Federal Aviation Administration

Office of the Associate Administrator

for Commercial Space Transportation

800 Independence Ave., S.W.

Room 331

Washington, DC 20591 SPECIAL EDITION October 27, 2004 

In FY2004, the Federal Aviation Administration’s

(FAA) Office of the Associate Administrator for

Commercial Space Transportation (AST) licensed nine

orbital launches valued at approximately $600 million,

including:

• Five launches of Atlas vehicles from Cape 

Canaveral Air Force Station;

• Three launches conducted by the multinational Sea 

Launch service provider; and

• One launch of the Taurus XL.

The orbital launch count is slightly higher than for the

previous year (eight), but 35 percent less than the number of launches in FY2000 (12 launches). In addition to

the nine orbital commercial launches, the FAA also

licensed SpaceShipOne, clearing the way for suborbital

development launches and a bid for the Ansari X Prize.

Up to 10 FAA-licensed orbital and four suborbital

launches are expected in FY2005.

During the FY2000-FY2004 period, there was an average of 16 commercial launches worldwide to geosynchronous orbit (GSO) per fiscal year, with a low of 13 in

FY2004 and a high of 18 in FY2000 and FY2001. There

was a low of four commercial launches to non-geosynchronous orbits (NGSO) in both FY2002 and FY2003

and a high of 13 in FY2000. Only three orbital NGSO

launches took place in FY2004.

Sixteen commercial orbital launches occurred in

FY2004, lower than the average of 24 launches per fiscal year during the five-year period. The U.S. (including

Sea Launch) conducted an average of eight commercial

launches per year during the five-year period, with

Russia having conducted about seven commercial

launches. The number of commercial orbital launches

from Europe has dropped from a high of 12 in FY2001

to a low of one in FY2004. 

$0

$100

$200

$300

$400

$500

$600

$700

$800

$900

$1,000

Estimated Revenue from Licensed 

Launches (in $M)

FY2000 FY2001 FY2002 FY2003 FY2004 FY2005

Projected

$650M

$806M

$385M

$460M $536M

$585M

FAA-Licensed Commercial Orbital and

Suborbital Launch Trend

FAA-LICENSED VEHICLES LAUNCHED IN FY2004 U.S. Commercial Orbital and Suborbital

Launch Revenue Trend

Worldwide Distribution of Orbital and Suborbital

Commercial Launches in FY2004

THIRTEEN ORBITAL AND SUBORBITAL FAALICENSED LAUNCHES IN FY2004

FIVE-YEAR ORBITAL COMMERCIAL LAUNCH

TRENDS WORLDWIDE

Sea Launch

Vehicle Atlas 2 Atlas 3 Taurus XL SpaceShipOne Zenit 3SL

FY2004 Total 

Launches 5 2 1 43

FY2004 Licensed 

Launches 3 2 1 43

FY2004 Reliability 5/5 (100%) 2/2 (100%) 1/1 (100%) 4/4 (100%) 3/3 (100%)

10-Year Reliability 52/52 (100%) 5/5 (100%) 5/6 (83%) 4/4 (100%) 13/14 (93%)

Maximum LEO 

Capacity - kg (lb)

8,298

(18,256)

10,764

(23,709)

1,450

(3,200) - 15,246

(33,541)

Maximum GEO 

Capacity - kg (lb)

3,833

(8,433)

4,500

(9,920)

557

(1,228) - 6,000

(13,228)

United States

USA

10 (50%)

Russia: 6 (30%)

Europe: 1 (5%) Multinational: 3 (15%)
Federal Aviation Administration

Office of the Associate Administrator

for Commercial Space Transportation

800 Independence Ave., S.W.

Room 331

Washington, DC 20591 SPECIAL EDITION October 27, 2004 

Date Vehicle Site Payload(s) Operator Manufacturer Use Comml 

Price L M

United 

States

12/17/2003 \/ Atlas 3B CCAFS UHF F11 U.S. Navy Boeing Communications $70M S S

2/5/2004 \/ Atlas 2AS CCAFS * AMC 10 SES Americom Lockheed Martin Communications $70M S S

3/13/2004 \/ Atlas 3A CCAFS * MBSAT 1 Mobile Broadcasting Corp. Space Systems/Loral Communications $70M S S

4/8/2004 \/ SpaceShipOne Mojave SS1 13P Scaled Composites Scaled Composites Development N/A S S

4/15/2004 \/ Atlas 2AS CCAFS * Superbird 6 Space Communications Corp. Boeing Communications $70M S S

5/13/2004 \/ SpaceShipOne Mojave SS1 14P Scaled Composites Scaled Composites Development N/A S S

5/19/2004 \/ Atlas 2AS CCAFS * AMC 11 SES Americom Lockheed Martin Communications $70M S S

5/20/2004 \/ Taurus XL VAFB Rocsat 2 National Space Program Office (NSPO) NSPO Scientific $25M S S

6/21/2004 \/ SpaceShipOne Mojave SS1 15P Scaled Composites Scaled Composites Development N/A S S

9/29/2004 \/ SpaceShipOne Mojave SS1 16P Scaled Composites Scaled Composites Prize N/A S S

Europe

7/17/2004 Ariane 5G Kourou * Anik F2 Telesat Canada Boeing Communications $140M S S

Russia

10/30/2003 Rockot Plesetsk SERVIS 1 Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency 

(JAXA)

Mitsubishi Scientific $13.5M S S

12/28/2003 Soyuz Baikonur * Amos 2 SpaceCom Limited Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI) Communications $35M S S

3/16/2004 Proton M Baikonur * Eutelsat W3A Eutelsat Astrium Communications $70M S S

6/17/2004 Proton M Baikonur * Intelsat 10 02 Intelsat Astrium Communications $70M S S

6/29/2004 Dnepr 1 Baikonur Demeter Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales 

(CNES)

CNES Scientific $9.5M S S

AMSAT Echo Amateur Radio Satellite Corp. SpaceQuest, Ltd. Communications S

* LatinSat 3 Aprize Satellite SpaceQuest, Ltd. Communications S

* LatinSat 4 Aprize Satellite SpaceQuest, Ltd. Communications S

Saudisat 3 Space Research Institute Space Research Institute Communications S

Saudisat 4 Space Research Institute Space Research Institute Communications S

Saudisat 5 Space Research Institute Space Research Institute Communications S

Unisat 3 University of Rome University of Rome Communications S

8/5/2004 Proton M Baikonur * Amazonas 1 Hispasat Astrium Communications $70M S

Multinational

1/10/2004 \/ Zenit 3SL Odyssey 

Platform

* Estrela do Sul Loral Skynet do Brasil Space Systems/Loral Communications $70M S S

5/4/2004 \/ Zenit 3SL Odyssey 

Platform

* DirecTV 7S DirecTV, Inc. Space Systems/Loral Communications $70M S S

6/28/2004 \/ Zenit 3SL Odyssey 

Platform

* APStar 5/Telstar 18 APT Satellite Co., Ltd. Space Systems/Loral Communications $70M P S

WORLDWIDE ORBITAL AND SUBORBITAL COMMERCIAL LAUNCH

EVENTS IN FY2004

Denotes a commercial payload, defined as a spacecraft which serves a commercial function or is operated by a commercial entity. Commercial prices are estimates only.

Denotes a commercial launch licensed by the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) Office of the Associate Administrator for Commercial Space Transportation (AST)

Denotes launch outcome (S-success, F-failure, and P-partial). M denotes mission outcome (S-success, F-failure, and P-partial).

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