This report summarizes U.S. and international launch activities for calendar year 2002 and provides a historical look at the past five years of commercial launch activities. The Federal Aviation Administration's Associate Administrator for Commercial Space Transportation (FAA/AST) licensed six commercial orbital launches in 2002, all of which were successful. Of the six FAA/AST-licensed launches in 2002, five were of U.S.-built vehicles, including the introduction of two new launch vehicles. ILS launched the first Atlas 5, Lockheed Martin's contribution to the U. S. Air Force Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) program, which lofted Hot Bird 6 into geosynchronous Earth orbit (GEO). ILS also launched an Atlas 2AS and an Atlas 3B for commercial customers. Boeing Launch Services (BLS) successfully launched the first Delta 4, Boeing's EELV entrant, which carried Eutelsat W5, as well as a single Delta 2 for Iridium Satellite, LLC. Overall, 24 commercial orbital launches occurred worldwide in 2002, representing 37 percent of the 65 total launches for the year. The 24 commercial launches represent an increase of 50 percent from 2001, but the total remains significantly lower than in prior years (35 in 2000 and 39 in 1999).
Commercial Space Transportation: 2002 Year in Review
2003
19 pages
Report
No indication
English