developed an orbital rocket called Tronador II, whose maiden flight is expected to take place in the next four years as of late 2020.[34]'s ATSpace developed an orbital launch vehicle called Kestrel, tentatively being launched in 2022 from Whalers Way.[35]'s Gilmour Space Technologies developed an orbital launch vehicle called Eris, scheduled to be launched in 2023. announced that it would launch its VLM rocket from the Alcântara Launch Center in 2025.[36]
planned to launch military and security satellites. The first phase began in 2022.[37] planned to launch military and security satellites. The first phase will begin in 2024.
announced that it would launch some satellites in 2024 or any later year. Orbex developed its Prime launch vehicle, whose first launch was planned in 2023 from Sutherland spaceport. Blue Origin developed its New Glenn launch vehicle, whose first launch was planned for sometime in 2024. The private company PLD Space developed the Miura 5 orbital launch vehicle, whose first launch is planned for 2024.
OrbitX, a private company of the Philippines, planned to develop Haribon, a biofuel-powered launch vehicle.[38] [39]
The private company of Malaysia Independence-X Aerospace developed an orbital launch vehicle called DNLV, being launched in 2023.[40]
Thai Space Consortium developed a satellite called TSC-Pathfinder, being launched in 2023.Many other countries, such as Mexico, Poland, Chile, Japan and India, launched their own satellites on one of the foreign launchers listed above, the first being British owned and operated; American-built satellite Ariel 1, which was launched by a US rocket in April 1962. In September 1962, the Canadian satellite, Alouette-1, was launched by a US rocket, but unlike Ariel 1, it was constructed by Canada.