U.S. & Dominated Launch Industry in 2022, Russia Finishes a Distant Third

Part I of II

SpaceX conducted its 61st launch of 2022 on Thursday to wrap up a record year that saw 186 orbital launch attempts worldwide. A Falcon 9 booster launched the EROS-C3 for ImageSat of Israel from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.

Let’s take a look at launch totals worldwide and how the top three nations — United States, China and Russia — faired this year. We will look at launches by other nations in a future post.

Orbital Launches
2022: 186 (178-7-1)
2021: 146 (135-10-1)

There were 178 successful launches, seven failures and one partial failure in 2022. There were 146 launch attempts last year.

The United States and China combined for 151 launches, with 146 successes, four failures and one partial failure. That represents 81.2% of all launch attempts. The number rise to 173 launches (93%) when Russia’s 22 launches are included.

Orbital Launches by Nation

Nation	Successes	Failures	Partial Failures	Total	Percentage of Total
United States	84	2	1	87	46.8
China	62	2	0	64	34.4
Russia	22	0	0	22	11.8
Europe	4	1	0	5	2.7
India	4	1	0	5	2.7
Iran	1	0	0	1	0.5
South Korea	1	0	0	1	0.5
Japan	0	1	0	1	0.5
Total	178	7	1	186	100

The rest of the world launched 13 times, with 10 successes and three failures. Japan’s lone launch attempt of the year failed.

South Korea conducted its first successful launch of a domestically manufactured booster when a Nuri rocket roared off the pad at the Naro Space Center on June 21. It was the second launch for the booster, which failed on its maiden flight in 2021.

For a recap of Europe’s launch year, see Vega-C Launch Failure Ends Frustrating Year for Europe.

U.S. Launches
2022: 87 (84-2-1)
2021: 51 (48-3-0)

SpaceX’s 61 launches were nearly double the 31 flights the company conducted in 2021. That amounts to 75% of the 40 additional launch attempts conducted worldwide this year.

U.S. Launches by Booster

Company/Agency	Launch Vehicle(s)	Successes	Failures	Partial Failures	Total
SpaceX	Falcon 9, Falcon Heavy	61	0	0	61
Rocket Lab	Electron	9	0	0	9
United Launch Alliance	Atlas V, Delta IV Heavy	8	0	0	8
Astra Space	Rocket 3.3	1	2	0	3
Northrop Grumman	Antares	2	0	0	2
Virgin Orbit	LauncherOne	2	0	0	2
NASA	Space Launch System	1	0	0	0
Firefly Aerospace	Firefly Alpha	0	0	1	1
	Total:	83	2	1	86

Thirty-four Falcon 9 flights launched 1,722 Starlink broadband satellites. The company has launched 3,666 Starlink spacecraft since February 2018. SpaceX also launched more than 400 satellites on three Transporter rideshare missions this year. Total payloads launched by SpaceX exceeded 2,000 in 2022.

(For more information on SpaceX’s Transporter missions, see Who Launched What on SpaceX’s Five Transporter Missions.)

SpaceX launched 40 broadband satellites for OneWeb, which is a rival of Starlink. It was the first of three launches of OneWeb satellites booked after plans to launch on six Soyuz boosters fell through after the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February.

NASA launched the much-delayed Space Launch System for the first time. An Orion spacecraft conducted a 25.5-day flight test to the moon in preparation for flying astronauts on the Artemis II mission.

Rocket Lab set a new record of nine launches in one year. Firefly Aerospace orbited satellites for the first time on the second flight of its Firefly Apha booster. And United Launch Alliance (ULA) launched an uncrewed Boeing Starliner spacecraft to the International Space Station (ISS).

Chinese Launches
2022: 64 (62-2)
2021: 56 (53-3)

China set a new record with 64 launch attempts in 2022. The figure included 62 successes and two failures.

The government-owned China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) accounted for 53 of the 64 launches this year. Six other companies launched 11 times, with nine successes and two failures.

Chinese Launches, 2022

Launch Vehicle Family	Company	Successes	Failures	Total
Long March 2	CASC*	24	0	24
Long March 4	CASC*	11	0	11
Kuaizhou	ExPace+	5	0	5
Long March 3	CASC*	4	0	4
Long March 6++	CASC*	4	0	4
Long March 11	CASC*	4	0	4
Long March 7	CASC*	3	0	3
Ceres-1	Galactic Energy	2	0	2
Long March 5	CASC*	2	0	2
Jielong-3+	China Rocket^	1	0	1
Long March 8	CASC*	1	0	1
ZK-1A+	CAS Space**	1	0	1
Hyperbola-1	i-Space	0	1	1
Zhuque-2 (ZQ-2)+	LandSpace	0	1	1
	Total:	62	2	64

CASC’s Long March 6A, China Rocket’s Jielong-3 and CAS Space’s ZK-1A made successful maiden flights in 2022. LandSpace’s Zhuque-2 booster failed on its first flight.

China launched two crews, two modules and two resupply ships to its Tiangong space station. The modules completed initial construction of the orbiting facility. These flights will be discussed in greater depth below.

Russian Launches
2022: 22-0-0
2021: 25 (24-0-1)

Russia’s launch total would have been higher if not for a rupture in relations with the West over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The launches of six Soyuz boosters carrying more than 200 OneWeb broadband satellites were canceled. The European Space Agency (ESA) also canceled the launch of its ExoMars Rosalind Franklin rover aboard a Russian Proton booster.

Russian Launches, 2022

Company/Agency	Launch Site	Launches
Strategic Rocket Forces of the Russian Federation	Plesetsk	10
Roscosmos	Baikonur, Plesetsk, Vostochny	10
Russian Aerospace Forces	Plesetsk	1
Arianespace	French Guiana	1
	Total	22

Four different variants of the Soyuz rocket were used for 20 launches. The Angara 1.2 and Proton boosters flew one time apiece.

Russia put 85 spacecraft into orbit in 2022. The figure includes 34 OneWeb satellites launched aboard a single Soyuz ST-B rocket before cooperation on launches with Europe ended. Another 17 spacecraft were launched on a rideshare mission by a Soyuz-2.1b booster.

Launches were conducted by Roscosmos, Strategic Rocket Forces of the Russian Federation, Russian Aerospace Forces and Arianespace from four different spaceports in three countries.

For more details on Russia’s launches this year, see our other stories:

• Russia’s 2022 Launch Total Reduced by Ruptured Relations with West Over Ukraine
• The Best Laid Plans of Mice and Dmitrys: Russian Space Industry Ends 2022 in Isolation.

Space Station Flights
13 ISS
6 Tiangong

There were 19 launches to the world’s two space stations in 2022. Thirteen spacecraft were launched to the International Space Station (ISS) while six vehicles docked with China’s orbital facility.

ISS launches included four launches of crew members aboard Russian Soyuz and SpaceX Crew Dragon vehicles. SpaceX also launched the private Axiom-1 mission with three paying customers that was commanded by former NASA astronaut Michael Lopez-Alegria.

International Space Station Launches & Departures

Date	Launch Vehicle	Spacecraft	Purpose	Crew
Jan. 24, 2022	—	Cargo Dragon 2	Capsule return (launched Dec. 21, 2021)	None
Feb. 15, 2022	Soyuz-2.1a	Progress MS-19 (80P)	ISS resupply	None
Feb. 19, 2022	Antares	Cygnus NG-17	ISS resupply	None
March 18, 2022	Soyuz-2.1a	Soyuz MS-21	ISS crew	Oleg Artemyev, Denis Matveev, Sergey Korsakov
March 30, 2022	—	Soyuz MS-19	ISS crew return	Anton Shkoplerov, Pyotr Dubrov, Mark Vande Hei
April 8, 2022	Falcon 9	Crew Dragon	Axiom Mission-1 Launch	Michael Lopez Alegria, Larry Connor, Mark Pathy, Eytan Stibbe
April 25, 2022	—	Crew Dragon	Axiom Mission-1 Return	Michael Lopez Alegria, Larry Connor, Mark Pathy, Eytan Stibbe
April 27, 2022	Falcon 9	Crew Dragon	ISS Crew-4 launch	Kjell Lindgren, Robert Hines, Jessica Watkins, Samantha Christoferetti
May 6, 2022	—	Crew Dragon	ISS Crew-3 return (launched Nov 11, 2021)	Raja Chari, Thomas Marshburn, Matthias Mauer, Kayla Barron
May 19, 2022	Atlas V	CST-100 Starliner	Uncrewed flight test	None
May 25, 2022	—	CST-100 Starliner	Capsule return	None
June 1, 2022	—	Progress MS-18	Capsule departure (launched Oct. 28, 2021)	None
June 3, 2022	Soyuz-2.1a	Progress MS-20	Resupply	None
June 29, 2022	—	Cygnus NG-17	Resupply ship departure	None
July 15, 2022	Falcon 9	Cargo Dragon CRS-25	ISS resupply	None
Aug. 20, 2022	—	Cargo Dragon CRS-25	Capsule return	None
Sept. 19, 2022	Soyuz-2.1a	Soyuz MS-22	ISS crew	Sergey Prokopyev, Dmitri Petelin, Frank Rubio
Sept. 29, 2022	—	Soyuz MS-21	Crew return	Oleg Artemyev, Denis Matveev, Sergey Korsakov
Oct. 5, 2022	Falcon 9	Crew Dragon	Crew-5 launch	Nicole Mann, Josh Cassada, Koichi Wakata, Anna Kikina
Oct. 14, 2022		Crew Dragon	ISS Crew-4 return	Kjell Lindgren, Robert Hines, Jessica Watkins, Samantha Christoferetti
Oct. 24, 2022		Progress MS-19	Resupply ship departure	None
Oct. 26, 2022	Soyuz-2.1a	Progress MS-21	ISS resupply	None
Nov. 7, 2022	Antares	Cygnus NS-18	ISS Resupply	None
Nov. 26, 2022	SpaceX	Cargo Dragon (CRS-26)	ISS Resupply	None

Boeing launched an uncrewed flight test of its Starliner spacecraft in May. NASA astronauts will fly to ISS on a flight test in 2022.

Russia launched three Progress resupply ships to the station. SpaceX and Northrop Grumman launched two cargo ships apiece.

Chinese Space Station

China completed construction of its Tiangong space station by launching the Wentian and Mengtian modules in July and October, respectively. They were docked to the Tianhe core module.

Tiangong Launches and Return Flights
2 Crew
2 Resupply
2 Station Modules

Date	Launch Vehicle	Launch Site	Spacecraft	Purpose	Crew
April 16, 2022	—	—	Shenzhou-13	Crew return	Zhai Zhigang, Wang Yaping, Ye Guangfu (launched Oct. 15, 2021)
May 9, 2022	Long March 7	Wenchang	Tianzhou 4	Resupply	None
June 5, 2022	Long March 2F	Jiuquan	Shenzhou-14	Crew launch	Chen Dong, Liu Yang, Cai Xuzhe
July 24, 2022	Long March 5B	Wenchang	Wentian	Station module	None
Oct. 31, 2022	Long March 5B	Wenchang	Mengtian	Station module	None
Nov. 9, 2022	—	—	Tianzhou-4	Resupply ship departure	None
Nov. 12, 2022	Long March 7	Wenchang	Tianzhou-5	Station resupply	None
Nov. 29, 2022	Long March 2F	Jiuquan	Shenzhou-15	Crew launch	Fei Junlong, Deng Qingming, Zhang Lu

The crews of Shenzhou-14 and Shenzhou-15 conducted the first in-orbit handover of the space station in December. Tiangong was left empty after the first two crews departed.

China conducted two resupply flights with the Tinazhou-4 and Tianzhou-5 cargo ships.

Launches by Spaceport

Florida remained the busiest location in the world with 57 orbital launches. The figure includes 38 launches from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and 19 more from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center.

Vandenberg Space Force Base in California hosted 16 launches. The Mid_Atlantic Regional Spaceport in Virginia and the Mojave Air and Spaceport in California each hosted two launches. The Pacific Spaceport Complex — Alaska hosted one launch.

Launches by Location, 2022

Launch Site	Country	Successes	Failures	Partial Failure	Total
Cape Canaveral	USA	36	2	0	38
Jiuquan	China	23	2	0	25
Kennedy	USA	19	0	0	19
Vandenberg	USA	15	0	1	16
Xichang	China	16	0	0	16
Taiyuan	China	14	0	0	14
Plesetsk	Russia	13	0	0	13
Mahia	New Zealand	9	0	0	9
Baikonur	Kazakhstan	7	0	0	7
Wenchang	China	6	0	0	6
Kourou	French Guiana	5	1	0	6
Satish Dhawan	India	4	1	0	5
Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS)	USA	2	0	0	2
Mojave Air and Space Port	USA	2	0	0	2
Yellow Sea	China	2	0	0	2
East China Sea	China	1	0	0	1
Naro Space Center	South Korea	1	0	0	1
Pacific Spaceport Complex — Alaska	USA	1	0	0	1
Shahrud Missile Test Site	Iran	1	0	0	1
Vostochny	Russia	1	0	0	1
Uchinoura	Japan	0	1	0	1
		178	7	1	186

Jiquan Satellite Launch Center led all Chinese spaceports with 25 flights, followed by Xichang (16), Taiyuan (14) and Wenchang (6). Two launches were conducted from a floating platform in the Yellow Sea and one from the East China Sea.

Russian launches were divided between Plesetsk Cosmodrome (13), Baikonur Cosmodrome (7), Europe’s Spaceport (1), and Vostochny Cosmodrome (1).