Satellite
Order Country Date of first launch Rocket Satellite ( s )
1 Soviet Union 4 October 1957 Sputnik-PS Sputnik 1
2 United States 1 February 1958 Juno I Explorer 1
3 France 26 November 1965 Diamant-A Astérix
4 Japan 11 February 1970 Lambda-4S Ohsumi
5 China 24 April 1970 Long March 1 Dong Fang Hong I
6 United Kingdom 28 October 1971 Black Arrow Prospero
7 India 18 July 1980 SLV Rohini D1
8 Israel 19 September 1988 Shavit Ofeq 1
- Russia 21 January 1992 Soyuz-U Kosmos 2175
- Ukraine 13 July 1992 Tsyklon-3 Strela
9 Iran 2 February 2009 Safir-1 Omid
10 North Korea 12 December 2012 Unha-3 Kwangmyŏngsŏng-3 Unit 2
11 South Korea 30 January 2013 Naro-1 STSAT-2C
12 New Zealand 12 November 2018 Electron CubeSat
Launch-capable countries
Main article : Timeline of first orbital launches by nationality
In the context of spaceflight, a satellite is an object that has been intentionally placed into orbit. These objects are called artificial satellites to distinguish them from natural satellites such as Earth's Moon. On 4 October 1957 the Soviet Union launched the world's first artificial satellite, Sputnik 1. Since then, about 8,900 satellites from more than 40 countries have been launched. According to a 2018 estimate, some 5,000 remain in orbit. Of those about 1,900 were operational, while the rest have lived out their useful lives and become space debris. Approximately 63% of operational satellites are in low-Earth orbit, 6% are in medium-Earth orbit (at 20,000 km), 29% are in geostationary orbit (at 36,000 km) and the remaining 2% are in elliptic orbit. A few large space stations have been launched in parts and assembled in orbit. Over a dozen space probes have been placed into orbit around other bodies and become artificial satellites of the Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, a few asteroids, a comet and the Sun. Satellites are used for many purposes. Among several other applications, they can be used to make star maps and maps of planetary surfaces, and also take pictures of planets they are launched into. Common types include military and civilian Earth observation satellites, communications satellites, navigation satellites, weather satellites, and space telescopes.