The year 2025 set a record for spaceflight. Jonathan McDowell's General Catalog of Artificial Space Objects (GCAT), a public catalog that aims to list every orbital launch, counts 329 orbital launch attempts that year, more than in any year before. Those launches put 4,522 satellites into orbit. Using the catalog's launch list as updated on 13 September 2026, we built five charts that break the year down by who owned the satellites, which country they belonged to, which rockets carried them, who launched, and when.
The short version is that one company leads most of these rankings. The longer version has a few surprises.
Seven in ten new satellites were Starlinks
Of the 4,522 satellites that reached orbit, 3,169 belonged to SpaceX, and every one of them is named Starlink in the catalog. That is 70.1% of the year's total. The satellites launched by operator chart shows how far behind everyone else is: Kuiper Systems is second with 180 (its December mission appears in the catalog as Amazon Leo LA-04), and China Satellite Network Group is third with 134. The US National Reconnaissance Office placed 93 satellites, a little more than Planet Labs with 77.
Beyond the top of the list, the market is crowded. The catalog records 322 different first-named owners for 2025, and 304 of them shared the 593 satellites not owned by the 18 largest operators.
The United States owned 82%, and leads even without Starlink
Counted by the country of each owner, the satellites launched by owner country chart puts the United States on 3,716 satellites, or 82.2% of the total. The obvious question is whether that is just Starlink. It is not only Starlink: take away SpaceX's 3,169 and US owners still placed 547 satellites, more than China's 371. Russia is third with 87.
Smaller space programmes show up further down. Japan placed 35 satellites and Italy 31, both ahead of France with 26, and South Korea (24) and Turkey (22) both placed more than Germany (19). McDowell's list of first satellites by owner country also records four newcomers in 2025: Botswana and Bahrain in March, the Solomon Islands in June and Montenegro in December.
Falcon 9 carried 85% of everything
The satellites carried to orbit by rocket chart is even more lopsided. Falcon 9 delivered 3,842 satellites from 165 launches, about 23 per flight, which is 85.0% of the year's total. The rockets in second and third place show a different pattern. Atlas V 551 carried 109 satellites on only five launches, 108 of them for Kuiper, and 52 of the 77 satellites on Soyuz-2-1B came from a single flight on 28 December.
China's total is spread across many rockets: ten of the fifteen vehicles on that chart are Chinese, led by Chang Zheng 6A with 73 satellites.
SpaceX made just over half of all launch attempts
Satellites are one measure; launches are another. The orbital launches by launch provider chart counts attempts, including failures, by the organisation responsible for the launch. SpaceX made 170 of the 329 attempts, 51.7% of the world total, split between 165 Falcon 9 launches and five Starship flights. The next two names are both academies of China's CASC: the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology with 39 and the Shanghai Academy of Space Technology with 26. Rocket Lab Ltd. is fourth with 17 Electron launches from New Zealand.
December was the busiest month, and not because of SpaceX
The orbital launch attempts by month chart shows 40 attempts in December, well clear of September and November on 31 each. February was the quietest month with 20. The second half of the year was busier overall, with 181 attempts against 148 from January to June.
SpaceX was not behind the December peak. Its own count stayed between 12 and 17 launches every month and was highest in May. In December it launched 13 times, while the other 27 attempts came from other providers, including 12 by the two Chinese academies.
Why other launch counts look different
If you have seen different numbers, check the counting rules first. Our earlier orbital launch attempts by country chart, based on Wikipedia's 2025 in spaceflight article, gives the United States 198 attempts and China 93. McDowell's table gives the United States 181 and New Zealand 17, which together make the same 198; his 17 for New Zealand equals the number of Electron launches the catalog records from Rocket Lab's Mahia site. His Chinese total is 92, and the catalog separately records one Kuaizhou-1A that failed before ignition and is not in its orbital count.
| Measure (2025) | Leader | Who |
|---|---|---|
| Satellites by operator | 3,169 of 4,522 | SpaceX (Starlink) |
| Satellites by owner country | 3,716 of 4,522 | United States |
| Satellites by rocket | 3,842 of 4,522 | Falcon 9 |
| Launch attempts by provider | 170 of 329 | SpaceX |
| Launch attempts by month | 40 of 329 | December |
What these counts do not tell you
A satellite count treats a shoebox-sized cubesat and a multi-tonne communications satellite as one each, so none of these charts measure mass or capability. Joint ownership is simplified: 159 satellites in 2025 name more than one owner, and each is credited to the first owner listed. The satellite totals also leave out entries the catalog flags as outside its standard satellite list, along with Starship test vehicles and the Starlink Simulator payloads they carried. Each chart page explains its own rules in full, with a link to McDowell's source files.