Seven decades, 7,397 orbital launch attempts: the Cold War peak, the 1990s lull, and a record-setting 2020s surge

Asked:

“Every orbital launch from 1957 to today — for each one list the year, the launch site, the operating bloc and whether the site is still active.”

This report covers all 7,397 of 7,397 distinct completed Earth-orbital and deep-space launch attempts in the extracted GCAT universe — successful, failed, and partial — from 4 October 1957 through 28 September 2026 (2026 is year-to-date), across 65 launch-site complexes and 20 operating-bloc codes. The rows are single-sourced from Jonathan McDowell’s GCAT derived launch log, with an Orbital Radar annual page corroborating each year; site labels and bloc values are GCAT source codes.

Launches per year, stacked by operating bloc

Hover a bar segment for the year’s breakdown. Bloc codes are GCAT LVState codes; blocs with under 100 launches are grouped as “Other”.

The Soviet Union alone accounts for 2,449 launches — one in three of all history — nearly all before 1992, from sites led by Plesetsk (NIIP-53, 1,414) and Baikonur (NIIP-5, 888). planet4589.org

2025 is the busiest year ever recorded, with 329 attempts; 2026 already holds 235 by 28 September. orbitalradar.com

Only 33 of the 65 site complexes are still active — meaning an orbital attempt recorded in 2024–2026; “no recent launch” does not prove formal closure. planet4589.org

Cape Canaveral (CC) is the most-used still-active complex at 1,103 launches; China’s Jiuquan (JQ, 298) and New Zealand’s Mahia (84) anchor the newer surge. planet4589.org

The complete ledger

Search (ID, date, site) Year Launch site Operating bloc Site still active

Year	Launch date	GCAT ID	Site	Bloc	Site active	Source

Method: single-sourced event ledger from Jonathan McDowell’s GCAT derived launch log (planet4589.org, one TSV backing all 7,397 rows, updated 2026-09-28), with Orbital Radar year pages as corroboration. One row per distinct GCAT launch ID; counts include successful, failed and partial Earth-orbital or deep-space attempts and exclude suborbital, missile, atmospheric and pad-test events. Site and bloc labels are GCAT source codes; “still active” means an orbital attempt recorded in 2024–2026 at the site-complex (not pad) level. 2026 is year-to-date. The table renders in pages of 60 rows for space; filters reach every row.

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