Data and Methods
Flight Atlas records every launch that has tried to reach orbit since Sputnik 1 in 1957, 7,408 of them as of 16 October 2026. This page explains where the data comes from, what each number counts and how fresh it is.
Sources
| Source | What it provides |
|---|---|
| The Space Devs, Launch Library 2 | Launches: date and time, rocket, mission, pad, orbit and outcome. Synced every two hours. |
| GCAT, Jonathan McDowell | Payload masses delivered to orbit, international designators, and a cross-check of each launch's record. |
| Flight Atlas | Rocket specifications reviewed against published sources, rocket families, launch descriptions and the drawings. |
What each number counts
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Launch | An orbital launch attempt: a rocket that tried to reach Earth orbit or beyond, successful or not. Suborbital flights are not counted. |
| Successful | The payload reached its intended orbit. |
| Failure | The launch did not reach orbit. A partial failure reached orbit but not the intended one, or lost part of its payload; success rates count it against the rocket. |
| Country | The rocket's country, not the launch site or the payload's owner. Soviet launches count under Russia, labeled Soviet Union before 1992. |
| Provider | The company or agency that builds or operates the rocket. |
| Year | By the launch date in UTC. "So far" counts launches up to the date shown. |
| Payload to orbit | GCAT's mass of everything a launch put in orbit; recent launches carry a provisional estimate until GCAT catalogs them. |
How fresh the data is
New launches arrive from Launch Library 2 every two hours, and the Summary pages pick them up within about an hour or two. Every page prints the date of the data it shows. Outcomes of the newest launches can change for a few days as operators confirm them.
Credit and reuse
The counts change with every launch, so a reference needs the page and the date of the data, for example: Flight Atlas, "Rocket Launches per Year", www.flightatlas.org/how-many-rocket-launches, data as of 16 October 2026.
Figures and tables are free to quote with that credit. The rocket drawings are original artwork made for the site: they can be shared in screenshots, charts, articles and posts with a visible credit to Flight Atlas (flightatlas.org), and commercial use needs written permission first (full terms on the About page).
Press and corrections
Questions, data requests and corrections: apostructura@gmail.com. If a number looks wrong, send the page and what you expected; fixes go live with the next update.