The Yearly Rocket Report
2024
Ricky Whitmore
Space Writer
Hello Space Fans! Welcome to a very special article, The Yearly Rocket Report. I wanted to put this together as part of my weekly rocket report series to look back on the stellar (pun intended) year that was 2024. In this article we’re going to be going through the list of launch entities and break down how many launches each had, how many of each specific rocket were launched, and hit some of the highlight missions. This took a long time to put together between the organizing and the sorting and the double and triple checking my math, but I enjoy doing that kind of stuff, and I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed putting it together. With that being said, let’s begin!
We begin our adventure in Europe with the European Space Agency (ESA). ESA only had 3 launches in 2024, but each of them were very significant. 2024 saw the maiden flight of ESA’s Ariane 6 rocket. The launch was considered a partial failure (the auxiliary power unit failed preventing a de-orbit burn) but there is still more growth, and many more launches to come from Ariane 6. 2024 was also quite a year for ESA’s Vega program, which accounted for the other 2 launches. In September Vega launched for the final time, being retired after 22 flights. Then in December came the return to flight for Vega C, its first flight in 2 years, following a failure in December of 2022. One could argue that 2024 was a pretty slow year for ESA. However, now that Ariane 6 is operational, and Vega C is back to flying, I fully expect ESA to have more that 3 launches in 2025.
Ariane 6 launches on its Demo Flight. Photo Credit: ESA.
Now let’s move over to Russia. 2024 was mostly more of the same for the Russian space program, more military payloads, more flights to the International Space Station, and two exceptions. We did get to see a few launches of Russia’s Angara rocket this year, including a test launch from the Vostochny Cosmodrome in the eastern tundra of Russia. The second highlight was the launch of Ionosfera 1 & 2, part of a 4-satellite constellation to study Earth’s upper atmosphere as part of the Roscosmos Ionozond program. Soyuz rockets launched 6 astronauts and thousands of pounds of supplies to the International Space Station in 2024. Overall Russia launched 17 times in 2024, with two launches of Angara, and 15 launches of various Soyuz rockets. Soyuz 2.1v launched once, Soyuz 2.1b launched 6 times, and Soyuz 2.1a launched 8 times.
Angara A5 launches its Vostochny Cosmodrome Test Flight. Photo Credit: Roscosmos.
Now we move over to Asia, and we will start with India. Bit of a down year for ISRO, the Indian Space Research Organization, with only 4 launches on the year, but there were some very interesting payloads on board those rockets. The most interesting launch was SPADEX, it launched two spacecraft which successfully docked to each other in orbit. This achievement is another large step forward in India’s ambition to build their own space station. India’s other 3 launches consisted of a weather satellite, an Earth observation satellite, and a pair of satellites designed to use one satellite to cast a solar eclipse in view of the second. The launch total for India in 2024 consisted of 1 GSLV, 1 SSLV, and 2 PSLV vehicles. 2025 could prove to be an interesting year for the Indian space program, with more testing of their upcoming GaganYaan crew capsule and other exciting missions.
PSLV-CA launches SPADEX. Photo Credit: ISRO.
Next up we can discuss Iran. Iran’s space program is very secretive, launches are typically not known about until after they happen, and details are typically sparse, even after the launch. Iran launched 4 rockets in 2024, 2 Qaem rockets by the IRGC (Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps) and 2 Simorgh rockets by the ISA (Iranian Space Agency).
Qaem 100 launches Soraya. Photo Credit: IRGC.
Let’s talk about China. China launched A LOT of rockets in 2024, more than every country (except the US) combined. China has a very well-established government space program, and an up-and-coming private space sector. We will start by discussing the government program. There are 2 main entities that provide launch vehicles for China, CASC (China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation) and CASIC (China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation. CASIC is responsible for the Kuaizhou series of rockets while CASC provides rockets from the Jielong series and the mainstay Long March series. Chinese state-owned rockets launched 56 times in 2024 and to give you a sense of how complicated it is to keep up with Chinese rockets, I am going to give you the exact list of launches per specific launch vehicle configuration (number of launches are in parentheses):
· CASIC- 5
- Kuaizhou 1A- (4)
- Kuaizhou 11- (1)
· CASC- 51
- Jielong 3- (2)
- Long March 2C- (6)
- Long March 2C/YZ-1S- (1)
- Long March 2D- (7)
- Long March 2D/YZ-3- (2)
- Long March 2F/G- (2)
- Long March 3B/E- (7)
- Long March 3B/YZ-1- (1)
- Long March 4B- (4)
- Long March 4C- (2)
- Long March 5- (2)
- Long March 5B/YZ-2- (1)
- Long March 6- (2)
- Long March 6A- (5)
- Long March 6C- (1)
- Long March 7- (2)
- Long March 7A- (2)
- Long March 8- (1)
- Long March 12- (1)
Make sense? China really likes their Long March rockets, and it is indeed an extremely reliable platform, just gets difficult to keep up with all the various configurations. Many of these launches are military satellites, or communication satellites, China is working on building multiple LEO constellations of communication satellites like SpaceX’s Starlink program. There are a few highlight launches to talk about however. The first occurred early in the year with the launch of the Einstein Probe. Einstein is a Wide Field X-Ray observatory designed to study things such as deep space gravity waves, and black holes ripping apart stars. The other highlight launch was Chang’e 6 a lunar sample return mission which brought back soil samples from the dark side of the moon. China also had two demo flights this year, with the Maiden flights of the Long March 6C and the Long March 12 both occurring in 2024. Also of note is another year of operations for the Tiangong space station as China continued its Tianzhou and Shenzhou flights, bringing cargo and crew to the station.
Long March 2C launches the Einstein Probe. Photo Credit: ESA.
With the state-owned side out of the way we can now discuss China’s rapidly growing private sector spaceflight programs. There were 6 companies that launched rockets in China in 2024, only 5 of which were actually supposed to launch (We’ll get to that). The company with the most launches, and seemingly the most established of these private companies is Galactic Energy. Galactic Energy launched 5 times in 2024, 2 launches of its Ceres 1, and 3 launches of the modified Ceres 1S rockets. Next on the list is CAS Space, which launched its Kinetica 1 rocket 4 times this year. Then we have 3 companies that launched one time each in 2024. iSpace had one launch of its Hyperbola 1 rocket, which experienced a failure and was unable to reach orbit. Landspace had one launch of their ZhuQue 2 methalox rocket. Finally, Orienspace finally got off the ground with the maiden flight of its Gravity 1 rocket. So, who was the 6th company that launched a rocket in China this year? That unfortunate honor goes to Space Pioneer, who operate the Tianlong series of launchers. Space Pioneer had brought the first stage of their Tianlong 3 out to a pad for static fire testing. However, during the static fire test, the clamps holding the booster broke and it blasted skyward. After rising hundreds of feet in the air the engines cut off and the booster fell back to Earth where it exploded. Thankfully no injuries were reported following the incident. China’s private space sector is growing at an exponential rate, and I would very much expect to see far more launches from these companies throughout the course of 2025. Within a few years I expect these companies, and perhaps new ones, will be able to match the cadence of the state-owned vehicles.
Kinetica 1 launches its Third Flight. Photo Credit: CAS Space.
North Korea is next on the list to discuss. North Korea only had one launch in 2024, and it was a failure. NADA (National Aerospace Development Administration) attempted a launch of their troubled Chollima 1 rocket. The rocket failed not long after launch and the entire stack exploded.
Chollima 1 attempts to launch Manligyeong 1-1. Photo Credit KCNA.
Before we leave Asia there is one more nation to talk about and that is Japan. The main stay rocket provider in Japan has for years been MHI (Mitsubishi Heavy Industries) provides the H series launch vehicles. MHI vehicles launched 5 times in 2024, two H-II rockets, and three H-III rockets. 2024 also saw a new entry into the world of private rocket launch companies, Space One. Space One built the KAIROS rocket, which attempted 2 launches in 2024. I say attempted, because unfortunately both ended in failure. Flight 1 exploded a few short seconds after it cleared the launch tower, and flight 2 lost control shortly before stage separation and was destroyed. I do not expect that this will be the end of Space One however, so look forward to more from KAIROS in 2025.
H-IIA launches IGS-Radar 8. Photo Credit: MHI.
Now it is time to jump across the Pacific Ocean, to the United States of America. There were no NASA launches this year, so all the launches we discuss will be from private entities. We will start off with Firefly Aerospace. Firefly flew one time in 2024, a NASA demo mission called “Noise of Summer”. This was done with their small sat launcher called Alpha.
Alpha just prior to the launch of Noise of Summer. Photo Credit: Firefly.
Next let’s talk about Virgin Galactic, which is undergoing a change right now. Virgin Galactic flew twice in 2024, which were the final two flights of its vehicle VSS Unity. The flights flew people to the edge of space, allowing them to experience zero G and see the Earth from a different perspective. With VSS Unity now retired Virgin Galactic is building their Delta Class vehicle, which is not expected to debut before 2026.
VSS Unity is dropped from VMS Eve on its way to apogee on Galactic-06. Photo Credit: Virgin Galactic.
Since we are on the topic of space tourism, lets touch on Blue Origin. Blue Origin flew 4 times in 2024, all 4 flights with their New Shepard rocket. Named after the first American in space Alan Shepard, the rocket also carries a crew of people to space, above the Karman line, allowing them to experience weightlessness and see their home from outer space. The 3rd flight of the year, NS-27 was an uncrewed test flight of a second vehicle, adding more cadence capability to Blue’s fleet of fully re-useable rockets.
New Shepard launches NS-27. Photo Credit: Blue Origin.
Continuing on, we get to the United Launch Alliance (ULA). ULA had a memorable year in 2024 despite launching only 5 times. 2024 saw the end of an era, with the final launch of the mighty Delta IV Heavy, officially retiring this rocket, and the entire Delta family of launch vehicles. Atlas V launched twice in 2024, with a 551 variant launching its final national security payload and an N22 variant launching the first crewed flight of the Boeing Starliner capsule. The capsule itself had numerous issues once it got to the station, leading to it being returned to earth uncrewed, but Atlas V, as usual, performed flawlessly. Atlas V itself is on its way to retirement with only 15 flights remaining but given that it is contracted to fly Starliner missions it will continue launching until at least 2028. 2024 also saw ULA’s new Vulcan rocket finally get off the ground. Vulcan launched twice in 2024 and it has already made a name for itself. It’s very first launch shot for the moon, literally, sending a lander built my Astrobotic on a trans lunar injection. The lander unfortunately failed en route to the moon, but the rocket itself aced its first mission. Vulcan’s second mission had a bit of a hiccup, an issue with one of the solid rocket boosters. Nonetheless the rocket made it to space, and hit its exact target orbit, with the centaur upper stage being able to make up for the lack of thrust from the faulty booster. Now that Vulcan has flown twice, it can officially be certified to start flying national security missions, and I would expect to see Vulcan fly more than twice in the following year.
Delta IV Heavy launches NROL-70. Photo Credit: ULA.
Now we come to Rocket Lab, which has raised its launch cadence for multiple years in a row and 2024 was no exception. Rocket Lab’s only operational rocket, Electron, flew 16 times in 2024. Electron, in its base form flew 2 suborbital missions from Wallops Island in 2024, while the Electron/Curie vehicle flew 14 times, most of them from Rocket Lab’s facility at the Mahia Peninsula in New Zealand. Many of the launches were for private companies, such as Keneis, but one launch does stand apart. The mission called “On Closer Inspection” saw Electron launch a commercial satellite selected by JAXA called ADRAS. The satellite is designed to test the orbital space debris environment, it will approach a derelict MHI rocket second stage to take pictures and measurements. This mission is testing strategies and gathering information, which JAXA hopes will eventually lead to satellites doing the job of space debris removal. Electron is slated to have an increased launch cadence yet again in 2025, and we can also look forward to the debut launch of Neutron. The medium lift, partially re-useable rocket is scheduled to fly in the second half of 2025.
Electron launches Ice AIS Baby. Photo Credit: Rocket Lab.
And now we come to the whale, let us talk, about SpaceX. SpaceX launched more rockets (137) then every other entity on this list combined (132). I could write an entire separate article about the launches and achievements of SpaceX this year, but let’s hit some highlights, shall we? Starship was launched 4 times in 2024, and each flight made notable achievements, but the most notable of these achievements came on flight 5. The Super-Heavy booster after hot staging flew back down to Earth and was caught by the chopstick arms on the launch tower. Watching a booster the size of a 20-story building return and be caught by some metal bars just minutes after launch was certainly a sight to behold.
Starship’s Super Heavy Booster being caught on Flight 5. Image Credit: SpaceX.
Falcon Heavy had kind of a down year, only launching twice in 2024. One of these launches was a GOES-U launch, but the other was a major highlight. Falcon Heavy launched NASA’s Europa Clipper probe in 2024, sending it on a path that will have it reach the icy Jovian moon of Europa in the year 2030, following multiple gravity assists from the Earth and Mars. Once at Europa the probe, the largest ever built, will study the moons icy crust to measure its thickness, and finally confirm or deny the existence of a salty underground ocean on the moon, which could potentially lead to a flurry of scientific interest in Europa and its potential to harbor life.
Falcon Heavy launches Europa Clipper. Photo Credit: NASA.
Finally, we discuss Falcon 9, what is there to say about Falcon 9 that hasn’t already been said. Falcon 9 achieved an unprecedented 131 times in 2024, and every time I read that stat it boggles my mind. Also not to be forgotten that 131 launches includes the down time following a booster landing failure, and a second stage engine failure, as SpaceX and the FAA investigated both incidents. A good many of these launches were of course dedicated to the Starlink constellation, but many customer payloads were also launched. This of course also includes multiple crew and cargo missions to the International Space Station. It is hard to pick out individual mission highlights from Falcon 9 but there are 3 missions that I want to touch on. The first of these is Hera, and ESA probe that was launched to the same asteroid system that was impacted by NASA’s DART mission. Hera will investigate the effectiveness of the DART mission to help establish if missions like it can be an effective form of asteroid strike prevention in the future. The next mission to touch on was IM-1 the launch of the Nova-C lunar lander, built by Intuitive Machines, which proceeded to successfully land on the moon. The final mission that absolutely has to be talked about is Polaris Dawn. Polaris Dawn saw 4 crew members ride a Dragon Capsule into Earth orbit, far above the orbit of the International Space Station. The mission made several orbits of the Earth, and featured the first spacewalk by private citizens, which was done to test out SpaceX’s newly designed space suits. The capsule, and all its astronauts returned to Earth safely. Falcon 9 is not going anywhere, and neither is SpaceX. I fully expect Falcon 9 to hold the highest launch cadence again next year, and likely higher than the 131 launches of this year. We can look forward to more Starship test launches as well, and, I’m hoping, more flights of Falcon Heavy.
Falcon 9 launches Polaris Dawn. Photo Credit: SpaceX.
2024 was truly an incredible year in spaceflight, we saw increased launch cadence from many launch entities, saw the launch of numerous new and exciting rockets, as well as progress towards the maiden launches of even more vehicles in the coming years. 2025 is poised to be another great year for spaceflight, with increased launch cadence of new rockets like Vulcan, Starship, and Ariane 6, more flights by old veterans like Falcon 9 and the Long March vehicles, and exciting new maiden flights from vehicles like Neutron, Eris, Pallas 1, and Antares 330. I look forward to watching and documenting it all. This article was a hell of an undertaking, and I do hope you enjoyed it. I have enjoyed my time writing these rocket reports and look forward to doing them in 2025. As always keep up with the rest of the writers here at the Weekly Spaceman, as there is a ton of good news and information to be found here. Thank you to anyone who reads these pieces, I will see you all in 2025.
As always feel free to write to me at rickyew2112@gmail.com, or find me on X @Rickyew2112
Sic Itur Ad Astra
(Thus They Journey to the Stars)