Operator file · US-166
US Navy
US Navy is a government launch operator based in United States of America, founded in 1963. It has flown 18 launches under its own name. 3 succeeded and 15 failed, a success rate of 16.7%. It has nothing on the schedule we can see right now.
Flight record
Launch statistics
These are launches under USN’s own name in The Space Devs’ Launch Library. They don’t count missions or payloads. A spacecraft that flew on someone else’s rocket counts for the operator that flew it.
Operator or customer
An operator owns the rocket and runs the count, and the launch schedule filters by operator. A customer pays for the mission, supplies the payload and buys the ride. Some organisations are both. Below, USN is counted in whichever role the current schedule gives it.
Manifest role
No scheduled flight names USN with someone else flying it.
How we count it: a scheduled launch counts as a customer flight when this organisation’s name or abbreviation is in the launch name, mission name or programme, and someone else is flying it. We don’t search mission descriptions, and we only see the schedule as far as it goes, which is 2026-12-31 00:00:00Z. So treat both counts as a minimum.
About USN
The Navy was competed with the Army to put the first American satellite into orbit. Their first two Vanguard missions failed, with the second being a highly publicized failure, as it exploded on the launchpad. They went on to put 3 satellites into orbit but did not beat the Army to be the first. Their work in space continues today largely on military satellites.
Upcoming launches
Manifest
USN has nothing on the schedule we can see, which runs to 2026-12-31 00:00:00Z. Its missions show up here once a launch date is published.
All upcoming launchesThe label on each flight says how exact its launch time is. If the date is only known to the month, you’ll see the month and no countdown. A weather go-probability only shows when Launch Library has one for that flight. EveryLaunch doesn’t work it out.
USN in the archive
From NASA's public image library and Wikimedia Commons. Each photo shows the credit its licence asks for and links back to where it came from.
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Common questions
- How many launches has US Navy flown?
- US Navy has flown 18 launches under its own name. 3 succeeded and 15 failed. That counts launches it flew itself, not missions or payloads it contributed to.
- What is US Navy's success rate?
- 16.7%. That's 3 successful flights out of 18 attempts.
- When is US Navy's next launch?
- US Navy has nothing on the schedule EveryLaunch can see, which runs to 2026-12-31 00:00:00Z.
- Does US Navy fly its own rockets, or buy launches from another operator?
- US Navy has flown 18 launches under its own name. It isn't the operator on any scheduled flight we can see. An operator owns the rocket and runs the count. A customer pays for the mission, supplies the payload and buys the ride. The operator filter on the launch schedule only lists operators, so a well-known agency can own a mission and still not show up there.
- Where is US Navy based?
- United States of America. Launch Library lists it as a government operator, founded in 1963.