Synopsis
The paper provides statistics characterizing astronautical activity in the calendar year 2023. It builds on previous annual reviews of space activity starting in 2014, with the methodological approach outlined in the 2014 paper.
In 2023, there were 221 orbital launch attempts globally, of which 209 were successful, 11 failed, and 1 was a partial failure. A total of 207 payloads were catalogued from the launches.
The 221 launch attempts in 2023 set a new annual record, up 20% from 2022. The number of orbital payloads launched also hit an all-time high of 2,891 spacecraft sent into orbit. This was largely driven by continued high launch rates by SpaceX, which conducted 61 orbital launches in 2023 with its Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets. SpaceX also made progress on its Starship/Super Heavy system, completing two test flights that reached altitudes of over 90km.
On the human spaceflight front, 21 orbital travelers flew to the International Space Station in 2023 on Russian Soyuz and SpaceX Crew Dragon vehicles. This includes the Inspiration4 mission conducted by SpaceX which carried four private citizens into orbit. An additional 30 suborbital space travelers flew on Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic vehicles.
China continued assembling its Tiangong space station and expanded its crewed Shenzhou program. Tiangong saw a total of 12 taikonauts visit in 2023 across four crew rotation missions. The station is now complete, with the addition of the last two modules. China also landed its first rover on the far side of the Moon as part of the Chang’e 4 mission and launched the Tiangong-3 space telescope.
In the United States, NASA launched or continued a variety of science missions in 2023, including the James Webb Space Telescope, Parker Solar Probe, Mars Perseverance Rover, OSIRIS-REx asteroid sample return, and DART planetary defense test. The agency made progress on plans for returning humans to the Moon under the Artemis program and continued funding private space station development projects.
The paper concludes by assessing trends seen in 2023 and comparing to previous years. Key takeaways are that launch rates continue rising driven largely by SpaceX, small satellite deployments make up a majority of spacecraft launched, China is expanding across human spaceflight and lunar exploration, and NASA science and human exploration programs continue to advance.