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Space Rocket Crashes in 2025: Why This Year Saw an Unusually High Number of Orbital Launch Failures

Space Rocket Crashes in 2025: Why This Year Saw an Unusually High Number of Orbital Launch Failures

A surge in global space launches in 2025 also brought a spike in failures, from SpaceX and Japan’s H3 to private rockets in China and South Korea.

Written by Gadgets 360 Staff | Updated: 31 December 2025 13:00 IST

Space Rocket Crashes in 2025: Why This Year Saw an Unusually High Number of Orbital Launch Failures

Photo Credit: X/Dean Olsen

Starship debris from SpaceX's IFT-7 test mission falls through the sky on January 16

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Highlights

Multiple rocket failures marked 2025 as a volatile year for spaceflight
Setbacks hit major players including SpaceX, ISRO, JAXA and Europe
Companies view failures as data-rich steps toward safer launches

The rush to the space front in 2025 was particularly characterised by unusually high rates of fiery failures. More than a dozen launch attempts were disastrous throughout the world. To illustrate, the Starship spacecraft of SpaceX came apart during its trial launches, and the new H3 rocket of Japan was unable to get into orbit. Another satellite that was lost by India's PSLV was an Earth-observation satellite following a third-stage glitch. Even a privately owned lunar lander did not make it during its attempted landing on the Moon. Firms claim that they will be learning through every mishap.

Launch failures worldwide

According to a Reuters report, in the United States, Firefly Aerospace's Alpha rocket suffered a booster failure in April, dropping a Lockheed Martin satellite into the ocean. China's private space sector saw setbacks: Galactic Energy's Ceres-1 failed to reach orbit in November, and LandSpace's Zhuque-3 rocket missed its landing burn. The year 2025, in total witnessed 13 orbital launch failures.

Japan's H3 launcher failed to insert a navigation satellite. South Korea's Innospace saw its Hanbit-Nano rocket crash 30 seconds after liftoff in Brazil. Even Europe recorded a dramatic mishap when Germany's Isar Aerospace Spectrum rocket exploded seconds after launch from Norway.

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Industry response and outlook

Firms promised to investigate and change after every mishap. LandSpace indicated that it would research the flight data of Zhuque-3 to enhance the recovery mission of its rocket. Japan's space agency (JAXA) warned that it would not make another launch of the H3 until the issue is resolved.

Innospace responded by apologizing for the crash in Brazil and intends to reshoot at the beginning of 2026. The risk-tolerant philosophy, which SpaceX has already implemented through fixes, focuses on the failure of the prototypes and the data that has to be learned.

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Further reading: Space, Rockets, Science, ISRO, SpaceX