juliensimon/space-launch-log

Space Launch Log

Part of the Orbital Mechanics Datasets collection on Hugging Face.

Complete global launch history from GCAT (General Catalog of Artificial Space Objects), maintained by Jonathan McDowell. Currently 75,755 launches (7,025 orbital, 49,514 suborbital) from 710 sites, spanning 1942–2026.

Configs

launches — 75,755 launch records

Every known launch attempt — orbital, suborbital, and failed — from 1942 to present.

Column	Type	Description
launch_tag	string	Unique GCAT launch identifier
launch_jd	float	Launch time as Julian Date
launch_date	string	Launch date (ISO-ish format)
lv_type	string	Launch vehicle type (e.g. "Falcon 9")
variant	string	Vehicle variant
flight_id	string	Flight identifier
flight	string	Flight number
mission	string	Mission name
flight_code	string	Flight code
platform	string	Launch platform
launch_site	string	Launch site code
launch_pad	string	Launch pad identifier
ascent_site	string	Ascent site (if different from launch)
ascent_pad	string	Ascent pad
apogee	float	Apogee altitude in km
apogee_flag	string	Apogee qualifier flag
range	float	Range in km
range_flag	string	Range qualifier flag
destination	string	Target orbit/destination
orbital_payload	string	Whether payload reached orbit
agency	string	Responsible agency/operator
launch_code	string	Launch outcome code
fail_code	string	Failure details (if applicable)
group	string	Launch group
category	string	O (orbital), S (suborbital), etc.
lt_cite	string	Launch time citation
cite	string	General citation
notes	string	Additional notes

sites — 710 launch sites

Launch facilities, pads, and test ranges worldwide.

Column	Type	Description
site	string	Site identifier
code	string	Short code
ucode	string	Unicode code
type	string	Site type
state_code	string	Country/state code
start	string	First operational date
stop	string	Last operational date
short_name	string	Short name
name	string	Full name
location	string	Geographic location description
longitude	float	Longitude (WGS-84)
latitude	float	Latitude (WGS-84)
error	string	Position error estimate
parent	string	Parent site (for pads within complexes)
short_ename	string	Short English name
ename	string	Full English name
group	string	Site group
uname	string	Unicode name

Quick stats

• 75,755 launches (7,025 orbital, 49,514 suborbital)
• 705 distinct agencies/operators
• 710 launch sites
• Coverage: 1942–2026

Usage

from datasets import load_dataset

launches = load_dataset("juliensimon/space-launch-log", "launches", split="train")
sites = load_dataset("juliensimon/space-launch-log", "sites", split="train")

df = launches.to_pandas()

# Launches per year
df["year"] = df["launch_date"].str[:4]
print(df["year"].value_counts().sort_index().tail(10))

# Most-used launch vehicles
print(df["lv_type"].value_counts().head(10))

# Orbital launches only (launch_code starts with O)
orbital = df[df["launch_code"].str[0] == "O"]

# Join with site coordinates
sites_df = sites.to_pandas()
df_geo = df.merge(sites_df[["code", "latitude", "longitude"]],
                  left_on="launch_site", right_on="code", how="left")

Data source

GCAT (General Catalog of Artificial Space Objects) by Jonathan McDowell, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. GCAT is the most comprehensive public catalog of space launches and is widely used in the spaceflight research community.

Update schedule

Weekly on Mondays at 07:00 UTC via GitHub Actions.

Related datasets

• starlink-fleet-data — Daily Starlink constellation health snapshots
• space-track-satcat — NORAD satellite catalog
• starlink-ground-stations — Starlink gateway and PoP locations

Pipeline

Source code: juliensimon/space-datasets

Support

If you find this dataset useful, please give it a ❤️ on the dataset page and share feedback in the Community tab! Also consider giving a ⭐️ to the space-datasets repo.

Citation

@dataset{space_launch_log,
  author = {Simon, Julien},
  title = {Space Launch Log},
  year = {2026},
  publisher = {Hugging Face},
  url = {https://huggingface.co/datasets/juliensimon/space-launch-log},
  note = {Based on GCAT (General Catalog of Artificial Space Objects) by Jonathan McDowell, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics}
}

License

CC-BY-4.0