New Record Set In 2022 For Orbital Launch Activity

Led by a banner year for SpaceX, the world’s space launch companies racked up a record 186 flights in 2022, all but six of which reached orbit.

Launches from the U.S. jumped to 78 for the year, driven by SpaceX, which successfully flew its Falcon rocket fleet 61 times, according to a compendium of launch activity complied by Jonathan McDowell, a Harvard University astrophysicist. In 2021, U.S. companies conducted 45 orbital launches, including 31 by SpaceX. 

The U.S. tally for 2022 includes 60 SpaceX Falcon 9 rockets and one Falcon Heavy; seven United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V missions and one ULA Delta IV; three Astra Rocket 3 flights; two Northrop Grumman Antares missions; two Virgin Orbit LauncherOne flights, one flight of Firefly’s Alpha booster and the long-awaited debut flight of NASA’s Space Launch System rocket. 

In addition, the U.S.-based Rocket Lab, which is preparing for its first flight from the Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, flew nine times in 2022 from its privately owned launch complex in New Zealand. 

Second to the U.S. in orbital launch activity last year was China, which staged 64 missions by a mix of government and commercial providers, a 15% increase over the 56 launches that China conducted in 2021, McDowell’s report showed. 

Russia also stepped up its launch rate in 2022 to 21 launches, five more than the 16 orbital flights attempted in 2021. 

Europe, which suspended the use of Russian-made Soyuz rockets in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, saw its flight rate fall by nearly two-thirds. In total, Arianspace launched its Ariane 5 rocket three times in 2022 and flew a single Russian Soyuz mission from the European Space Agency (ESA)-owned Guiana Space Center in French Guiana. ESA also launched its Vega booster twice. 

The worldwide orbital launch rate in 2022 topped the previous record, set in 2021, of 146 flights, 10 of which were unsuccessful.