Blog

Why Rockets Prefer the Equator

Earth spins at about 1,670 kilometers per hour at the equator, and rockets launched eastward get that rotation as a free head start. The Guiana Space ...

Polar Launches and Why Vandenberg Faces South

Earth observation and reconnaissance satellites usually fly north to south over the poles so the planet rotates beneath them and every square kilomete...

The Oldest Launch Sites Still Standing

Peenemunde tested the V-2 from 1942 and launched the first object past the edge of space in 1944. White Sands took over captured V-2 flights in 1946 a...

The Commercial Spaceport Boom

For decades only state complexes could reach orbit. Rocket Lab opened a private orbital pad in New Zealand in 2017, SpaceX built Starbase in Texas, an...

First Satellite Launches by Country

The USSR orbited Sputnik 1 from Baikonur in October 1957. The United States answered with Explorer 1 from Cape Canaveral in January 1958. France launc...

Launching From the Sea and Sky

The San Marco platforms off Kenya launched Scout rockets for Italy from 1967 to 1988, the first orbital flights from African waters. Sea Launch sent Z...