We are now halfway through 2017, so it seems like a good time to take a look at the year in orbital launches. ORBITAL LAUNCHES THROUGH JUNE 2017 NATION SUCCESSES FAILURES PARTIAL FAILURES TOTAL United States 13 0 0 13 Russia 8 0 0 8 China 6 0 1 7 Europe 5 0 0 5 India 4 0 0 4 Japan 3 1 0 4 New Zealand 0 1 0 […]
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“Long March 7”
Atlas V launches the NROL-61 satellite. (Credit: ULA)
Excerpt from
The Annual Compendium of
Commercial Space Transportation: 2017
Federal Aviation Administration
Office of Commercial Space
Transportation (FAA AST)
January 2017
2016 Launch Events
Space launch activity worldwide is carried out by the civil, military, and commercial sectors. This section summarizes U.S. and international orbital launch activities for calendar year 2016, including launches licensed by the Federal Aviation Administration’s Office of Commercial Space Transportation (FAA AST). Countries and jurisdictions worldwide that possess functional and operating indigenous launch industries are the United States, Russia, China, European Union, India, Japan, Israel, Iran, North Korea, and South Korea. Several other countries, including Argentina, Brazil, and Indonesia, are developing launch vehicle technologies.
The Soyuz MS-02 rocket is launched with Expedition 49 Soyuz commander Sergey Ryzhikov of Roscosmos, flight engineer Shane Kimbrough of NASA, and flight engineer Andrey Borisenko of Roscosmos, Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2016 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. (Credit: NASA/Joel Kowsky)
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There were 85 orbital launches in 2016, not including the Falcon 9 that exploded on launch pad prior to a pre-flight engine test. The launches break down as follow:
- United States: 22 (22-0)
- China: 22 (20-1-1)
- Russia: 19 (18-1)
- Europe: 9 (9-0)
- India: 7 (7-0)
- Japan: 4 (4-0)
- Israel: 1 (1-0)
- North Korea: 1 (1-0)
For a more detailed description of these launches, please read US, China Led World in Launches in 2016.
Let’s look at launches by booster and spaceport and the flights that were required for human spaceflight.
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A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket carrying the OA-6 mission lifted off from Space Launch Complex 41. (Credit: ULA)
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The United States and China led the world in orbital launch attempts in 2016 with 22 apiece. The combined 44 launches made up more than half of the 85 flights conducted around the world.
Long March 5 on the launch pad. (Credit: China National Space Administration)
With the successful maiden flight of its heavy-lift Long March 5 booster on Thursday, China has debuted four new launch vehicles in just under 14 months.
The list includes two new boosters — Long March 6 and Long March 11 — that are designed to serve the growing small-satellite launch market. The Long March 7 launcher is a medium-lift booster designed to replace several existing boosters.
China debuted the new medium-lift Long March 7 launch vehicle on Saturday from its new Wenchang Space Launch Center. It was the first launch from the new coastal spaceport. The new booster carried a scaled-down version of a next-generation space vehicle designed to carry Chinese astronauts into Earth orbit and deep space. The spacecraft is set to land autonomously in Inner Mongolia after orbiting the Earth. The two-stage Long March […]
Long March 5 model
The inaugural flight of China’s new Long March 7 rocket next month will be the first launch from the nation’s newest spaceport.
Long March 7 will carry a prototype re-entry capsule for China’s next-generation human spacecraft when it lifts off from the Wenchang Satellite Launch Center on June 26.
Located on Hainan Island, Wenchang is China’s first orbital launch site located on the coastline. The Jiuquan, Taiyuan and Xichang launch facilities are all situated inland.
Wenchang will be the primary launch site for Long March 7 and Long March 5 rockets. Wenchang is located 19 degrees above the equator, which will make it easier for China to launch satellites into equatorial orbit.
Next generation Chinese human spacecraft
China’s news launch vehicle, Long March -7, will carry a scaled-down version of a next-generation Chinese human spacecraft on its inaugural flight in June.
The top of the capsule, seen in designs and apparent development above, packs parachutes, GNSS antenna and antenna specially designed to prevent radio silence during hypersonic re-entry….
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Video Caption: China’s new-generation medium-sized rocket, Long March-7, departed Tianjin port for a launch center in south China’s Hainan Province on Sunday. The rocket is expected to arrive at the Wenchang Satellite Launch Center in mid-May and make its maiden flight in late June to test a variety of performance indicators. Fueled by an environmentally-friendly propellant, the Long March-7 has a launch capacity of 13.5 tonnes in low-Earth orbit and […]
China will end a three-year hiatus in human spaceflight late this year with the launch of the two-person Shenzhou-11 spacecraft to the new Tiangong-2 space station, Chinese officials say. The crew will carry out a 30-day mission aboard the space station before returning to Earth. Tiangong-2, which is set for launch sometime during the third quarter, is larger and more capable than the Tiangong-1 space station launched in 2011. The […]