Humans are an ambitious species, and not all our goals focus on terra firma. With our sights on the stars, humanity has launched thousands of rockets, instruments, and ourselves into orbit—and beyond.
A total of 6,060 rocket launches are included in Koelker’s analysis. Of these, 5,603 have successfully reached orbit. But such high success—over 90 percent of launches reach orbit today—was not always the case. During the 1950s, more than half of all launches failed to reach and maintain orbit.
In addition to national statistics, Koelker’s story dives into where spaceports are located, trends in launch dates, and interactive features that enable readers to explore the data in more detail. For example, you can select the country, spaceport, or date range of interest. All of it is laid out in stunning monochrome reminiscent of a mission control dashboard that puts information at the fore.
This project shows humanity’s race to orbit, how we got there, and the challenges we faced along the way. And it does so with uncommon elegance. Koelker’s work was featured as one of the Esri ArcGIS StoryMaps favorite stories of 2021.
