The Country with the Most Successful Space Rocket Launch

Many of us remember the days when the United States and Russia were racing to be the first country to send a man into the space. While a Russian chimpanzee was the first living creature to enter the space, the competitiveness of space technology is far from died.

Many countries have entered into this space race, but most of them were unsuccessful to launch a rocket into the space. South Korea has recently failed for the seventh time since 2002. While they have claimed that a 2008 launch in April was a success, this claim is yet to be proved.

Surprisingly, only a few countries have launched rockets into space without mishaps. Most of these successful rocket launches have occurred in the last decade by a handful of countries.

Fultron, a technology consultant company that compiles data on rocket launches from every country. According to their research, both US and Russia have had their share of success in rocket launches. Each country has successfully launched over 200 rockets into space. All of these launches have occurred since 1999 - or in the past decade. The upcoming country looking to catch up and surpass the US and Russia is not surprisingly, China. China has already launched more rockets into space than all of the European countries combined.

The gap between the US, Russia, and China is large in comparison to other countries that have launched rockets into space. India and Japan launch about two or three rockets into the space every year. India does have plans to increase the number of rocket launches into space within the next few years. Israel has successfully launched two rockets into space till date.

While both United States and Russia are running neck and neck with the amount of successful rocket launches, Russia by far exceeds the US in the cost effectiveness of each launch. The US's NASA, or North American Space Agency, has exceeded $17 billion over 15 rocket launches. Russia on the other hand has minimized their cost to just $1.5 billion over 25 launches. Looks like the United States can learn a financial tip or two from the Russian space department.

The days of the race to the space and the race to the moon are far behind us. However, Russia is clearly the powerhouse when it comes to advances in space technology and space rocket launches. Countries to watch out for include China and India.

Source:

http://carloz.newsvine.com/_news/2009/08/20/3171782-poll-which-country-has-launched-the-most-rockets-into-space-since-1999

http://bbs.chinadaily.com.cn/viewthread.php?gid=2&tid=646222