The CIA World Factbook Edition 2023 Space

Space launch site(s) In 3 editions of 36.

Space launch site(s) was published in 3 editions of the CIA World Factbook, from 2023 to 2025. The 2023 edition carries it in 34 entries, in its Space section. Every entry is shown as that edition published it.

entries in the 2023 edition
34
the first edition with it
2023
the latest edition with it
2025

Published as “Space launch site(s)” (2023 to 2025).

the entry has the field in that editionnot in that editionthe open editionEach entry below ends in its editions with Space launch site(s), 1990 to 2025. Point at a year above to follow it down; choose one in a row to read that edition’s text there.

Edition 2023

Every edition with Space launch site(s)

Entries with Space launch site(s) in each edition

19902000201020202025

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Africa

2 entries

Kenya

  • Luigi Broglio Space Center (aka Malindi Space Center, Malindi Station, San Marco Satellite Launching and Tracking Station; Kilifi County; over 20 sounding rockets and nine satellites launched from the site, 1967-1989);
  • note – Kenya’s equatorial latitude makes it an attractive location for near-equatorial-orbit rocket and satellite launches (2023)

South Africa

Arniston launch facility (Western Cape) used to support space launch vehicle and ballistic missile program (1980s-1990s) (2023)

Asia

8 entries

China

  • Jiuquan Launch Center (Inner Mongolia),
  • Xichang Launch Center (Sichuan),
  • Wenchang Launch Center (Hainan),
  • Taiyuan Launch Center (Shanxi),
  • Eastern (Haiyang City) coastal spaceport (Shandong; designed to facilitate maritime launches) (2023)

India

Satish Dhawan Space Center (aka Sriharikota Range; located in Andhra Pradesh); Vikram Sarabhai Space Center (Kerala) (2023)

Japan

  • Tanegashima Space Center/Yoshinobu Launch Complex (Kagoshima),
  • Uchinoura Space Center (Kagoshima),
  • Noshiro Testing Center (Akita) (2023)

Kazakhstan

  • Baikonur Cosmodrome/Space Center (Baikonur; the cosmodrome and the surrounding area are leased and administered by Russia until 2050 for approximately $115 million/year; Baikonur cosmodrome was originally built by the Soviet Union in the mid-1950s; largest space launch facility in the World and site of the World’s first successful satellite launch in 1957);
  • note – in 2018, Kazakhstan and Russia agreed that Kazakhstan would build, maintain, and operate a new space launch facility (Baiterek) at the Baikonur space center (estimated to be ready for operations in 2024) (2023)

Korea, North now North Korea

  • Sohae Satellite Launching Station (aka Tongch'ang-dong Space Launch Center; North Pyongan province);
  • Tonghae Satellite Launching Ground (North Hamgyong province) (2023)

Korea, South now South Korea

  • Naro Space Center (South Jeolla province) (2023)

Pakistan

Somiani Flight Test Range (Balochistan); Tilla Satellite Launch Center (aka Tilla Range; Punjab) (2023)

Russia

  • Baikonur Cosmodrome (Kazakhstan; Russia leases the enclave for approximately $115 million annually);
  • Vostochny Cosmodrome (Amur Oblast; first launch was in 2016);
  • Plesetsk Cosmodrome (Arkhangel'sk Oblast) (2023)

Europe

10 entries

European Union

  • ESA’s spaceport is located in Kourou, French Guiana;
  • Europe also has or is developing commercial space ports in Italy, Norway, Sweden, and the UK, as well as maritime launch capabilities with a logistics base in Germany (2023)

France

  • Guiana Space Center (Kourou, French Guiana; also serves as the spaceport for the ESA);
  • note – prior to the completion of the Guiana Space Center in 1969, France launched rockets from Algeria (2023)

Germany

none; launched an initiative in 2020 with the aim of launching SLVs from a floating, mobile platform in the North Sea, with a logistics base in Bremerhaven (2023)

Italy

  • the Broglio (aka San Marco, Malindi) Space Center, located near Malindi, Kenya, served from 1967 to 1988 as an Italian and international satellite launch facility;
  • in 2020, Kenya concluded a new deal with Italy to conduct rocket launches from the site again in the future;
  • in 2018, the Italian Government designated the Taranto-Grottaglie Airport as a future spaceport and signed framework agreements with commercial space companies that could lead to suborbital and orbital launches from what would be called the Grottaglie Spaceport (2023)

Norway

Andøya Space Center (Andøya Island; note - first operational spaceport in continental Europe) (2023)

Portugal

in 2019, announced intentions to build a commercial space port on Santa Maria Island in the Azores (2023)

Spain

El Arenosillo Experiment Center/Range (Andalusia); private launch site (Teruel province) (2023)

Sweden

  • Esrange Space Center (Kiruna);
  • Esrange is slated to become a new European launch site for small satellites in 2023;
  • Esrange also accommodates one of the world’s largest civilian satellite ground stations and acts as a hub for Sweden’s satellite station network (2023)

Ukraine

none (leases elsewhere for launches); from 1995-2014, a multinational (Norway, Russia, Ukraine, and the US) commercial space launch company used a mobile maritime launch platform for equatorial launches of commercial payloads on Zenit-3SL rockets from a former floating oil drilling rig (2023)

United Kingdom

  • preparing commercial space ports at SaxaVord (Shetland Islands) and Sutherland (Cornwall);
  • a 2021 national space strategy called for additional space launch facilities in Argyll, Prestwick, Outer Hebrides (Scotland), and Snowdonia (Wales) (2023)

Middle East

3 entries

Iran

  • Imam Khomeini Space Center (aka Semnan Space Center; Semnan province);
  • Shahroud Space Center (IGRC military base; Semnan Province);
  • Qom Space Center (Qom Province);
  • inaugurated its first space monitoring center located near Delijan (Markazi Province) in 2013 (2023)

Israel

  • Palmachim Airbase (Central district) (2023)

Turkey (Turkiye) now Turkiye

  • rocket test launch site on the Black Sea in Sinop Province;
  • the 2021 national space program called for the establishment of a space port;
  • reportedly plans to build a rocket launch site in Somalia or use a sea-launch facility for future space launch vehicles (2023)

North America

2 entries

Canada

Churchill Rocket Research Range (sounding rockets; Manitoba); constructing a private, commercial space launch site in Nova Scotia (2023)

United States

has nearly 20 commercial, government, and private space ports hosting Federal Aviation Administration-licensed activity spread across 10 states (Alabama, Alaska, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas, and Virginia) (2023)

Oceania

2 entries

Australia

Whalers Way Orbital Launch Complex (commercial site, South Australia); Arnhem Space Center (commercial site, Northern Territory) (2023)

New Zealand

  • Mahia Peninsula Launch Complex (Hawke's Bay) (2023)

South America

3 entries

Argentina

Manuel Belgrano Space Center (Buenos Aires province); La Capetina test and launch area (Buenos Aires province) (2023)

Brazil

Alcantara Launch Site (Maranhão state); Barreira do Inferno Launch Center (Rio Grande do Norte state) (2023)

Peru

Punta Lobos Rocket Range (Chilca, Huancayo; used by foreign partners for scientific sounding rocket launches (1970s-1990s; the US used the site for scientific launches in 1975 and 1983) (2023)

Southeast Asia

4 entries

Indonesia

  • Stasiun Peluncuran Roket rocket launch facility (West Java);
  • building an space launch facility/spaceport on Biak, Papua (estimated completion date is 2025) (2023)

Philippines

none; reviewing the possibility of establishing a commercial launchpad, possibly in Mindanao given its proximity to the Equator (2023)

Taiwan

sounding rockets launched from Jui Peng Air Base (Pingtung); in 2021, announced intentions to build future rocket launch site (2023)

Thailand

none, although as of 2023 the Thai Government was reviewing a proposal to build a spaceport (2023)

Cite this page

Central Intelligence Agency. The World Factbook 2023, “Space launch site(s)”, all entries. Archived by The Factbook, thefactbook.org/fields/space-launch-site-s/2023.

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