Spacefaring nations and other entities




To be spacefaring is to be capable of and active in the operation of spacecraft. It involves a knowledge of a variety of topics and development of specialised skills including: aeronautics; astronautics; programs to train astronauts; space weather and forecasting; ship-handling and small craft handling; operation of various equipment; spacecraft design and construction; atmospheric takeoff and reentry; orbital mechanics (a.k.a. astrodynamics); communications; engines and rockets; execution of evolutions such as towing, microgravity construction, and space docking; cargo handling equipment, dangerous cargos and cargo storage; spacewalking; dealing with emergencies; survival at space and first aid; fire fighting; life support. The degree of knowledge needed within these areas is dependent upon the nature of the work and the type of vessel employed. "Spacefaring" is analogous to seafaring.

There has never been a crewed mission outside the Earth–Moon system. However, the United States, Russia, China, European Space Agency countries, and a few corporations and enterprises have plans in various stages to travel to Mars (see Human mission to Mars).

Spacefaring entities can be sovereign states, supranational entities, and private corporations. Spacefaring nations are those capable of independently building and launching craft into space. A growing number of private entities have become or are becoming spacefaring. The United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) started the first UN space program in 2016.

Crewed spacefaring nationsedit

Currently Russia, China, and the United States are the only crewed spacefaring nations. Spacefaring nations listed by year of first crewed launch:

  1. Soviet Union (Russia) (1961)
  2. United States (1961)
  3. China (2003)

Uncrewed spacefaring nationsedit

The following nations or organizations have developed their own launch vehicles to launch uncrewed spacecraft into orbit either from their own territory or with foreign assistance (date of first launch in parentheses):

  1. Soviet Union (1957)
  2. United States (1958)
  3. France (1965)
  4. Italy (1967)
  5. Australia (1967)★
  6. Japan (1970)
  7. China (1970)
  8. United Kingdom (1971)
  9. European Space Agency (1979)
  10. India (1980)
  11. Israel (1988)
  12. Ukraine (1991)*
  13. Russia (1992)*
  14. Iran (2009)
  15. North Korea (2012)
  16. South Korea (2013)★
  17. New Zealand (2018)★
  • *Previously the major part of Soviet Union
  • ★Launch vehicle fully or partially developed by another country

Also several countries, such as Canada, Italy and Australia, had semi-independent spacefaring capability, launching locally-built satellites on foreign launchers. Canada had designed and built satellites (Alouette 1 and 2) in 1962 and 1965 which were orbited using US launch vehicles. Italy has designed and built several satellites, as well as pressurized modules for the International Space Station. Early Italian satellites were launched using vehicles provided by NASA, first from Wallops Flight Facility in 1964 and then from a spaceport in Kenya (San Marco Platform) between 1967 and 1988;citation needed Italy has led the development of the Vega rocket programme within the European Space Agency since 1998. The United Kingdom abandoned its independent space launch program in 1972 in favour of co-operating with the European Launcher Development Organisation (ELDO) on launch technologies until 1974. Australia abandoned its launcher program shortly after the successful launch of WRESAT, and became the only non-European member of ELDO.

Considering merely launching an object beyond the Kármán line to be the minimum requirement of spacefaring, Germany, with the V-2 rocket, became the first spacefaring nation in 1944. The following nations have only achieved suborbital spaceflight capability by launching indigenous rockets or missiles or both into suborbital space.

  1. Germany (June 20, 1944)
  2. East Germany (April 12, 1957)
  3. Canada (September 5, 1959)
  4. Lebanon (November 21, 1962)
  5. Switzerland (October 27, 1967)
  6. Argentina (April 16, 1969)
  7. Brazil (September 21, 1976)
  8. Spain (February 18, 1981)
  9. West Germany (March 1, 1981)
  10. Iraq (June 1984)
  11. South Africa (June 1, 1989)
  12. Sweden (May 8, 1991)
  13. Yemen (May 12, 1994)
  14. Pakistan (April 6, 1998)
  15. Taiwan (December 15, 1998)
  16. Syria (September 1, 2000)
  17. Indonesia (September 29, 2004)
  18. Democratic Republic of the Congo (2007)
  19. New Zealand (November 30, 2009)
  20. Norway (September 27, 2018)
  21. Netherlands (September 19, 2020)

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