A Russian Domination?
        The year 2005 was marked by three facts:
1°) Russia alone sponsored a quarter of all spacecrafts launched,
2°) 56 % of all spacecrafts were launched by Russia, and
3°) Russia accomplished 55 % of all rocket launches.

Who Sponsored What?
        Of the 78 spacecrafts launched this year, 21 were Russian, 13 American, 15 European, 10 commercial, 6 Chinese, 5 Japanese, 3 Indian, 1 Canadian, 1 Thai, 1 Iranian, 1 Indonesian and 1 amateur.

Civilian vs. Military Spacecrafts
       62 of the 78 spacecrafts launched during 2005 were civilian – which represents 79.5 % of the total – and 16 were military satellites. From 1960 to 1990, two-third of all spacecrafts launched were military, but since 1995, the majority are civilian. Nevertheless, 56.3 % of all spacecrafts ever launched are military. (See Table 4.)

For What Purpose?
         Of the 62 civilian spacecrafts, 21 provided communications services, 15 were for technology R&D, 8 were part of piloted programs, 4 studied Earth and space environment, 4 explored the Solar System and 3 observed Earth weather patterns.
         Of the 16 military satellites, 5 were for reconnaissance (“spy”) mission, 5 provided navigation aids, 2 were listening devices (elint), 2 relayed communications and 2 were for science & technology research.

Space Failures
       8 of the 78 spacecrafts failed to accomplish their mission. This represents a 89.7 % rate of success. This is a little bit better than the historical average (1957-2004 = 89.1 %), but is about 2 % less than the rate observed in recent years.  Of these 8 failures, 3 occurred at launch and 5 spacecrafts failed to complete their mission. (See Table 6 and Spacecrafts (know) Failure.)

Launcher Statistics
        The 78 spacecrafts launched during 2005 were carried by 55 rockets. 30 of these rockets were Russian (55 %), 12 were American, 5 were European, 5 were Chinese, 2 were Japanese and 1 was Indian. (See Spacecrafts/Launches Summary below.)

Come Fly With Us
        Russian rockets launched 44 of the 78 spacecrafts (56 %), American rockets carried 14 spacecrafts, European Ariane orbited 10 spacecrafts, Chinese Chang Zheng propelled 6 spacecrafts, and Japanese & Indian launchers transported 2 spacecrafts each.

Payloads Tonnage:

Launch Provider Number of Payloads Total Weight Launched % of Total Russia 44 109,995+kg 32,6 % United States 14 168,986 kg 50,1 % Europe 10 32,658 kg 9,7 % Japan 2 4,980 kg 1,5 % China 6 18,941 kg 5,6 % India 2 1,603 kg 0,5 % Total 339,736+Kg Lost Payloads 3 2,537 kg

 

Launch Failures
        There were 3 launch failures: a “Molniya” rocket carrying a Molniya comsat, a Vonla carrying The Planetary Society’s Cosmos-1, and a Rokot carrying Cryosat. This represents a 94.5 % rate of success, which is better than the average 91.5 % success cumulated from 1957 to 2004. (See Table 11 - Launchers Ranking.)

Launcher Scorecard
        Of the 55 launches accomplished during the year 2005:

•	The Russian Soyuz (Molniya) launcher score 11 successes in 12 launches.
•	The Russian Proton launcher score 7 successes in 7 launches.
•	The European Ariane and the Chinese Chang Zheng both score 5 successes in 5 launches.
•	The Russian Zenit score 4 successes in 4 launches.
•	American Atlas & Delta and the Russian Kosmos 3M each score 3 successes in 3 launches.
•	American Titan and Minotaur score 2 successes in 2 launches.
•	American Space Shuttle and Pegagus, Japanese H-2A and M-V, the Russian Dnepr and the Indian PSLV each score 1 success in 1 launch.
•	The Russian Rokot score 1 success in 2 launches.
•	The Russian Volna score 1 failure in 1 launch.