Technology
Verified dataMost of what humanity has ever put into space went up in the last six years
24,865 objects have been launched into orbit since Sputnik in 1957. Nearly two thirds of them went up after 2019, and 2025 alone accounted for 4,510 — more than the entire first 36 years of spaceflight combined.
CSV · 69 rows · 1957–2025
For half a century the world launched a few hundred objects into space each year, and often fewer. That changed abruptly: of the 24,865 objects launched since 1957, 15,829 — 64% — went up in the six years from 2020. In 2025 alone the world launched 4,510, more than everything launched between 1957 and 1992 put together. The surge is overwhelmingly commercial and overwhelmingly American: 3,708 of the 2025 objects, 82% of the total, were launched by the United States.
Key findings
- 24,865 objects have been launched into orbit since the first, Sputnik, in 1957.
- 15,829 of them — 64% — went up in the six years from 2020 alone.
- 2025 set a record at 4,510 objects, more than the first 36 years of spaceflight combined.
- From the 1960s to about 2010 the annual count sat between roughly 100 and 200, with no clear trend.
- The take-off is recent: the count passed 1,000 for the first time in 2020 and has not fallen below it since.
- The United States launched 3,708 of the 2025 objects — 82% of the world total.
- China was second in 2025 with 374, followed by Russia with 89.
Explore the data
Coverage: Jan 1, 1957 – Dec 31, 2025 · World
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Sources
Primary source
Online Index of Objects Launched into Outer Space
United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs
Objects launched into outer space, by year
Accessed Aug 30, 2026
UNOOSA register of objects launched into outer space, with minor processing by Our World in Data. Country figures for 2025 are from the same source.
Methodology
Figures count objects registered with the United Nations under the Convention on Registration of Objects Launched into Outer Space, taken from the UN Office for Outer Space Affairs' online index and accessed through Our World in Data. The count includes satellites, crewed spacecraft, space probes and some rocket components. Bars before 2020 and from 2020 onwards are coloured differently to show the two eras. The claim that 2025 exceeds the first 36 years was checked by cumulating the series: 1957 through 1992 totals 4,413 objects against 4,510 in 2025, while adding 1993 would exceed it — so 36 years is the exact cut-off.
What this does not show
This counts launches, not what is currently in orbit. Many objects have since re-entered the atmosphere and burned up, so the total launched is not the total up there. Registration with the UN can lag by months or years, which means the most recent figures may be revised upward rather than down. Counting objects also flattens enormous differences in what those objects are: a single communications satellite weighing several tonnes counts the same as one small satellite in a batch of sixty. The recent surge is driven largely by commercial constellations in low Earth orbit rather than by more rocket launches.
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License: CC BY 4.0
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<figure style="margin:0;max-width:1600px">
<a href="https://chartive.org/visualizations/space-launches-1957-2025" target="_blank" rel="noopener">
<img src="https://chartive.org/infographics/space-launches-1957-2025.png" alt="Bar chart of objects launched into space each year from 1957 to 2025. Bars stay low and roughly flat between about 100 and 200 a year for five decades, drawn in blue. From 2020 the bars turn gold and rise sharply: 1,274 in 2020, 1,814 in 2021, 2,479 in 2022, 2,903 in 2023, 2,849 in 2024 and 4,510 in 2025, the highest on record. A shaded panel marks the 2020 to 2025 period." width="1600" height="2133" style="max-width:100%;height:auto" />
</a>
<figcaption style="font:14px/1.4 system-ui,sans-serif;color:#57534e;margin-top:8px">
Graphic by Chartive Editorial, using data from Online Index of Objects Launched into Outer Space — via <a href="https://chartive.org/visualizations/space-launches-1957-2025" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Chartive</a>
</figcaption>
</figure>Reuse is welcome — the embed keeps a link back to the source.