SpaceX’s 134th Falcon rocket launch of 2024 lifted off on Dec. 31 to add 21 Starlink satellites to the company’s broadband constellation.
Including four near-orbital flight tests of SpaceX’s Starship-Super Heavy system, global launch activity climbed to 263 orbital launch attempts in 2024, with all but five missions reaching orbit, an annual assessment by Harvard astrophysicist and longtime space activity tracker Jonathan McDowell shows.
The 2024 launch rate surpassed the 223 orbital launch attempts in 2023, the previous record.
SpaceX conducted more than half of the 263 missions attempted last year. In addition to four flights of the still-in-development Starship-Super Heavy, the company launched Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets 134 times in 2024, all but one of which was successful.
SpaceX’s record year pushed U.S. orbital launch activity to a total of 145 flights in 2024, compared to 109 attempts in 2023. In addition, U.S.-based Rocket Lab flew 13 times from New Zealand last year.
The U.S. tally includes five flights by United Launch Alliance, which conducted its final Delta IV mission in 2024 along with two Atlas V and two of its new Vulcan rockets. In addition to its New Zealand launches, Rocket Lab flew one Electron booster from Wallops Island, Virginia, and Firefly Aerospace launched one Alpha rocket from Vandenberg SFB in California.
Blue Origin’s new orbital rocket New Glenn did not make its planned 2024 debut, but is on its launchpad at Cape Canaveral SFS in preparation for a possible launch attempt on Jan. 10.
Second in overall launch activity in 2024 was China, which has surpassed Russian flight rates every year since 2017. China closed 2024 with 68 orbital launch attempts, two of which were unsuccessful.
Russian orbital launch activity dropped to 17 flights in 2024—all of which were successful—compared with 19 launches in 2023 and 21 in 2022.
Japan attempted seven launches and India five in 2024. Two launches from Japan conducted by privately owned Space One were unsuccessful.
India flew five orbital missions in 2024, all successfully, while Iran launched four rockets, also all successfully.
Europe flew just three orbital missions in 2024, matching its 2023 flight rate as it phased out its Ariane 5 launcher amid delays and technical issues with the follow-on Ariane 6 and Vega rocket programs.
North Korea attempted one orbital launch in 2024, but it was not successful.
The full report can be found online.
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