Humans have been exploring space since 1957, when the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1. At the height of the space race, government agencies conducted all space missions, but that's no longer the case. Private space companies now launch satellites, operate entire "constellations" of privately-owned satellites in orbit, shuttle NASA astronauts to and from the International Space Station -- and are in the early stages of offering space tourism.
The development of the space industry is exciting from a technological and scientific standpoint. It could also make investors in space stocks a lot of money.
How fast is space exploration growing, and which space companies offer the best prospects for investors? Find out in this detailed look at space launch statistics.
SpaceX’s dominance has continued to grow in the 2020s. It hit new launch records every year from 2020 to 2024, will set yet another record when 2025 wraps up, and is now responsible for roughly 80% of U.S. space launches.
SpaceX’s commercial launch pace and market share capture have been impressive, to say the least:
- 2020: 25 commercial launches, 64% market share
- 2021: 32 commercial launches, 59% market share
- 2022: 57 commercial launches, 72% market share
- 2023: 92 commercial launches, 80% market share
- 2024: 130 commercial launches, 84% market share
- 2025: 161 commercial launches, 82% market share
Space launches by country
From 1957 until its dissolution in 1991, the USSR conducted 2,760 space launches, more than twice as many as the U.S. (1,221). Despite what the space launch numbers suggest, however, the United States clearly had the more successful space program, winning the race to land humans on the moon, and developing and flying reusable space shuttles 135 times. (The Soviets also developed a shuttle, the Buran, but it flew only once -- uncrewed -- in 1988).
In more recent years, and especially since the start of the Ukraine war, Russian launches have slowed considerably. It has ceded its second-place position in space to China, where launches are accelerating. Still, the U.S. remains far and away the leader in space exploration, launching 7,605 times from 2010 through 2023, versus 3,277 times for the rest of the world combined.
Sources
- BryceTech (2025). “Q1 2025 Global Space Activity.”
- Federal Aviation Administration (2025). “Commercial Space Data.”
- Planet 4589 (2025). “Annual Upmass.”
- RocketLaunch.org (2025). “Past Rocket Launches.”
- Space Stats (2025). “Orbital launches by year.”
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