The next rockets to leave the Earth

What you are looking at

Each small rocket on the map stands on a launch site with a launch coming; it turns amber and pulses when lift-off is within a day. The list below counts every launch down and says how firm its time is: a confirmed time has been announced by the launch provider, the others are the best information going. Launch dates slip constantly — for weather, for a valve, for a boat in the wrong place — so the list is refreshed every half hour.

How to read it

• An amber, pulsing rocket flies within twenty-four hours; a number beside it means several launches are waiting at that site.
• “Confirmed” is a time the launch provider has announced; “to be confirmed” and “to be decided” are estimates that often move.
• Tap a rocket for the mission, the provider and the countdown, and a link to follow the launch live.

Questions

When is the next rocket launch?

The countdown at the top of this page is the next launch with a firm time, and the list under it has the dozen after that. Launch times change often, sometimes in the last minute, so the list is renewed every half hour.

How many rockets are launched in a year?

More than 250 orbital launches a year now, about five a week — most of them by SpaceX, followed by China. Ten years ago the world total was under ninety.

Why are launch sites where they are?

Close to the equator, because the Earth's spin gives a rocket flying east a free push of up to 1,670 km/h; and beside an ocean or an empty steppe to the east, so that spent stages fall where nobody lives. That is why Florida, French Guiana, Hainan and Kazakhstan are where they are.