SpaceX and China Power Record-Breaking Year for Orbital Launches Written 5 January 2026
In This Section
SpaceX launches 29 Starlink v2-mini satellites from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center on Dec. 8 at 5:26 p.m. EST. | Credit: NASASpaceflight; YouTube
Space News reports, “Orbital launch activity set another annual record in 2025, although future growth may depend on factors different from those that fueled the recent surge. There were 324 orbital launch attempts worldwide in 2025, according to a SpaceNews analysis of open-source data. The total excludes suborbital launches, such as five test flights of SpaceX’s Starship that did not reach orbit by design, as well as three launches of the HASTE variant of Rocket Lab’s Electron.”
Full Story (Space News)