 The Dragon spacecraft (pictured) conducted the first COTS demonstration logistics flight in May 2012, becoming the first commercial spacecraft to rendezvous with the International Space Station. | |
| Orbital launches | |
|---|---|
| First | 9 January |
| Last | 19 December |
| Total | 77 |
| Successes | 72 |
| Failures | 2 |
| Partial failures | 3 |
| Catalogued | 75 |
| National firsts | |
| Satellite |  Hungary Poland Romania Belarus North Korea |
| Orbital launch | North Korea |
| Rockets | |
| Maiden flights | |
| Retirements | |
| Crewed flights | |
| Orbital | 5 |
| Total travellers | 15 |
| EVAs | 5 |
The year 2012 saw a number of significant events in spaceflight. In May and October, the first Commercial Orbital Transportation Services resupply missions took place, during which the SpaceX Dragon became the first private spacecraft to dock with the International Space Station (ISS). In June, China launched the crewed Shenzhou 9 orbital mission, and North Korea achieved its first successful orbital launch in December. 2012 also saw China's first successful asteroid exploration mission, and the landing of NASA's Curiosity rover on Mars. The Vega and Unha-3 rockets made their maiden flights in 2012, while the Proton-K made its last.
A total of 77 orbital launches were attempted in 2012, of which 72 were successful, three were partially successful and two were failures. Five crewed orbital missions were conducted over the course of the year, all successfully, carrying a total of 15 individuals into orbit. The year also saw five EVAs by ISS astronauts. The majority of the year's orbital launches were conducted by Russia, China and the United States, with 29, 19 and 13 launches respectively. A total of 139 payloads were launched during the year, including communication and navigation satellites, logistics spacecraft and scientific probes. Additionally, a large number of suborbital sounding rockets and ballistic missiles were launched by scientific and military organisations.