In December 2025, the world witnessed 40 orbital launches, marking an all-time record in the history of space exploration. The launch activity coefficient reached 1.29 (number of launches per day), compared to 1.033 the previous month, which was also considered a record figure. Two launches ended in failure: the Japanese H-3 rocket and the South Korean private Hanbit-Nano crashed. The most launches were conducted by the USA with 17 starts, including two from New Zealand. A possible increase in the number of launches was delayed by an incident with the Starlink-35956 satellite, causing SpaceX to temporarily halt Falcon-9 flights. China ended the month with 15 successful launches, setting a record for the Middle Kingdom.
Overall, in 2025, the world made 323 orbital launches – a new annual record. Of these, 315 launches were successful or partially successful, and 8 were unsuccessful.
