7,169 orbital launch attempts since Sputnik — a Cold War duopoly turned into a global surge

Asked:

“Every orbital launch from 1957 to today — for each one list the year, the launch site, the operating bloc and whether the site is still active.”

The rows cover all 7,169 orbital launch attempts recorded from 1957 through 2026-09-13 — every GCAT launch record whose code begins with O, so failed attempts to reach orbit are counted — across 65 historical launch-site identities. The row-level roster is single-sourced from Jonathan McDowell’s GCAT; CelesTrak’s boxscore serves only as a cross-check.

Launch attempts per year by operating bloc

Stacked area, 1957–2026 (2026 is partial: data ends 2026-09-13). Hover a year for its breakdown.

Where the launches happened

64 mappable launch-site identities; circle area = launch attempts. Filled circles are facilities still active as of 2026-09-13; hollow circles are inactive. Hover for details. One unresolved site identity (1 launch) has no coordinates.

Two Cold War powers account for 4,642 of 7,169 attempts — the Soviet Union (2,349) and the United States (2,293); Plesetsk alone hosted 1,416 launches under its Soviet identity. planet4589.org

After 1990 the map diversifies: Russia (972), China (784), French Guiana (328), Japan (136), India (100) and New Zealand (81) join, with China operating from eight distinct sites, including two sea-launch zones. planet4589.org

The launch rate is surging: 2025 set the all-time record with 325 attempts, and 2026 already logs 217 by September 13 — the four busiest years on record are 2022–2025. planet4589.org

507 of the 7,169 attempts failed to reach orbit; CelesTrak’s independent boxscore counts 6,843 launches as of 2026-05-18, lower because it counts only launches that placed at least one object in orbit. celestrak.org

The complete launch table

One row per launch attempt. Filter, sort by clicking a header, or download everything as CSV.

Year	Launch site	Operating bloc	Site active	Date (UTC)	Pad	Vehicle	Mission	Outcome	Source

Method: 7,169 orbital launch attempts (GCAT LaunchCode starting with O, so intended-orbit failures are included), 1957 through 2026-09-13, single-sourced from Jonathan McDowell’s GCAT (planet4589.org, updated 2026-09-13). “Operating bloc” is GCAT’s StateCode for the launch-site identity at the time, expanded via GCAT’s organizations table, so Soviet-era launches keep the Soviet label. “Site still active” resolves renamed facilities through the site’s universal code: Yes if any current identity of the same physical facility remains open (TStop='*') as of 2026-09-13; a blank means unresolved, and the flag refers to the continuing facility even where the displayed name is historical. CelesTrak’s boxscore (6,843 as of 2026-05-18) counts only launches placing an object in orbit, so it is not directly comparable. The timeline groups blocs beyond the top eight as “Other”; the table shows every bloc. One site identity lacks coordinates and is omitted from the map only.

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