7,405 orbital and deep-space launch attempts since Sputnik, from 65 site identities across 20 operating blocs
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 register covers every distinct Earth-orbital or deep-space launch attempt recorded in GCAT — all 7,405 of them — from Sputnik on 4 October 1957 through 13 October 2026 (the 2026 portion is year-to-date, with 243 launches so far). 7,177 attempts carry an orbital O code and 228 a deep-space D code; successes and failures are both included, and dates are UTC where a time is present.
Single-source caveat: every row comes from Jonathan McDowell’s GCAT on planet4589.org (updated 13 Oct 2026, 21:43 UTC). Orbital Radar corroborates the overall 1957–2026 scope but does not independently verify each row. “Site still active” is a current-status proxy — Yes when GCAT’s registry is open-ended or the site hosted an orbital attempt in 2024–2026 — not a guarantee of future capability. The 65 site codes are registry identities: some spaceports (Plesetsk, Baikonur, Vandenberg, Sriharikota) appear under several codes across administrative eras.
Where the world launches from
65 GCAT site identities, circle area = orbital/deep-space attempts hosted (1 to 1,414). Hover a circle for details.
Site still active (registry open-ended or used 2024–2026)Retired or superseded site code
The chronology: launches per year by operating bloc
Stacked bars, 1957–2026 (2026 partial through 13 Oct). Colour = bloc group; 16 smaller blocs grouped as “Other”. Hover a year for the split.
All 20 operating blocs
Total launch attempts per bloc, entire register.
The USA (2,468) and USSR (2,449) are nearly tied across the whole register; adding post-1991 Russia (898) puts the Soviet/Russian line ahead at 3,347. planet4589.org
Plesetsk is the busiest physical spaceport: its three registry identities together hold 1,684 launches, ahead of Cape Canaveral’s single code at 1,105 and Baikonur’s two codes at 1,558. planet4589.org
49 of the 65 site identities count as still active under the registry-plus-recent-use test; 16 are retired or superseded. planet4589.org
2026 already holds 243 attempts through 13 October — the USA leads the year with 130, China follows with 71. planet4589.org
The complete register
All 7,405 rows. Launch codes: O = orbital attempt, D = deep-space attempt; suffix S = success, F = failure, a number = partial-success percentage. One 2021 Chinese launch has an unresolved “TYSC?” site spelling and a blank active flag; it is kept. Each row is sourced from planet4589.org, corroborated in scope by orbitalradar.com.
Year
Launch ID
Date (UTC)
Launch site
Operating bloc
Code
Site still active
Method: GCAT (General Catalog of Artificial Space Objects, Jonathan McDowell, planet4589.org), launchlog.tsv plus sites.tsv and orgs.tsv, updated 2026-10-13 21:43 UTC; 7,405 launch-level rows (7,177 orbital, 228 deep-space, failures included), 65 site codes, 20 blocs, 1957-10-04 to 2026-10-13 (2026 partial). Single-sourced at row level; orbitalradar.com corroborates overall scope only. A launch counts one attempt regardless of outcome. Location and lat/lon columns dropped from the table for space; the map carries site coordinates.