This is a timeline of first orbital launches by country. While a number of countries, incl. Canada, Australia, Brazil, Algeria, Kazakhstan, Turkey, Argentina, Italy, Indonesia, Poland, South Africa, the Philippines, Egypt, Spain, Mexico, Thailand and Chile, have built or launched satellites, as of 2026, fourteen countries, incl. the United States, Japan, China, India, Iran, Israel, France, the United Kingdom, South Korea, Germany and India have had the capability to send objects into orbit with their own launch vehicles. Russia and Ukraine inherited the capability of the space launchers and satellites from the Soviet Union, following its dissolution in 1991. Russia launches its rockets from its own and foreign (Kazakh) spaceports.
Ukraine launched only from foreign (Kazakh and Russian) launch facilities until 2015, after which political differences with Russia effectively halted Ukraine's ability to produce orbital rockets. France became a space power independently, launching a payload into orbit from Algeria, before joining space launcher facilities in the multi-national Ariane project. The United Kingdom became a space power independently following a single payload insertion into orbit from Australia.
Fourteen countries and one inter-governmental organization (ESA) presently have a proven orbital launch capability, . The former Soviet Union and the United Kingdom formerly had such an independent capability. In all cases where a country has conducted independent human spaceflights (as of 2021, three — China, the Soviet Union/Russia, and the United States), these launches were preceded by independent uncrewed launch capability.
The race to launch the first satellite was closely contested by the Soviet Union and the United States, and was the beginning of the Space Race. The launching of satellites, while still contributing to national prestige, is a significant economic activity as well, with public and private rocket systems competing for launches, using cost and reliability as selling points.
List of first orbital launches by country
OrderCountryThe eleven countries and successor states/union indicated in bold retain orbital launch capability.SectorSatelliteRocketLocationDate (UTC) 1Governmental Sputnik 1Sputnik-PSBaikonur, Soviet Union (today Kazakhstan)4 October 1957 2Explorer 1Juno ICape Canaveral, United States1 February 1958 3 FranceAstérixDiamant ACIEES/Hammaguir, Algeria26 November 1965 4OhsumiLambda-4SUchinoura, Japan11 February 1970 5Dong Fang Hong 1Long March 1Jiuquan, China24 April 1970 6The United Kingdom only self-launched a single satellite (in 1971) and that from a commonwealth (Australian) spaceport. Later it joined the European Space Agency.ProsperoBlack ArrowWoomera, Australia28 October 1971 — European Space AgencyThe European Space Agency developed the Ariane rocket family (the second European launcher program after the failed Europa rocket program under ELDO) operating from its Guiana Space Centre spaceport (first successful launch on 24 December 1979 when Ariane 1 launcher placed the technological capsule CAT-1 on orbit). ESA signatories at the time of first launch were Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Ireland, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. Private/public companies and/or governments of these countries (with the exception of Ireland and the United Kingdom) became shareholders in the commercial company Arianespace dealing with production, operation, and marketing. Later Norway became an ESA member and Arianespace shareholder. Additional subsequent ESA member states are Austria, Czechia, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Luxembourg, Poland, Portugal, and Romania.CAT-1 (Obélix.)Ariane 1Kourou, French Guiana24 December 1979 7Rohini 1 (RS1)SLVSriharikota, India18 July 1980 8Ofeq 1ShavitPalmachim, Israel19 September 1988 — Ukraine provided its own space launcher to Russia and did not use its own space launcher to put satellites in orbit (first Ukrainian satellite is Sich-1, launched on August 31, 1995 by Ukrainian Tsyklon-3 from Plesetsk Cosmodrome in Russia).Strela-3 (x6, Russian)Tsyklon-3Plesetsk, Soviet Union (today Russia)28 September 1991 — Kosmos 2175Soyuz-UPlesetsk, Russia21 January 1992 9Although it has signed the Outer Space Treaty, Iran is the only space launch capable nation that has not ratified the treaty.OmidSafir-1ASemnan, Iran2 February 200910 ItalyLARES, ALMASat-1, Xatcobeo, UniCubeSat-GG, Robusta, e-st@r, Goliat, PW-Sat, MaSat-1VegaKourou, French Guiana3 February 2012 11Kwangmyŏngsŏng-3 Unit 2Unha-3Sohae, North Korea12 December 2012 12STSat-2CNaro-1Goheung, South Korea30 January 2013 13 New ZealandPrivate Humanity StarElectronMahia LC-1A, New Zealand21 January 201814 GermanyCyBEEsat, TriSat-S, Platform 6, FramSat-1, SpaceTeamSat1, Let It GoSpectrum (rocket)Andøya Space5 September 2026
Partial contributions to orbital launch systems Italy had contributed in the creation of an orbital launch system prior to its 2012 launch. OrderCountrySectorSatelliteRocketLocationDate (UTC) 1 ItalyGovernmental San Marco 1Scout-X4San Marco platform, Kenya15 December 1964
Notes
Other launches and projects The above list includes confirmed satellite launches with rockets produced by the launching country, like Algeria, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Egypt, France, Germany, India, Iran, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, South Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, the Philippines, Poland, Russia, South Africa, Spain, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, the United Kingdom or the United States. Lists with differing criteria might include the following launches:
Failed launches had yet to launch a satellite into orbit independently and its space program suffered three satellite launch failures, the latest being the explosion of a VLS-1 rocket on 22 August 2003 at the Alcântara Launch Centre, which resulted in 21 deaths.
Launches of non-indigenous launch vehicles Some countries have no self-developed rocket systems, but have provided their spaceports for launches of their own and foreign satellites on foreign launchers: with the first successful launch from Hammaguir of the French satellite Astérix on 26 November 1965 by French Diamant A. The last orbital launch from Hammaguir was on 15 February 1967 by French Diamant A and there are no further launches scheduled (the first Algerian satellite is AlSAT-1 launched by Russian Kosmos-3M from Plesetsk, Russia on 28 November 2002). with the first successful launch from the San Marco platform of its satellite San Marco 2 on 26 April 1967 by US Scout B (the first Italian satellite is San Marco 1 launched by another Scout from Wallops, USA on 15 December 1964). The last orbital launch from San Marco was on 25 March 1988 by US Scout G-1 and there are no further launches scheduled. with the first successful launch from Woomera Test Range of its first satellite WRESAT on 29 November 1967 by US Sparta. The second and final successful orbital launch from Woomera was performed on 28 October 1971 by the UK Black Arrow. with the first launch after its independence from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on 21 January 1992 of the Russian Soyuz-U2 and Progress M-11 (the first Kazakh satellite is KazSat-1 launched by Russian Proton-K from Baikonur on 17 June 2006). Currently the spaceport continues to be utilized for launches of various Russian rockets. ; a single Pegasus-XL was launched from Orbital Sciences' Stargazer aircraft flying from Gran Canaria Airport in April 1997. with a successful launch of a Pegasus-H rocket from Orbital Sciences' Stargazer aircraft flying from Kwajalein Atoll in October 2000. Five ground-based launches were made by SpaceX using Falcon 1 rockets between 2006 and 2009, with the first success on 28 September 2008. Three further Pegasus launches occurred between 2008 and 2012, using the Pegasus-XL configuration. Currently there are no plans announced for a Marshall Islands satellite.
Privately developed launch vehicles Orbital Sciences Corporation (USA) became the first company to launch a privately developed rocket into orbit, the Pegasus on April 5, 1990. Orbital subsequently developed the Minotaur rocket family. Orbital joined SpaceX as one of only two private entities to supply the International Space Station with its launch of the Cygnus Orb-D1 mission on its Antares rocket on September 28, 2013. SpaceX (USA) became the second company to launch a rocket into orbit using a rocket developed with private funds. Its first successful launch was performed on September 28, 2008, by Falcon 1 from the Omelek Island, Marshall Islands and its first launch from a US spaceport was Falcon 9 Flight 1 on June 4, 2010, from Cape Canaveral. Its Dragon spacecraft docked with the International Space Station on October 11, 2012, to deliver supplies. With a launch of Dragon 2 on May 30, 2020, SpaceX became the first company to launch humans to orbit. / New Zealand-American private company Rocket Lab successfully launched its Electron rocket from Mahia Launch Center in New Zealand on January 21, 2018, carrying three cubesats into low Earth orbit. This was the first time that a rocket entered orbit after launching from a privately owned and operated spaceport. Chinese private company i-Space successfully launched its Hyperbola-1 rocket from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center and sent several small payloads, including the CAS-7B amateur radio satellite into Earth orbit on July 25, 2019. Galactic Energy successfully launched its Ceres-1 solid rocket from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center into Sun-synchronous orbit on November 7, 2020, becoming the second Chinese private company capable of launching satellites into orbit. Virgin Orbit successfully achieved orbit on January 17, 2021, using their LauncherOne vehicle to deploy 10 CubeSats into Low Earth orbit for NASA. But the company filed for bankruptcy after a launch failure in 2023. Astra Rocket 3.3 vehicle successfully reached orbit on November 20, 2021, after launching from Pacific Spaceport Complex – Alaska (PSCA) carrying the demonstration payload STP-27AD2 for the United States Space Force. Firefly Aerospace launched Firefly Alpha rocket, which successfully reached an orbit lower than the expected one, on October 1, 2022. Space Pioneer successfully launched its first rocket Tianlong-2 into orbit on April 2, 2023. It was the first Chinese company that achieved the goal with the liquid rocket. LandSpace became a private company with orbital launch capability by successfully launched Zhuque-2, world's first methane-fueled rocket to reach orbit, on July 12, 2023. Orienspace was the fifth private company in China to reach orbit after the successful maiden launch of Gravity-1 on January 11, 2024. Skyroot Aerospace became the first private company in India to successfully reach orbit and deploy satellites on its maiden launch of Vikram-1 on July 18, 2026.
Abandoned projects / was developing larger designs in the Aggregat series as early as 1940. A combination of A9 to A12 components could have produced orbital capability as early as 1947 if work had continued. Further preliminary development of numerous rocket space launchers and re-usable launch systems (Sänger II, etc.) took place after WWII, although these were never realized as national or European projects. Also, in the late 1970s and early 1980s, the private German company OTRAG tried to develop low-cost commercial space launchers. Only the sub-orbital tests of the first prototypes of the rockets were carried out. did not proceed with a 1946 proposal to develop German V-2 technology into the "Megaroc" system to be launched in 1949. The UK also developed the Black Arrow rocket system and successfully launched a satellite in 1971, shortly after the program had been cancelled.