Launch Scrub & Delay Statistics
Scrub and delay statistics from the RocketLaunch.Live launch database, covering every announced launch attempt since December 2017, including scrubs and postponements. See also: yearly launch statistics.
Scrub and postponement rates
Since December 2017, 23% of completed orbital launches (355 of 1,522) had at least one announced attempt scrubbed, postponed, or aborted before flying, for a total of 590 delayed attempts.
Scrub rates by vehicle
Delayed attempts per completed launch, vehicles with 10+ launches since December 2017:
| Vehicle | Launches | Scrubbed | Postponed | Delays / launch |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Falcon Heavy | 12 | 3 | 9 | 1.00 |
| Vega | 11 | 2 | 6 | 0.73 |
| Falcon 9 | 545 | 145 | 184 | 0.60 |
| Atlas V | 32 | 11 | 6 | 0.53 |
| Electron | 81 | 26 | 16 | 0.52 |
| Antares | 11 | 3 | 2 | 0.45 |
| Proton-M | 12 | 1 | 4 | 0.42 |
| Ariane 5 | 22 | 3 | 5 | 0.36 |
| H-IIA | 14 | 1 | 4 | 0.36 |
| Kinetica-1 | 11 | 2 | 1 | 0.27 |
| Soyuz-2 | 123 | 20 | 11 | 0.25 |
| Long March 7 | 10 | 2 | 0 | 0.20 |
| Long March 8A | 10 | 2 | 0 | 0.20 |
| Kuaizhou 1A | 31 | 5 | 1 | 0.19 |
| Ceres-1 | 21 | 2 | 0 | 0.10 |
| Long March 4C | 37 | 2 | 1 | 0.08 |
| Long March 2F | 13 | 0 | 1 | 0.08 |
| Long March 3B | 71 | 3 | 2 | 0.07 |
| Long March 2C | 43 | 3 | 0 | 0.07 |
| Long March 11 | 15 | 1 | 0 | 0.07 |
| Long March 2D | 68 | 2 | 2 | 0.06 |
| Long March 6A | 26 | 1 | 0 | 0.04 |
Vehicles with five or fewer flights average 1.2 delayed attempts per launch, about 3.2× the fleet-wide rate; a vehicle's first launch campaign is typically its most-delayed.
Scrub causes
Of the 115 delayed attempts with a recorded cause:
- Weather: 70 (61%)
- Technical: 41 (36%)
- Range: 4 (3%)
Technical vs weather by vehicle
Vehicles with five or more delayed attempts with a recorded cause:
| Vehicle | Attempts w/ cause | Weather | Technical | Weather share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Falcon 9 | 52 | 36 | 13 | 69% |
| Electron | 12 | 8 | 3 | 67% |
| Delta IV Heavy | 8 | 2 | 6 | 25% |
| Soyuz-2 | 7 | 4 | 3 | 57% |
| Falcon Heavy | 6 | 5 | 1 | 83% |
| Rocket 3 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 67% |
Weather and range delays by launch site
Weather- and range-caused delays by launch site, sites with five or more recorded-cause delayed attempts. Florida's afternoon thunderstorms dominate; coastal fog at sites like Vandenberg rarely violates launch commit criteria:
| Launch site | Launches | Weather delays | Range delays | Attempts w/ cause | Weather share | Delays / launch |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pacific Spaceport Complex - Alaska | 6 | 4 | 0 | 5 | 80% | 4.50 |
| Kennedy Space Center | 105 | 15 | 0 | 22 | 68% | 0.75 |
| Vandenberg SFB | 197 | 4 | 1 | 9 | 44% | 0.74 |
| Guiana Space Centre | 54 | 6 | 0 | 7 | 86% | 0.56 |
| Cape Canaveral SFS | 320 | 27 | 2 | 44 | 61% | 0.55 |
| Rocket Lab Launch Complex, Mahia Peninsula | 77 | 6 | 1 | 10 | 60% | 0.52 |
| Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (Wallops Island) | 17 | 4 | 0 | 6 | 67% | 0.41 |
Most-delayed launches
| Mission | Vehicle | Delayed attempts |
|---|---|---|
| Demo Flight | Rocket 3 | 11 |
| RS1 Flight 1 | RS1 | 8 |
| NROL-44 | Delta IV Heavy | 6 |
| Starlink-61 (4-34) | Falcon 9 | 6 |
| NROL-71 | Delta IV Heavy | 5 |
| BlackSky Global 5 & 6, Starlink-10 (V1.0 L9) | Falcon 9 | 5 |
| Starlink-13 (V1.0 L12) | Falcon 9 | 5 |
| Starlink-68 (2-4) | Falcon 9 | 5 |
| Starlink-75 (2-7) | Falcon 9 | 5 |
| Starlink-128 (6-34) | Falcon 9 | 5 |
