How many satellites are in space?

There were 16,659 active satellites in space as of September 2026, according to Orbiting Now.

How many rockets has SpaceX launched?

SpaceX has launched 723 rockets as of September 2026, according to SpaceX Now.

SpaceX's Market Share in Space Launches

SpaceX grew its U.S. market share 4x in 17 years, conducting 81% of U.S. space launches in 2025.

By Rich Smith – Updated Sep 21, 2026 at 10:38 AM EST | Fact-checked by Frank Bass

Key Points

SpaceX launched 2,213 metric tons to orbit in 2025, dominating global mass-to-orbit.
U.S. space launches by SpaceX reached 82% market share in 2025.
Total yearly upmass into orbit quintupled from 2020 to 2025, placing SpaceX as leader.

Globally, the market for space launch services is expected to pass $25 billion this year -- and Space Exploration Technologies (SPCX -0.56%) dominates it, launching 54% of all rockets sent to orbit in 2025.

Humans have been exploring space since 1957, when the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1. Once upon a time, 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 investment? Find out in this detailed look at space launch statistics.

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Multiple metrics are used to track space launches. Orbital space launches count spaceflights in which a craft reaches speeds permitting at least one orbit. Spacecraft launched includes all vehicles passing either 50 miles above Earth's surface, the Federal Aviation Administration standard, or the Karman line, the international standard set at 62 miles above Earth's surface. Total upmass, measured in kilograms, counts the payload carried into orbit on a spaceflight and excludes the mass of the vehicle that carries it.

Orbital space launches have rapidly increased:

As recently as 2015, orbital space launches in the U.S. rarely reached even double-digits.
This decade has seen new records set with each passing year. In all of 2014, for example, just 12 rockets were launched from U.S. spaceports -- one every 30 days.
In 2025, a rocket launched -- somewhere around the world, and more often than not right here in the U.S. of A. -- roughly once every 27 hours.

These launches are carrying more payload, too. Total upmass more than quintupled from 2020 to 2025, reaching 3,194 tons. U.S. payloads accounted for 85% of the total, with Starlink satellites launched by SpaceX making up the majority of the U.S. payloads.

Who is launching all these rockets, and who is putting all this payload in orbit?

Increasingly, the answer to both questions is: SpaceX.

Western rocket stocks competing with the space giant include United Launch Alliance (ULA), a joint venture between Boeing (BA +1.49%) and Lockheed Martin (LMT +0.38%), Rocket Lab (RKLB +8.24%), and in Europe, Arianespace and its parent company ArianeGroup -- both subsidiaries of aerospace giant Airbus (EADSY +0.88%).

Here’s how many space launches those companies conducted in 2025:

Arianespace: 7 space launches in 2025
ULA: 6
Rocket Lab: 18
SpaceX: 161

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In less than two decades, SpaceX has gone from a company on the brink of bankruptcy (in 2008, before the successful orbital launch of its Falcon 1 rocket) to the first private company to orbit a spacecraft (in 2010, with its Dragon space capsule) to arguably the biggest success story in the space industry.

A few SpaceX launch statistics may illustrate their growing market share: In 2014, SpaceX conducted six of the 12 successful U.S. space launches. A year later, it raised $1 billion in funding from early investors, including Fidelity and Google, began developing Starlink internet satellites, and conducted seven of America's nine total launches. In 2017, SpaceX's global market share reached an impressive 45% of awarded commercial space contracts, making it the top commercial launch provider.

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SpaceX’s dominance has continued to grow in the 2020s. It hit new launch records every year from 2020 to 2025. It is now responsible for 82% 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
2026 through Sept. 14: 104 commercial launches, 79% of market share.

SpaceX's S-1 prospectus, filed on May 20, 2026, provides an additional measure of dominance: global mass-to-orbit. SpaceX launched 2,213 metric tons to orbit in 2025, more than 80% of the total global mass-to-orbit for the year. By comparison, CASC, the second-largest launch provider globally by orbital launches, carried an estimated 262 kilograms, roughly 12% of SpaceX's total, according to BryceTech.

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. Russia has ceded its second-place position in space to China, where launches are accelerating.

Sanctions by Europe and other countries have led to a sharp decline in the number of international launches conducted by Roscosmos, with reportedly no launches at all carried out for international customers in 2025. China, meanwhile, set a new personal-best record of 92 launches in 2025, with 50 of those being commercial, including for international customers. In August 2026, China further closed its technical gap with SpaceX when a LandSpace ZhuQue-3 rocket successfully launched and landed its first stage on land -- a first for the country.

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Why commercial space launches matter for investors

The increasing number of commercial space launches and the upward trend in upmass serve as unmistakable signs of space industry growth. Space is a high-risk, high-reward industry, however. Space launches are expensive, and space companies often operate at a loss for years as they develop their businesses.

Luckily for investors, in the West at least, publicly traded space stocks such as Boeing, Lockheed, Rocket Lab, and SpaceX continue to blaze a path to U.S. dominance in space.

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Investors also benefit from the fact that many space names are fairly well-known and high-profile. It's easy to identify potential prospects with names as famed as Boeing and Lockheed Martin, for example, both well-known defense contractors, and also space stalwarts. SpaceX, now boasting an astounding $2 trillion market capitalization following its successful initial public offering (IPO), is an even more obvious choice.

Second-tier space players -- if not exactly second-tier companies -- include such well-known defense names as Northrop Grumman (NOC -0.14%) and L3Harris Technologies (LHX -0.15%). Rocket Lab, too, probably belongs in this grouping -- although one could argue Rocket Lab is moving up in visibility, while Northrop and L3Harris are perhaps becoming lower-profile.

Things get a bit more complicated as you enter the realm of "newspace" companies, space start-ups with names like AST SpaceMobile (ASTS +5.76%), BlackSky (BKSY +6.92%), Firefly Aerospace (FLY +8.85%), and Planet Labs (PL +3.96%). Smaller in market capitalization and largely unprofitable, these are the kind of "get in on the ground floor" space companies offering the most potential for profit -- and also the biggest risk of going broke.

Those who want to invest in a broad swath of space stocks to diversify and limit their risk by owning both established space companies and a smattering of start-ups might consider investing in space-focused exchange-traded funds (ETFs) instead. The ARK Space Exploration & Innovation ETF (ARKX +2.43%) is probably the best-known ETF in this camp.

Instant diversification and exposure to a brand new industry in space? It's hard to argue with that.

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About the Author

Rich Smith is a contributing Motley Fool defense and stock market analyst covering publicly traded and emerging companies in defense, space, aerospace, and other sectors. Prior to The Motley Fool, Rich practiced international corporate law for Clifford Chance in Russia, and for the Russian-Ukrainian Legal Group in Moscow, Kyiv, and Washington, D.C. He holds a bachelor’s degree in international relations from the College of William & Mary, a law degree from the University of Baltimore, and a language certification from the International Institute of Russian Language & Culture in Tver, Russian Federation. The Globe and Mail once featured him as “one of the best stock pickers since 2009.”

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@RichSmithFool

Rich Smith has positions in Rocket Lab. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends AST SpaceMobile, BlackSky Technology, Boeing, L3Harris Technologies, Planet Labs PBC, and Rocket Lab. The Motley Fool recommends Lockheed Martin. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Space Launch Market Share Statistics: Commercial Launches, SpaceX, and More

SpaceX grew its U.S. market share 4x in 17 years, conducting 81% of U.S. space launches in 2025.

Key Points

Orbital space launches have rapidly increased:

Who is launching all these rockets, and who is putting all this payload in orbit?

Space launches by country

Why commercial space launches matter for investors

FAQs

How many satellites are in space?