Part 2: U.S. & Dominated Launch Industry in 2022, Russia Finishes a Distant Third

Part 2 of 2

The U.S. and China set new launch records in 2022. While lagged far behind in third place, Russia could take pride in the fact that all its launches were successful. The year didn’t go quite as well for three other major launching powers, however.

SpaceX and the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) launched two times apiece this week to end a record year that saw 186 launch attempts around the world.

The year looked bright for Russia’s space program as 2022 dawned. Seven Soyuz launches would complete deployment of OneWeb’s 648-satellite broadband constellation. In August, a Proton booster would launch the joint European-Russian ExoMars Rosalind Franklin rover to the Red Planet.

Part 1 of 2

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.

Russia’s conducted 22 launches without any failures in 2022. Although that is a respectable number, it left a nation that once led the world in orbital flights a distant third behind the United States (87) and China (64) in a record year with 186 launches.

This week on The Space Show with Dr. David Livingston: Tuesday, December 27. 7 PM PST (9 PM CST; 10 PM EST): We welcome back DR. TOM SPILKER for Orbital Assembly Co. updates. Wednesday, December 28. Hotel Mars pre-recorded. See the Upcoming Show Menu at www.thespaceshow.com for details. Wednesday, December 28. SPECIAL SHOW: 7 PM PST; 10 PM EST: We welcome back DR. HAYM BENAROYA with RAYMOND MARTIN on their […]

Updated 9:59 a.m. PST on 12/29/2022: Added Axiom Space’s $50 million Series C round.

Getting caught up on all the recent fundraising, contracts and more in the quiet week between Christmas and New Year’s Eve.

Virgin Galactic (NYS: SPCE) is back in the news this week in the form of a HBO documentary about company founder Richard Branson as the company’s stock hit an all-time low of $3.28 on Tuesday. And it turns out I am featured in Part 4 of the documentary.

Four launches have been scheduled this week that would bring orbital attempts to a record 186 if all of the missions are conducted as planned. The last minute flurry comes as SpaceX seeks to exceed 60 launches, and Arianespace deals with the fallout from the failure of a Vega-C rocket last week.

Third in a Series

Part I: Elon Musk Drinks Your Milkshake: The Impact of SpaceX Rideshare Missions on the Small Launch Market
Part II: Satellite Operators Face Limited Selection of Small Launch Vehicles as Sector Slowly Emerges

In Part I of this series, we looked at how development of small satellite launchers was being impacted by rideshare and secondary payload launches aboard larger boosters. In Part II, we examined the limited number of small boosters available to satellite operators who want to launch their payloads.