Analysis of the Seradata SpaceTrak launch and satellite database shows that there were 86 orbital launches last year (2015), making it the second highest total since the turn of the century (the 21st century launch peak was in 2014 with 92 orbital attempts). The high flight rate in 2015 was achieved despite the stoppages in launch schedules caused by earlier failures to Antares, Falcon and Proton launch vehicles. The overall “raw” launch vehicle failure rate for 2015, in which failures are defined if any payload aboard a launch does not achieve its correct orbit due to a launch vehicle related cause, was 5.8%. Despite some high profile failures, this rate was below the ten-year average of 6.3%.
The 86 launches during 2015 carried 241 spacecraft, well down on the all time record total of 302 achieved in 2014, but still the second highest total ever. The principal reason for the reduction was that fewer Cubesats and other Nano-Satellites (1-10kg) were launched (102 in 2015 vs 136 in 2014). It is thought that the failure-induced suspension of flights of the Antares launch vehicle was the principal reason accounting for this reduction.
The 2015 launch year was the best since the early 1990s for numbers of Extra-Large Satellites with 34 spacecraft carried. Extra-Large Spacecraft are those classed by Seradata as having launch masses greater than 5000kg. Note that this category includes very heavy satellites as well as ISS cargo and manned missions.
With respect to launch sites, Baikonur Cosmodrome had 18 launches closely followed Cape Canaveral which posted 17 flights.
