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🇷🇺Soviet Union Launch History

Every orbital and deep-space launch attempt attributed to the Soviet Union, year by year, drawn from the GCAT launch catalog. Country is the launching state of the pad.

Data current as of 2026-07-20.

The Soviet Union made 2,368 orbital and deep-space launch attempts between 1957 and 1991. Of those, 2,203 succeeded and 165 failed. The success rate comes to 93 percent. The busiest year was 1982, with 108 launches. The most recent launch in the catalog was in 1991. Launches took place from 3 sites.

The Soviet Union and Russia are tracked separately in this chronology. Launches from Soviet-era sites after 1991 are attributed to Russia. See the Russia launch history →
2,368
Launch attempts
2,203
Successes
165
Failures
93%
Success rate

Launches per year

50 100 150 1957: 2 launches (2 successes, 0 failures) 1958: 5 launches (1 success, 4 failures) 1959: 4 launches (3 successes, 1 failure) 1960: 9 launches (3 successes, 6 failures) 1961: 9 launches (5 successes, 4 failures) 1962: 22 launches (15 successes, 7 failures) 1963: 23 launches (15 successes, 8 failures) 1964: 36 launches (29 successes, 7 failures) 1965: 53 launches (46 successes, 7 failures) 1966: 51 launches (42 successes, 9 failures) 1967: 74 launches (64 successes, 10 failures) 1968: 79 launches (74 successes, 5 failures) 1969: 82 launches (68 successes, 14 failures) 1970: 87 launches (80 successes, 7 failures) 1971: 91 launches (82 successes, 9 failures) 1972: 79 launches (73 successes, 6 failures) 1973: 89 launches (86 successes, 3 failures) 1974: 85 launches (81 successes, 4 failures) 1975: 93 launches (89 successes, 4 failures) 1976: 100 launches (97 successes, 3 failures) 1977: 102 launches (98 successes, 4 failures) 1978: 91 launches (87 successes, 4 failures) 1979: 89 launches (87 successes, 2 failures) 1980: 89 launches (87 successes, 2 failures) 1981: 100 launches (98 successes, 2 failures) 1982: 108 launches (99 successes, 9 failures) 1983: 100 launches (98 successes, 2 failures) 1984: 97 launches (96 successes, 1 failure) 1985: 100 launches (97 successes, 3 failures) 1986: 94 launches (90 successes, 4 failures) 1987: 97 launches (93 successes, 4 failures) 1988: 94 launches (89 successes, 5 failures) 1989: 46 launches (45 successes, 1 failure) 1990: 50 launches (47 successes, 3 failures) 1991: 38 launches (37 successes, 1 failure) 1957 1962 1967 1972 1977 1982 1987
Successes Failures Each bar links to that year's full chronology.

Year by year

Year Attempts Successes Failures Success rate
1991 38 37 1 97%
1990 50 47 3 94%
1989 46 45 1 98%
1988 94 89 5 95%
1987 97 93 4 96%
1986 94 90 4 96%
1985 100 97 3 97%
1984 97 96 1 99%
1983 100 98 2 98%
1982 108 99 9 92%
1981 100 98 2 98%
1980 89 87 2 98%
1979 89 87 2 98%
1978 91 87 4 96%
1977 102 98 4 96%
1976 100 97 3 97%
1975 93 89 4 96%
1974 85 81 4 95%
1973 89 86 3 97%
1972 79 73 6 92%
1971 91 82 9 90%
1970 87 80 7 92%
1969 82 68 14 83%
1968 79 74 5 94%
1967 74 64 10 86%
1966 51 42 9 82%
1965 53 46 7 87%
1964 36 29 7 81%
1963 23 15 8 65%
1962 22 15 7 68%
1961 9 5 4 56%
1960 9 3 6 33%
1959 4 3 1 75%
1958 5 1 4 20%
1957 2 2 0 100%

Launch sites

Counts for each GCAT launch site attributed to the Soviet Union.

Site code Site Launches Successes Failures First year Last year
NIIP-53 Plesetsk Cosmodrome 1381 1327 54 1966 1991
NIIP-5 Baikonur Cosmodrome 888 793 95 1957 1988
GTsP-4 Kapustin Yar 99 83 16 1961 1987

Recent launches

The most recent launches attributed to the Soviet Union, newest first.

Date Designator Payloads Vehicle Site / Pad Outcome
Dec 18, 1991 1991-086 51033-304 : S2-AP, AUOS-Z-AP-IK No. 301 Tsiklon-3 NIIP-53 / LC32/2 Success
Nov 27, 1991 1991-081 65048-409 : Parus No. 606 Kosmos 11K65M NIIP-53 / LC133/3 Success
Nov 20, 1991 1991-078 77053 -984 : SpK, Kobal't No. 539 Soyuz-U NIIP-53 / LC43/3 Success
Nov 12, 1991 1991-077 45057-903 : Strela-3 Tsiklon-3 NIIP-53 / LC32/1 Success
Oct 10, 1991 1991-072 53778-420 : Taifun-1B No. 13L Kosmos 11K65M NIIP-53 / LC132/1 Success
Oct 4, 1991 1991-070 R 15000-026 : Foton No. 7L Soyuz-U-PVB NIIP-53 / LC43/4 Success
Sep 28, 1991 1991-068 51057-902 : Strela-3 Tsiklon-3 NIIP-53 / LC32/2 Success
Sep 19, 1991 1991-066 77053 -983 : SpK, Kobal't No. 538 Soyuz-U NIIP-53 / LC43/3 Success
Sep 17, 1991 1991-065 76047 -569 : Molniya-3 No. 48 Molniya 8K78M NIIP-53 / LC43/4 Success
Aug 22, 1991 1991-059 53778-429 : Parus No. 604 Kosmos 11K65M NIIP-53 / LC132/1 Success
Aug 21, 1991 1991-058 78012 -269 : Resurs-F2 No. 7L Soyuz-U-PVB NIIP-53 / LC43/3 Success
Aug 15, 1991 1991-056 67082-803 : Meteor-3 No. 5/TOMS Tsiklon-3 NIIP-53 / LC32/2 Success
Aug 1, 1991 1991-053 76035 -533 : Molniya-1T No. 90L Molniya 8K78M NIIP-53 / LC43/4 Success
Jul 23, 1991 1991-052 78012 -152 : Resurs-F1-14F43 No. 13L Soyuz-U NIIP-53 / LC43/3 Success
Jul 9, 1991 1991-048 78023 -818 : Oblik No. 819 Soyuz-U-PVB NIIP-53 / LC43/4 Success
Jun 28, 1991 1991-044 78023 -153 : Resurs-F1-14F43 No. 12L Soyuz-U-PVB NIIP-53 / LC43/3 Success
Jun 25, 1991 1991-F02 65061-262 : ESO, Taifun-2A No. 22L Kosmos 11K65M NIIP-53 / LC132/1 Failure
Jun 18, 1991 1991-043 77053 -606 : Molniya-1T No. 87L Molniya 8K78M NIIP-53 / LC43/4 Success
Jun 13, 1991 1991-042 45019-207 : Tselina-D(R) No. 66L Tsiklon-3 NIIP-53 / LC32/2 Success
Jun 11, 1991 1991-041 47159-819 : Strela-2M No. 59L Kosmos 11K65M NIIP-53 / LC133/3 Success
Jun 4, 1991 1991-039 45033-305 : Okean-O1 No. 6L Tsiklon-3 NIIP-53 / LC32/2 Success
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