2016 Space Launch Statistics
The year 2016 saw a total of 85 known orbital launch attempts operated by eight nations from space ports in
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Year: 2016
Space Station Battery Replacement Work to begin New Year’s Eve
An extensive robotics and spacewalking effort that will continue until mid-January is about to get underway on the International Space Station to begin the process of re-fitting the Station with new batteries that will enable the complex to head into its final decade of operations.
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China’s Long March 2D Rocket runs into Trouble during SuperView Satellite Launch
China’s Long March 2D rocket lifted off from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center at 3:23 UTC on Wednesday, carrying into orbit the first two high-resolution Earth-imaging satellites in a new multi-sensor, commercial Earth Observation Constellation.
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Proton’s Comeback Mission slips to 2017
The comeback launch of Russia’s Proton-M rocket after a close call in June is being delayed to provide additional time for checks on the carrier rocket, the Roscosmos State Corporation confirmed on Friday.
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Virgin Galactic closes 2016 with SpaceShipTwo Glide Flight Tests
Virgin Galactic’s second SpaceShipTwo rocket plane closed out 2016 with a pair of free flights over California’s Mojave Desert to continue a test program taking the company to the start of operational tourist missions to the edge of Space and Back.
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Re-Entry: Molniya 3-51 Military Communications Satellite
The Molniya 3-51 (Molniya-3K-1) Military Communications Satellite re-entered the atmosphere on December 19, 2016 after over 15 years in orbit.
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Ariane 5 caps successful Year with Dual-Payload Delivery, lofting Satellites from Brazil & Japan
Europe’s Ariane 5 rocket rumbled away from the edge of the Amazon on Wednesday, taking flight for the last time in 2016 for a dual-satellite delivery mission to Geostationary Transfer Orbit with the Star One D1 and JCSat-15 telecom satellites for Brazil and Japan.
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Photos: Final Ariane 5 Launch of 2016
Europe’s Ariane 5 rocket rumbled away from the edge of the Amazon on Wednesday, taking flight for the last time
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Video: Ariane 5 rumbles off with dual Satellite Payload
Europe’s Ariane 5 rocket rumbled away from the edge of the Amazon on Wednesday, taking flight for the last time
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Chinese Carbon Dioxide Hunter blasts off atop Long March Rocket
China’s first dedicated mission to monitor Carbon Dioxide in Earth’s atmosphere blasted off atop a Long March 2D rocket on Wednesday, embarking on a three-year mission designed to inform Chinese policy makers in the continued effort to reduce emission of the greenhouse gas
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China to Launch First Carbon Dioxide Monitoring Satellite
China will launch into orbit on Wednesday the country’s first mission dedicated to measuring Carbon Dioxide in Earth’s atmosphere to help understand its role in climate change processes.
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Ariane 5 set for Year-Closing Mission with Communication Satellite Duo from Brazil & Japan
Europe’s Ariane 5 rocket is set for its year-closing mission on Wednesday, lifting a pair of commercial communications satellites from Brazil and Japan into orbit to deliver broadcasting and telecommunications to Asia and the Americas.
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Japanese Radiation Belt Probe sent into high-energy Orbit by improved Epsilon Rocket
Japan’s Enhanced Epsilon rocket thundered into the night skies over Kyushu Island on Tuesday, embarking on its debut mission to deliver the ERG Radiation Belt research spacecraft into a high-energy orbit around Earth to penetrate the Van Allen Belts for a detailed study of particle-wave interactions in Earth’s powerful magnetic field.
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Video: ERG Space Weather Probe lifts off atop Epsilon Rocket
Japan’s Enhanced Epsilon rocket thundered into the night skies over Kyushu Island on Tuesday, embarking on its debut mission to
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Miniature Satellite deployed from Space Station for Orbital Tether Experiment
A small satellite was deployed from the International Space Station Monday morning for a technical demonstration of a tether extending system using a mother and daughter satellite.
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Japan’s Enhanced Epsilon Rocket set for Debut Launch with Space Weather Research Probe
A beefed up version of Japan’s Epsilon Rocket will make its debut on Tuesday, carrying out a high-energy orbital delivery with the ERG satellite that sets out to study Space Weather phenomena from a highly elliptical orbit that takes the spacecraft through the most intense region of particle acceleration in Earth’s magnetosphere.
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Photos: Atlas V blasts off with high-speed Internet Satellite
A United Launch Alliance Atlas V 431 rocket blasts off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on December 19, 2016 to embark on its eighth and final mission of 2016, carrying into orbit the EchoStar 19 high-capacity Internet satellite for Hughes Networks.
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