7,423 orbital launch attempts since Sputnik — two thirds flew from sites still active today
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.”
This ledger covers all 7,423 distinct orbital or deep-space launch attempts in the live GCAT derived launch log (updated 2026 Nov 7) — from Sputnik at Baykonur on 1957-10-04 to the latest record at Vandenberg on 2026-11-07 — across 50 displayed site names and 20 operating-bloc codes. The exact launch records are single-sourced from Jonathan McDowell's GCAT; an independently hosted methodology link in every row describes the same inclusion rule. 5,051 launches flew from sites classified as still active, 2,372 from inactive sites.
About “still active”: it is a current site-level classification, not whether the historical pad remains in use. A site counts as active when the GCAT registry carries an open-ended stop marker or the site hosted an orbital/deep-space launch in 2024–2026; otherwise not. This can label a renamed legacy site (for example the Soviet-era “NIIP-5, Baykonur” registry entry, last orbital launch 1988) inactive even when an adjacent or unified spaceport continues. Operating bloc is GCAT LVState — the launch vehicle's operating state (codes such as SU, US, F, CN), not the payload owner or geographic host.
Where 7,423 launches lifted off
Circle area = launches from site. site still active site inactive. Hover a site for its count, years and status.
Coordinates are unavailable for a small number of non-terrestrial or ambiguous records (one ledger site name has no fixed location), so those launches are counted but not plotted.
Launch cadence by year
Orbital and deep-space launch attempts per calendar year, 1957–2026 (2026 partial, through Nov 7).
Cape Canaveral alone accounts for 1,106 launches — the busiest site in the ledger — and remains active through 2026. planet4589.org
The Soviet-era “NIIP-5, Baykonur” registry entry logged 888 launches from 1957 to 1988 yet is classified inactive under the site-level rule, illustrating the renaming caveat. planet4589.org
2026 is the busiest year on record with 261 attempts from 26 sites and 10 operating blocs — double the Cold-War peak cadence of 139 in 1967. planet4589.org
An independently hosted methodology describing the same GCAT inclusion rule reported 7,416 attempts through 2026-10-27, consistent with this ledger's 7,423 through 2026-11-07. raw.githubusercontent.com
The complete ledger — all 7,423 launches
Launch ID
Date (UTC)
Year
Launch site
Operating bloc
Site still active
Source
Data: Jonathan McDowell's GCAT derived launch log (planet4589.org), updated 2026 Nov 7 1019 UTC; 7,423 rows, one per distinct GCAT Launch_Tag whose Launch_Code begins O or D (successes, failures, partial failures, deep-space attempts); pad explosions (OE) and pre-liftoff aborts (OA) excluded. Site activity from the GCAT site registry under the rule stated above. Operating bloc = GCAT LVState code. Pad, site code, coordinates and full site names were cut from the table for space; the map carries site totals. Researched 2026-11-08.