An attempt to launch the first rocket into space from British soil ended in failure on the night of Monday January 9 to Tuesday January 10, a « anomalies » preventing it from being put into orbit.
Until then, British satellites had to be launched into space from gigantic launch pads abroad, notably in the United States, Florida or Alaska.
If successful, the UK would have become one of the few countries in the world capable of putting satellites into orbit. “Joining this very exclusive club of launch countries is so important because it gives us our own access to space, this sovereign access to space that we have never had before in the UK,” pointed out Melissa Thorpe, director of Spaceport Cornwall.
Pioneering Russia, followed by the United States and France
A pioneer, Russia marked the beginning of the space age by launching, in October 1957, Sputnik 1 from the Baikonur base. This largest cosmodrome in the world, built in 1955, remained the Soviet Union’s main launch site. Long at the forefront of the launcher market, Russia has since given up its leading position in the face of the appearance of new international competition.
The United States is the second to have placed an artificial satellite in orbit. In February 1958, they launched Explorer 1 using the Juno 1 launch vehicle from a launch base in Florida. In 2021, they carried out 51 orbital launches, or 35% of the world total, second only to China.
In 1968, France inaugurated the Kourou launch base in Guyana, which replaced the Hammaguir center in Algeria, from which the first French satellite put into orbit, Asterix, was launched in November 1965. It was from Kourou that the French Diamant rocket was sent in 1970.
Asian space race
In Asia, the space race has been on since the early 1960s, but it was ultimately Japan that overtook China by launching Osumi in February 1970 from its Uchinoura launch base.
China, now in the lead in space launches, will succeed two months later in sending Dong Fang Hong 1 from the Jiuquan base in Mongolia. It will not launch satellites on its soil, from Taiyuan, in the northeast of the country, until 1984.
India follows, which inaugurated its first launch in July 1980 from its Satish-Dhawan space center. In Israel, the Palmachim base, located southwest of Tel Aviv, has been used since September 1988 as a launch center. It was from there that the first Israeli satellite, Ofeq 1, was placed in orbit.
South Korea, the last country to do so
The last three countries to join the “exclusive” club are Iran, North Korea and South Korea.
In February 2009, from the Semnan launch base, 200 kilometers east of Tehran, the first artificial satellite Omic was placed in orbit by the Safir rocket.
North Korea has the Sohae launch base, on the western coast 50 kilometers from the Chinese border city of Dandong. On December 12, 2012, a successful launch took a satellite named Kwangmyongson 3 into orbit. The launch was condemned by the majority of states, who see it as an attempt to develop a long-range ballistic missile.
A little over a month later, South Korea succeeded from Naro, the launch base at the southern end, to launch the STASAT-2C satellite with its KSLV-1 launcher.