Back in time
Open the live mapRocket launches since 1945
Every orbital launch since Sputnik in October 1957 and every suborbital rocket since 1945, from sounding rockets that study the weather to tests of new launchers, each at the site it rose from.
What you see
- Orbital and suborbital launches as two kinds of space event in one green, at their launch sites; where a view holds more than 2,000 they gather into counted bubbles.
- Click one for the rocket, its payload, the agency, the pad and whether it succeeded.
- Opened from this page, the map plays 1957 to today.
Where the data comes from
- GCATJonathan McDowell’s General Catalog of Artificial Space Objects, its orbital and suborbital launch logs: vehicle, payload, agency, site, apogee and outcome.
GCAT is updated as launches happen; TAKIP takes it when the set is imported again. The live page for coming launches is separate.
Good to know
- Nearly nine in ten launches here are suborbital, and half of those are weather rockets.
- About a third are placed at the pad itself, most of the rest at the launch site.
- About 7% of orbital launches failed, fully or in part; one suborbital flight in six has no known outcome.
- Missile launches have a page of their own.
The first recorded here in each decade
- Tiny Tim — Booster test26 Sep 1945 · Suborbital launch
- Deacon — F26 Model11 Jan 1950 · Suborbital launch
- Aeolus1960 · Suborbital launch
- Aero High1970 · Suborbital launch
- HJJan 1980 · Suborbital launch
- MR-12 ?1990 · Suborbital launch
- S-310 — WAVE20009 Jan 2000 · Suborbital launch
- RH-300 Mk II — Eclipse14 Jan 2010 · Suborbital launch
- Falcon 9 FT5 — Starlink-37 Jan 2020 · Space launch
Goes well with
Upcoming rocket launchesUpcoming rocket launches worldwide on a map, from Launch Library 2: the next launch from each pad, with rocket, mission, time and live webcasts.Missile launches since 1942More than 15,000 missile launches from the V-2 tests of 1942 to today, from Jonathan McDowell’s launch log, each at its launch site and with its outcome.
Satellite trackerAbout 18,000 satellites and pieces of debris on a live 3D globe, placed from CelesTrak orbital data: see what is overhead, its orbit and its next passes.