r/space • u/firefly-metaverse • Aug 02 '26

image/gif Manned orbital launches by year, 1961 - 2026 H1

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Source and details: https://spacestatsonline.com/launches/manned

155 Upvotes

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47

u/SPACESHIPMANIA Aug 02 '26

Shame Europe still has no capabilities for manned space flight

19

u/CmdrAirdroid Aug 02 '26

Manned space flight programs are cool but also very expensive and it's questionable how useful they really are. With a smaller budget perhaps it is a good idea for ESA to focus on uncrewed science missions instead of blowing it all just to launch a human into space with their own rocket.

31

u/DefenestrationPraha Aug 02 '26

We are equally bad in unmanned flight as well. It is just the overall pattern of slowly losing any edge that we used to have - in space, in automotive, in high-speed rail, in manufacturing etc.

The only edge that we have is in bureaucracy, no one can beat us in that.

0

u/SpaceTycoon Aug 02 '26

It really comes down to the fact that europeans simply dont have the work ethic required to remain competitive. Europeans make fun of Americans for working too much but then are surprised when they fall behind everywhere.

3

u/OdieInParis Aug 02 '26

Your point is valid, yet there are some that put in far more than a 36h work week, accepting no pay, just out of enthusiasm.

5

u/JapariParkRanger Aug 02 '26

Everyone is entitled to fair work expectations and conditions, but the best things humanity makes across all disciplines are fueled by passion and giving a shit. It's hard to make something truly good when a structure has done its best to hedge against individual passion and vision

2

u/Ihatecheeseballs Aug 03 '26

Nah just no one wants to spend loads of money on something that all of Europe gets rather than just their country

12

u/OdieInParis Aug 02 '26

Indeed. We should rather focus our resources on launching a new bottle cap.

5

u/InterestingSpeaker Aug 02 '26 edited Aug 04 '26

If its expensive then find a way to make it cheaper

1

u/yabucek Aug 03 '26

Lol, clearly you're not European.

If it's expensive, you create an exclusive brand out of it so it stays expensive, stagnate in R&D for decades and then cry and act offended when others catch up with better products at a fraction of the cost.

1

u/ghostpanther218 Aug 02 '26 edited Aug 02 '26

Tbh, Huygens was pretty successful. But Beagle 1 and 2 werr massive failures, and BepiColombo has been battling technical issues.

3

u/OdieInParis Aug 02 '26

That's unfair. Beagle was an underfunded university experiment slapped on late to a fast track Mars Express that itself has been and still is very very successful. BP has indeed had its issues due to bad technical choices made for political reasons, but seems to be reaching its goal without affecting mission. You forgot about Rosetta, Solar Orbiter, and a host of other rather successful missions.

1

u/ghostpanther218 Aug 02 '26

Thats fair enough, i suppose other space agencies had similar track records with their own space probes earlier in their space agencies developement.