A matching set of orbital launches out of China on Saturday brought the nation’s running total for the year to 70: a new record for the US’ closest rival in cadence.
The two flights represented both the public and private side of China’s spaceflight capabilities:
- The first was a CASC-led Long March 11 carrying three Shiyan-32 satellites.
- The second was a commercial flight from CAS Space, carrying the first two experimental Chutian-2 satellites, members of a planned imaging constellation destined for VLEO.
China broke the record it set for itself in 2024 of 68 successful orbital launches in a calendar year.
The state of play: It’s not a competition, but if it were, we’d still be winning. 70 is now the record number of flights China has made to space within a year. The US has made more than twice that many flights so far in 2025, flying more than 160 times by the beginning of November.
- To no one’s surprise, SpaceX is leading the charge on that record—the workhorse launcher has lifted off more than 140 times this year.
- For what it’s worth, the US has also already broken its launch record this year. In 2024, US launchers successfully lifted off and made it to orbit 152 times total.
Team sport; If we consider all of Earth a team in the game of getting to orbit, we’re doing a hell of a job this year. The previous record for number of orbital launches in a year is 258, set last year.
According to data collected by astronomer Jonathan McDowell, the world has now tied that number in 2025. 258 rockets have reached space out of 266 total orbital attempts—and there’s time to spare.
