Two more launches, by China and SpaceX respectively
The global launch industry added two more launches to its 2025 launch totals since yesterday. First, China launched what its state-run press described as a Earth imaging satellite, its Long March 3B rocket lifting off from its Xichang spaceport in southwest China. No information was released as to where the rocket’s lower stages — using very toxic hypergolic fuels — crashed inside China.
Then early today SpaceX placed another 29 Starlink satellites into orbit, its Falcon 9 rocket lifting off from Cape Canaveral in Florida. The first stage completed its 24th flight, landing on a drone ship in the Atlantic.
With this launch, the U.S. set a new annual record for successful launches, 158, beating the record set in 2024. In both years, the record was almost entirely due to SpaceX and its Falcon 9. Rocket Lab’s numbers continue to rise, suggesting the company is about to finally begin launching more than once a month. All the other American rocket companies, especially ULA, have in the past two years failed to deliver the number of launches promised. All continue to promise big numbers in 2026. We shall see.
The leaders in the 2025 launch race:
139 SpaceX
65 China
13 Russia
13 Rocket Lab
SpaceX now leads the rest of the world in successful launches, 139 to 107.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
The global launch industry added two more launches to its 2025 launch totals since yesterday. First, China launched what its state-run press described as a Earth imaging satellite, its Long March 3B rocket lifting off from its Xichang spaceport in southwest China. No information was released as to where the rocket’s lower stages — using very toxic hypergolic fuels — crashed inside China.
Then early today SpaceX placed another 29 Starlink satellites into orbit, its Falcon 9 rocket lifting off from Cape Canaveral in Florida. The first stage completed its 24th flight, landing on a drone ship in the Atlantic.
With this launch, the U.S. set a new annual record for successful launches, 158, beating the record set in 2024. In both years, the record was almost entirely due to SpaceX and its Falcon 9. Rocket Lab’s numbers continue to rise, suggesting the company is about to finally begin launching more than once a month. All the other American rocket companies, especially ULA, have in the past two years failed to deliver the number of launches promised. All continue to promise big numbers in 2026. We shall see.
The leaders in the 2025 launch race:
139 SpaceX
65 China
13 Russia
13 Rocket Lab
SpaceX now leads the rest of the world in successful launches, 139 to 107.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
“… beating the record set in 2025”
2024, I believe.
Call Me Ishmael. Yes of course. Fixed. Thank you.
Elon pointed out in a tweet that this year alone, F9 will launch more times, and carry more payload, than the entire 30 year history of the Space Shuttle program,
135 shuttle launches right? Should be past that now (your number includes F-H and Starship) but if not, will be in 3 days.
Curious about mass to orbit though. Very curious if that comment is correct. Starlink which basically maxes out the F-9 on mass to LEO is a great way to max out payload to orbit.
geoffc,
Yes, the mass-to-orbit claim is correct. About 2/3 of F9 launches are Starlink missions and these always fly with maximum payloads of about 16 tonnes. Shuttle was theoretically capable of hauling more than that to LEO, but almost never did so. Its average payload mass actually delivered to LEO was well below that of F9.
Records for total time spent on-orbit by reusable vehicles belong to Space Force’s fleet of two X-37Bs with SpaceX’s Dragons probably running a strong second – I haven’t totted up the numbers to be sure. Those records will likely all fall to Starship at some point.
Shuttle retains all records for re-entries from orbit by reusable vehicles – at least for the nonce. Starship will eventually eclipse those too, and will likely do so well before the end of the current decade.
“Rocket Lab’s numbers continue to rise, suggesting the company is about to finally begin launching more than once a month.”
Technically, 13 is more than once an month… on average.
They have another one announced for next week I believe.
And I think they have others that they are hoping to launch this year, but the dates are not set.
They play the cards close to the vest on launches.
I have noticed they go in spurts.
I saw an interview with Sir P. Beck where he stated that the paperwork and cargo readiness are always the hold ups.
I think they could launch far more often if those two issues were satisfied more often.
Subtract Starlink missions. How often does SpaceX launch?
136 launches this year, 39-ish of which are not Starlink.
Rocket Lab does not have a secondary company that can fund launches, such as Starlink does for SpaceX.*
When comparing apples to apples** 39 vs 13 launches is competitive.
And no one else is close.
I think this, as a subcategory, is worth watching.
*Before anyone gets riled, I am not talking down Spacex. They have proven that Falcon 9 is an excellent launch system and illustrated re-usability beyond dispute. I am laboring the fact that launching the largest mega-constellation in existence helps boost numbers. But it also suggests robbing Peter to pay Paul.
**Okay, maybe very small apples. Up mass is another category all together. I have not crunched the mass numbers for those non-Starlink launches.
———–
In some ways, Rocket Lab reminds me of Aeronca Aircraft.
That company made a few aircraft in the early days. Nice ones. There are still a few examples flying.
But they really made their money in engines and parts for airframes.
They eventually stopped building whole aircraft and focused on where they money was.
They still exist as a subsidiary.
Personally, I hope they do not follow that path, and want to see Neutron as vehicle used in well into the future.
Additionally, their HASTE launches are rarely mentioned anywhere, as they are tied to NatSec.
(Note, your spam filter seems to hate me. I keep getting rejections. I hope you do not end up with multiple posts.)
sippin_bourbon,
“Rocket Lab does not have a secondary company that can fund launches, such as Starlink does for SpaceX.”
No, it doesn’t – yet. Sir Pete has actually made some noises about possibly ginning up RL’s own more modest constellation – purpose apparently TBD.
But RL has made a lot of acquisitions and now – like Aeronca – makes more money selling space hardware bits and bobs of various sorts than it does doing launches of Electron. Launch may well take center stage again, financially, once Neutron is operational, but space components will remain a major revenue source.
Interestingly, this is an area in which RL has long-preceded SpaceX. SpaceX only recently got into the components business by putting the optical terminals it builds in such profusion for Starlink on the market under the moniker Plug-and-Play-ser. Whether other items will be added to SpaceX’s parts catalog over time is unknown. I’ve often thought both the Kestrel engine used on the 2nd stage of the Falcon 1 and the SuperDracos used on Crew Dragons might find takers if put on sale.
With Rocket Lab’s recent purchase of Mynaric, it now is actually in direct competition with SpaceX in the components business as Mynaric makes optical terminals for satellites too. Prior to the acquisition, Mynaric’s problem was production. RL has proven adept at sorting out production at previously acquired companies and I don’t expect Mynaric to be any exception.