Q1 2025 Orbital Launch Attempts
In the first quarter, the United States further solidified its dominance in global launches. Europe, however, demonstrated progress with its first entirely successful Ariane 6 launch and the continent's inaugural commercial orbital launch.
There were 69 global launch attempts in the past three months, featuring two highly anticipated maiden launches. Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket successfully completed its first launch, while Isar Aerospace’s Spectrum rocket failed shortly after lift-off.
SpaceX continued to lead, conducting 38 orbital flight attempts, which included 36 Falcon missions and two Starship launches. The Falcon missions comprised 25 Starlink-dedicated launches, five commercial rides, four government satellite missions, one crew launch, and one rideshare flight.
Setbacks occurred this quarter despite SpaceX’s continued dominance.
On January 16, Starship Flight 7 disintegrated over the Caribbean following a second-stage failure.
On March 2, a Falcon 9 booster tipped over on its drone ship, resulting in a week-long suspension of Falcon launches.
On March 6, Starship Flight 8 ended similarly to Flight 7, with debris falling over the Caribbean.
SpaceX aims to achieve 170 Falcon launches by 2025, having conducted 134 Falcon missions last year.
Blue Origin launched New Glenn in January with near-flawless execution, except for an issue where the booster engines failed to relight as planned, preventing recovery. The company plans another New Glenn launch in late spring.
Rocket Lab set a record with five Electron rocket launches in Q1, all originating from New Zealand.
In European launches:
Ariane 6 completed its second flight and first commercial mission in March. The rocket’s initial launch in July encountered a partial failure when the upper stage did not relight for deorbiting.
Isar Aerospace launched its Spectrum rocket, capable of carrying 1,000 kg to Low Earth Orbit (LEO), but the launch ended with the rocket crashing into Norwegian waters after midair issues.
China launched several satellites for the Guowang satcom constellation and the Thousand Sails network in Q1. Both constellations aim to provide broadband services similar to Starlink.