Media Platforms Design TeamIt is the first of its kind: a graph representing every single space launch, starting with Sputnik 1 on Oct. 4, 1957–6039 spacecraft in all. The heights of the lines indicate apogee (maximum distance from Earth). Lines that extend off the page show craft traveling a million-plus miles. Launch site countries are color coded, but note: A rocket launched in Russia that boosts a Chinese satellite counts as a Russian launch. (China first used its own rocket to launch a sat in 1970.)Although not every launch is discernible, patterns emerge. The band at about 200 miles shows mostly Earth observation sats in polar orbits; a band near 900 miles is mainly communications sats in equatorial orbits. The first three decades are dominated by Soviet (red) and American (blue) launches. But notice how U.S. launches fall behind the Soviets’ aggressive pace in the ’70s and ’80s. By the ’90s, China, Europe and others are increasingly represented.How We Made the ChartWe started with a database of space launches compiled by Jonathan McDowell, a Smithsonian astrophysicist and fanatic space historian. After analyzing the data, we turned it over to Jan Schwochow, a German illustrator who converted the numbers into the vertical lines on the chart.*Last entry was the satellite TerraSAR-X on June 15, 2007.>Media Platforms Design Team IntroductionEditor’s Letter | Expert Opinions | NASA Chief Q&A | PollThe MoonLiving on the Lunar Base | Inside Orion Spacecraft | Moon’s Astronaut Threat | PodcastMarsSurviving the Red Planet | Buzz Aldrin’s Roadmap to Mars | Minding the Astronaut Brain | PodcastPrivate SpaceHandicapping the Race | Future of Space Business | Burt Rutan Q&A | PodcastSearch for LifeScouting Crucial Spacecraft | U.S. Satellites Targeted | MIT Prof Q&A | PodcastMedia Platforms Design Team
