

A Brief History of Rocket Launches - nattybumppo
http://nattybumppo.github.io/rocket-launch-history

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bhaak
1957 being the starting date is probably due to the used catalogs but remember
that rockets have been launched decades before that.

Depending on your definition, at least the start of Goddard's rocket in 1926
or the A-4 that reached space in 1942 come to mind.

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nattybumppo
Very true. 1957 is the starting point because the visualization only shows
rockets that went to orbit (or that were intended to, at least); suborbital
flights are not included.

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ggreer
This reminds me of 1945-1998[1]. The map and timeline are similar, but it
follows nuclear explosions instead of rocket launches. Considering the two
main parties involved in both, it would be interesting to see the data
together.

1\.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjAqR1zICA0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjAqR1zICA0)

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dasmoth
This is great.

One thought: any chance of showing launches as arrows -- ideally approximating
the actual launch azimuth -- rather than circles? Would help dispel the myth
that rockets go primarily upwards!

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bwooceli
First thought I had after getting into the early sixties was, "Wow, no wonder
we made it to the moon first". Talk about practice makes perfect...

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matthewmcg
This is even more vividly shown in this NASA plot of booster development:

[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/67/USAF_ICBM...](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/67/USAF_ICBM_and_NASA_Launch_Vehicle_Flight_Test_Successes_and_Failures_%28highlighted%29.png)

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TeMPOraL
Whoa, I never suspected there were so many launches happening. Especially in
the last few years it looks like there was a launch every other day... I
always thought there were launches every other month...

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nkoren
Nice! As the launch rate ramps up, however, it gets quite laggy. I'd strongly
suggest switching from svg to canvas for this.

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nattybumppo
Part of the lag was due to updating the DOM constantly to add to the "Launch
Log." I made a minor performance optimization and that part of it is working a
lot faster now.

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Isamu
Oh! _Orbital_ launches. For some reason I was expecting to see Robert
Goddard's launches. Nice though.

