2025 Marked Sixth-Straight Year of Increasing U.S. and Chinese Launches: Astronomer
There were 329 orbital launch attempts from Earth in 2025, with 321 reaching orbit or marginal orbit, astronomer Jonathan McDowell said last week. The U.S. accounted for 181, with China second at 92. It marked the sixth-straight year of increased launch cadence in both nations, said McDowell, who works at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics' Chandra X-ray Observatory. The U.S. launches took up 3,719 payloads and China put up 371, while 4,522 payloads were launched globally, McDowell reported. Of the U.S. payloads, 3,529 were commercial and 149 were for defense.
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Starlinks make up 66% of the 14,132 active satellites in orbit as of Dec. 13, McDowell said. As of Dec. 25, 10,801 of the SpaceX satellites had been launched and 1,391, or 13%, have subsequently reentered, he said. McDowell said that according to his assessment, 145 have failed either prior to reentry or in orbit.
Including orbital debris, there were 32,214 cataloged objects in orbit or beyond as of the end of 2025, McDowell added.