First orbital booster landing
2015-12SpaceX
Falcon 9 became the first rocket to land its first stage after an orbital launch (Dec 21, 2015).
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Reusable Rockets
How cheap and routine is access to orbit becoming?
Live Updated 2026-06
Distance to goal
The single most intuitive view — current position against the end goal, on a log scale.
Annual orbital launches
Metric detailnow
165
SpaceX
goal
~0.0 orders of magnitude to go
Headline indicators
Who leads
Standings by actor, within this field only.
Milestone timeline
Clear-cut events: crossed or not crossed.
8 achieved 0 in progress 1 locked
First reflight of an orbital booster
2017-03SpaceX
Booster B1021 flew a second time (SES-10) — proving an orbital rocket can be reused, not just recovered.
Second company lands an orbital booster
2025-11Blue Origin
New Glenn's first stage landed at sea — the first reusable orbital rocket besides Falcon.
32 flights on one booster
2025-12SpaceX
Booster B1067 reached 32 launches and landings, far past Falcon 9's original 10-flight design life.
Second reusable rocket reflies a booster
2026-04Blue Origin
New Glenn reflew a recovered first stage for the first time, ending Falcon's solo run on orbital reuse.
SpaceX IPO — biggest listing in history
2026-06SpaceX
SpaceX raised $75B in its IPO (555.6M shares at $135; ~$1.75T valuation), trading on Nasdaq as SPCX from 12 Jun 2026 — the largest IPO in history, dwarfing Saudi Aramco's $29.4B (2019); the book ran >2× oversubscribed (~$150B in orders).
New Glenn destroyed in static-fire explosion
2026-05Blue Origin
A New Glenn first stage exploded during a static-fire test at LC-36, Cape Canaveral (28 May 2026) — destroying the booster and damaging Blue Origin's only New Glenn pad. Reported as the most powerful rocket explosion since the Soviet N1 (1969); no injuries. Blue Origin targets return to flight before end-2026, accelerating a vertical-integration redesign.
Starship V3 — debut flight of the most powerful rocket
2026-05SpaceX
SpaceX flew Starship V3 for the first time (Flight 12, 22 May 2026) — its most powerful version, built for high-rate Starlink launches and future Moon missions. The suborbital test deployed 20 mock + 2 real Starlinks and was called a success despite engine glitches and a missed booster splashdown; full orbital flight is still to come.
Fully & rapidly reusable super-heavy rocket in service
~ 2030s—
A heavy-lift rocket reused with airline-like turnaround at very low cost per kg — Starship's goal, not yet operational.
Related news & analysis
Analysis 2026-05-06
Is SpaceX's lead in reusability unassailable? 165 launches and a 32-flight booster put SpaceX years ahead, but Blue Origin's New Glenn reuse and Rocket Lab's Neutron are finally real. Our read on how durable the lead is. (Our opinion, not investment advice.) Explainer 2026-04-29
Why cost per kilogram is the number that matters Dollars per kilogram to orbit is the single figure that decides what becomes possible in space — and it has fallen ~20× since the Shuttle. We explain the number and why headline prices need caveats. Explainer 2026-04-22
Recovered vs reused: what reusability really means Landing a booster is the photo; flying the same booster again — and again — is the economics. We explain why reflights, not landings, are the metric that lowers the cost of space. Explainer 2026-01-22
Reading station specs: volume vs crew Station spec sheets range from Vast's 45 m³ Haven-1 to Blue Origin's 830 m³ Orbital Reef. Almost all of these are design figures, not flown hardware — here is how to read them against the ISS's ~916 m³. i
Every figure links to a primary source. We publish no invented scores. Tracker numbers are neutral; analysis is labelled separately.