mcval/space-launches

Launches and the satellites they carried, 1957 to 2026

This is a copy of the dataset at mcval.org/launches/data, updated there every Monday and here straight after. Cite it by its DOI (see Citing).

Version 2026-10-07. 7,634 launches from 1957-10-04 to 2026-10-07, and 27,969 payloads, every one linked to the launch that carried it.

Made by McVal for Every launch since Sputnik, a 3D globe of the same data. Licensed CC BY 4.0: use it for anything, with credit (see Citing).

How the links are made

Each payload in CelesTrak's satellite catalogue has a COSPAR id (1997-061A for Cassini), whose first part (1997-061) is the launch. Launch Library 2 records that launch number for each launch that reached orbit. The two are joined on it, so a link needs no matching by date or place. Launches that left nothing in orbit, such as failures and suborbital flights, have no COSPAR launch number and no payloads.

Who uses each satellite (defence, civil government, commercial, academic) and who runs it come from Jonathan McDowell's General Catalog of Artificial Space Objects (GCAT). A satellite counts as defence if any of its operators is military; otherwise it takes the class of its first operator. operator_group rolls the operator up GCAT's parent chain to its top organisation (NASA Goddard to NASA), with a few GCAT keeps apart merged by hand.

launches.csv

Column	Meaning
launch_id	Launch Library 2's id for the launch
date_utc	Liftoff, UTC, to the minute
cospar_launch	COSPAR launch number (year-number); empty if nothing reached orbit
rocket	Rocket, as Launch Library 2 names it
provider	Who launched it
provider_type	government or commercial
site, site_country, pad	Where it launched from
outcome	success, failure or partial failure
mission, mission_type, orbit	As Launch Library 2 records them
payloads_catalogued	Payloads in CelesTrak's catalogue from this launch
wikipedia	English Wikipedia article about the flight or its main payload, through Wikidata, where there is one
webcast	The launch's webcast or film, checked when built, where there is one

satellites.csv

Column	Meaning
norad_id	Catalogue number (NORAD)
cospar_id	International designator
name	Catalogue name
launch_date, decay_date	From the catalogue; decay_date empty while it is still up
launch_id, cospar_launch, rocket, launch_provider	The launch that carried it (launches.csv)
user	defence, civil government, commercial, academic or unknown (GCAT)
operator	Who runs it (GCAT)
operator_group	The operator's top organisation (see above)
registered_to	CelesTrak's owner code: the country or organisation it is registered to
orbit_centre	EA for Earth orbit; a station's catalogue number when docked; otherwise where it went (MO Moon, SU solar orbit, MA Mars, and so on)
orbit_withheld	yes where CelesTrak has no elements available: the US publishes no orbit for it
period_min, inclination_deg, apogee_km, perigee_km	Its orbit, from the catalogue

Sources

• Launches: Launch Library 2 by The Space Devs.
• Satellites: CelesTrak's satellite catalogue (SATCAT).
• Users and operators: GCAT, the General Catalog of Artificial Space Objects by Jonathan McDowell, CC-BY.
• Wikipedia articles: matched through Wikidata.

Citing

Osborne, M. (2026). Launches and the satellites they carried, 1957 to 2026 (Version 2026-10-07) [Dataset]. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.23184904

Built from Launch Library 2 (The Space Devs), CelesTrak, and GCAT by Jonathan McDowell (CC-BY). The DOI above always resolves to the newest version.