Satellites Carried to Orbit by Rocket 2025

What this chart shows
The 15 rocket types that delivered the most satellites to orbit in 2025. A launch that deploys dozens of small satellites counts every one of them, so this ranking rewards rockets that fly large batches, not only rockets that fly often.

How the data is collected
Every satellite in the GCAT orbital launch log is linked to the launch that carried it, and every launch names its vehicle in the LV_Type column. The chart counts satellites per vehicle for launches that reached orbit. Payloads flagged PX and Starship test flights are excluded, the same rule that produces the 4,522-satellite total for 2025.

Background
The launch list records each vehicle by its exact configuration, so the Atlas V 551 and Chang Zheng 5B/YZ-2 appear here rather than a family name. The catalog's launch vehicle database describes itself as an attempt to list every type of space launch vehicle and show how the types relate to each other. Launch times in the list are given in UTC to the nearest second where available.

Limits
A count of satellites says nothing about their mass: one large communications satellite and one shoebox-sized cubesat each count as one. Rideshare missions put many operators' satellites on a single rocket, and each is credited to that rocket. Satellites lost on a failed launch are not counted, so a rocket with a failure in 2025 shows only what it delivered.