SpaceTRC / Space Age
From government agencies to the commercial space age.
In 1957 only two nations could reach space. Today companies carry most of the payloads that go to orbit. Rockets fly back and land, tourists cross the poles, and tens of thousands of satellites deliver internet together. This section tells that story through programmes, vehicles and data.
- Falcon 9 launches
- 701Launch Library 2, updated automatically
- Starlink satellites launched
- 13,000+Compiled 23 October 2026
- Starship first orbit
- 28 Sep 2026Flight 14, 26 Starlink V3
- New Shepard passengers
- 98Flights paused in January 2026
01 / Sections
Programmes, companies and vehicles
Every page follows the same structure: a timeline first, then vehicles and technology, then current status and sources.
02 / Timeline
From Sputnik to Starship: 69 years of milestones
- Sputnik 1 in orbit
The Soviet Union launched the first artificial satellite. The space age began.
- Yuri Gagarin, first human in space
Vostok 1 completed a single orbit of Earth.
- Apollo 11 on the Moon
Launched on a Saturn V, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on the lunar surface.
- First Space Shuttle flight
The first partly reusable crewed spacecraft. Its refurbishment costs proved far higher than planned.
- First module of the International Space Station
Assembly began with Zarya. People have lived aboard continuously since 2000.
- SpaceShipOne wins the Ansari X Prize
The first privately funded crewed spacecraft crossed 100 km twice within two weeks.
- Falcon 1 reaches orbit
The first privately developed liquid-fuelled rocket to reach orbit, on SpaceX’s fourth attempt.
- Dragon becomes the first commercial vehicle at the ISS
NASA’s commercial cargo programme launched a model in which the agency buys a service instead of owning the vehicle.
- First vertical landing of an orbital booster
A Falcon 9 first stage returned to Cape Canaveral. The era of reuse began.
- Crew Dragon Demo-2
The first crewed orbital launch from the US since 2011, and the first NASA astronauts flown by a private vehicle.
- The year of space tourism
Virgin Galactic flew its first crewed mission on 11 July and Blue Origin on 20 July. In September, Inspiration4 became the first orbital crew without a professional astronaut.
- Alper Gezeravcı launches on Ax-3
Türkiye’s first astronaut flew on a Crew Dragon and carried out experiments on the ISS.
- Tuva Cihangir Atasever flies suborbital
Türkiye’s second astronaut reached about 90 km aboard Virgin Galactic’s VSS Unity and ran seven experiments.
- Fram2: first crewed polar orbit
Four private astronauts flew a 90-degree orbit over both poles aboard Crew Dragon Resilience.
- New Glenn’s booster lands at sea
Blue Origin recovered the first stage of its heavy rocket on the second attempt.
- New Shepard tourism flights paused
Blue Origin suspended suborbital tourism for at least two years to focus on lunar landing work.
- SpaceX goes public
The company began trading on Nasdaq as SPCX at an IPO valuation of 1.77 trillion dollars.
- Starship reaches orbit
On its fourteenth flight the largest rocket ever built reached orbit and deployed 26 Starlink V3 satellites.
- AYAP-1: Türkiye’s first lunar spacecraft
The TÜBİTAK UZAY orbiter is planned to launch on a Falcon 9 and will also test Türkiye’s first hybrid propulsion system.
03 / Why now?
The price of lifting one kilogram to orbit
The biggest enabler of the commercial space age is falling cost. In inflation-adjusted figures compiled by CSIS Aerospace Security, the Space Shuttle cost more than 54,000 dollars per kilogram to low Earth orbit. On Falcon Heavy the figure is about 1,500 dollars.
Bars are drawn on a logarithmic scale. Values are approximate, in 2021 dollars. Source: CSIS Aerospace Security, “Space Launch to Low Earth Orbit: How Much Does It Cost?”
Rockets are no longer thrown away
One Falcon 9 first stage flew 37 times by 2026. Expensive engines are refurbished and flown again instead of being rebuilt for every mission.
Satellites on an assembly line
Thousands of identical satellites are built in factories. The era of one-off, hand-built spacecraft is ending.
A new contract model
NASA buys services instead of vehicles: cargo, crew transport, lunar landings. Companies take on the risk and own the hardware.
04 / Türkiye and commercial space
Turkish satellites and astronauts fly on commercial vehicles
| Date | Mission | Vehicle | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8 Jan 2021 | Türksat 5A | SpaceX Falcon 9 | Communications satellite, geostationary orbit |
| 19 Dec 2021 | Türksat 5B | SpaceX Falcon 9 | High-throughput Ka-band communications |
| 15 Apr 2023 | İMECE | Falcon 9 (Transporter-7) | Domestic high-resolution Earth observation satellite |
| 18 Jan 2024 | Ax-3 · Alper Gezeravcı | Falcon 9 + Crew Dragon | First Turkish astronaut, experiments on the ISS |
| 8 Jun 2024 | Galactic 07 · Tuva Cihangir Atasever | Virgin Galactic VSS Unity | Suborbital research flight, 7 experiments |
| 9 Jul 2024 | Türksat 6A | SpaceX Falcon 9 | Türkiye’s first domestically built communications satellite |
| 2027 (plan) | AYAP-1 | SpaceX Falcon 9 | Lunar orbiter and domestic hybrid propulsion test |
05 / Explorer badges
Collect your badges: 0 / 7
Earn badges as you explore pages, use the tools and land the simulator successfully. Badges are stored only in this browser; no account needed.