By John Fernando Muñoz | 2026-05-18

The global space industry broke new records in 2025 as the pace of orbital launches continued to accelerate, with 2026 on track to continue the trend as the new space race surges forward.

Since 2020, the number of launches has almost tripled.

There were 329 orbital launch attempts worldwide in 2025, an increase of 25% over 2024, which had itself grown 17% over the previous year.

The United States and China accounted for 88% of all orbital launches in 2025.

The United States led the pack with 181 orbital launches, up from 145 the previous year, while China went from 68 to 91.

The United States and China also achieved the largest number of beyond Earth orbit (BEO) missions -- furthering exploration outside of Earth’s immediate gravitational influence.

In 2022, the United States surpassed China as hosting the greatest number of space launches, according to the US International Trade Commission, and has since maintained its lead and widened the gap.

The primary driver has been SpaceX, which carried out 170 launches in 2025, more than the rest of the world combined, and is already transitioning toward Starship, its fully reusable heavy-lift launch system.

"At the same time, new and maturing launch vehicles from Blue Origin, Rocket Lab, India, and China are coming online or scaling operations," according to global provider of satellite data communication services RBC Signals.

"The combined effect is a dramatic increase in global launch capacity, positioning 2026 as a likely record year for orbital launches."

Increase in launch cadence

China, for its part, has tested its first rockets with reusable technology. India is on the rise. Europe is recovering reliability with Ariane 6 and Vega C.

Relative newcomer New Zealand carried out 17 launches in 2025, primarily via Rocket Lab.

South Korea and Iran both expanded their launch activity, conducting at least one launch each.

Meanwhile, Japan suffered some setbacks, conducting just three successful launches in 2025. And Russia's launch rate stalled.

In 2025, Russia carried out 17 orbital launches, the same number as 2024.

According to available data, that is its lowest launch cadence since 1961 -- when the Soviet Union stunned the world by sending cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin into space -- excluding the pandemic years.

Russia was not a significant player in BEO launches in 2025.

Last August, the nation postponed its next missions to the moon and Venus by at least a year, pushing launches to 2028 and 2036, the Moscow Times reported.

Russia’s state space agency Roscosmos has yet to confirm the revised timeline.

Per data from Roscosmos and NASA, compiled by Russian-language data journalism outlet Ravenstvo Media and circulated among international analysts, Russia’s market share fell from 53% of the global total in 1990 to 5% in 2025.

In 2013, Russia was still launching satellites for 11 foreign clients. In 2025, that number was zero.

Russia fails to keep pace

Analysts point to multiple, intertwined causes for Russia's failure to keep pace with global launch trends.

Reports from the Atlantic Council and the Foreign Policy Research Institute indicate that funding and technical expertise have been redirected toward the defense sector and the war effort in Ukraine.

On top of that come concrete technical blows: in November 2025, a serious accident on a Baikonur launch pad put the Progress MS-33 mission out of action.

There also were problems with the upper stage of a Proton-M rocket, and a failed ignition test of the new Soyuz-5 rocket.

Russian space analyst Vitaly Egorov was blunt in his assessment: "All three failures have a different cause, which in general does not characterize the state of the Russian space industry in the best way."

Roscosmos deputy director general Grigory Maksimov has publicly claimed the state corporation will regain its status as a top three global space power within the next three to four years. But the numbers tell a different story.

Of the 20 launches planned for 2026, at least three have been delayed due to serious technical failures, according to Egorov.

At the Russian Space Forum, Lev Zeleny, scientific director of the Space Research Institute at the Russian Academy of Sciences, admitted Moscow has no plans for crewed deep-space or lunar missions over the next decade.

He allowed that the only major project still standing is the construction of a new Russian orbital station.

"Of course, there should be Russian manned lunar cosmonautics, but we must find some difficult, non-standard solutions to go from lagging behind to overtaking," he said, per a United24Media report citing Russian state media.