Lost to Space

ChinaSat 4B

Launched and lost August 10, 2026.

ChinaSat 4B (Zhongxing 4B) was a Chinese communications satellite bound for geostationary orbit. Its Long March 7A rocket was destroyed at low altitude after liftoff from the Wenchang launch site on Hainan island on August 10, 2026, and neither the satellite nor any debris reached orbit. China's state news agency Xinhua said the mission failed and the cause was under investigation.

Sources: NBC News (Reuters) · SatNews

BlueBird 7

Launched and lost April 19, 2026.

BlueBird 7 was an AST SpaceMobile satellite designed to connect ordinary smartphones to broadband directly from space. On April 19, 2026 the upper stage of Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket left it in a lower orbit than planned after one of the stage's engines did not produce enough thrust. The satellite powered on, but AST SpaceMobile said it was too low to operate and would be deorbited; the mishap investigation found the cause was a cryogenic leak that froze a hydraulic line.

Sources: GeekWire · Via Satellite · Spaceflight Now

Astrocast

Founded 2014. Ended March 19, 2026.

Astrocast, a Swiss company founded in 2014, built and operated satellites to connect Internet of Things devices and listed its shares on Euronext Growth Oslo in 2021. It ran short of money, calling its financial situation critical in April 2024, and its shares were delisted in August 2024. In June 2025 the Lausanne District Court gave it a six month moratorium to reach a deal with its creditors, but on March 19, 2026 the court revoked it and declared the company bankrupt.

Money: Astrocast raised CHF 40 million from investors before listing on Euronext Growth Oslo (2021).

Sources: Swiss Official Gazette of Commerce (SHAB/FOSC), notice of the Lausanne District Court · Swiss Official Gazette of Commerce (SHAB/FOSC), commercial register notice · Swiss Official Gazette of Commerce (SHAB/FOSC), notice of the Lausanne District Court · Astrocast (announcement on Oslo Bors Newsweb) · Astrocast (announcement on Oslo Bors Newsweb) · Oslo Bors (notice on Newsweb)

Orbex

Founded 2015. Ended February 18, 2026.

Orbex was developing Prime, a small rocket to put satellites into low Earth orbit, at its base in Forres, Scotland, and was aiming for a first launch in late 2026. Its Series D funding round failed, and a planned purchase by The Exploration Company fell through in early February 2026. It filed a notice of intention to appoint administrators on February 11, 2026 and entered administration on February 18, 2026. In August 2026 a Scottish development agency, Highlands and Islands Enterprise, bought the assets of its spaceport subsidiary from that company's liquidators.

Money: Orbex had secured £138.5 million in grant and equity funding before it failed (2026).

Sources: Via Satellite · Scottish Financial News · Northern Scot · European Spaceflight

MethaneSAT

Launched March 4, 2024. Lost June 20, 2025.

MethaneSAT was a satellite built by a subsidiary of the nonprofit Environmental Defense Fund to measure methane emissions from oil and gas regions around the world. After its launch in March 2024 it collected methane data for about a year and made its data public. Mission operators lost contact with it on June 20, 2025, and on July 1, 2025 the team said it had lost power and was likely not recoverable.

Sources: Environmental Defense Fund · Via Satellite · Spaceflight Now

HAKUTO-R Mission 2

Launched January 15, 2025. Lost June 5, 2025.

RESILIENCE, the lander for ispace's HAKUTO-R Mission 2, tried to land in the Mare Frigoris region on the side of the Moon facing Earth, carrying a small rover named Tenacious from ispace's European arm. In the final descent its laser range finder, which measures the distance to the surface, was slow to give valid readings, so the lander could not slow down enough and hit the surface hard. ispace traced the problem to the range finder hardware, which it said had likely degraded in flight or performed below expectations.

Sources: ispace · Spaceflight Now · Spaceflight Now · Spaceflight Now

Lunar Trailblazer

Launched and lost February 27, 2025.

Lunar Trailblazer was a small NASA spacecraft meant to map water on the Moon. Soon after launch its data showed power problems, and contact was lost the next day because its solar panels were not pointed at the Sun and its batteries ran down. NASA ended the mission on July 31, 2025 after efforts to restore contact failed, and a NASA review panel's report, obtained by NPR in 2026, found that software had pointed the solar panels 180 degrees away from the Sun.

Money: NPR reported the mission cost $72 million (2026).

Sources: NASA · NASA · NPR · Spaceflight Now

Reaction Engines

Founded 1989. Ended October 31, 2024.

Reaction Engines spent more than 30 years developing SABRE, an air breathing rocket engine meant to combine the efficiency of a jet engine with the power of a rocket, with the aim of carrying a spaceplane into orbit. Its efforts to raise more investment failed, and administrators from PwC were appointed on October 31, 2024, when most of its 208 staff were made redundant. The administrators kept some employees to finish existing orders and wind down the business, and the company was still in administration in September 2026.

Money: Its largest single equity funding round raised £40 million (2023).

Sources: Companies House (GOV.UK) · Companies House (GOV.UK) · The Register · Aerospace Global News

Peregrine Mission One

Launched January 8, 2024. Lost January 18, 2024.

Peregrine Mission One was Astrobotic's lunar lander, the first launched under NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services program, and it flew on the first Vulcan rocket. Soon after launch on January 8, 2024, a propulsion problem ruled out a Moon landing: Astrobotic said a valve failed to reseal, letting high pressure helium into the oxidizer tank until it ruptured. It made a controlled reentry into Earth's atmosphere over the South Pacific on January 18, 2024.

Money: NASA paid $108 million to fly five of its payloads among the 20 on the lander (2024).

Sources: NASA · Spaceflight Now · Spaceflight Now

Luna 25

Launched August 10, 2023. Lost August 19, 2023.

Luna 25 was Russia's first lunar spacecraft since 1976 and was due to land near the Moon's south pole on August 21, 2023. On 19 August its thrusters were fired to lower its orbit before landing but did not shut down as planned, running for 127 seconds instead of 84, which the head of Roscosmos called the main cause of the crash. The spacecraft hit the Moon that day, about 400 kilometers short of its intended landing point.

Sources: NASA · TASS · SpacePolicyOnline · SpacePolicyOnline

Kleos Space

Founded 2017. Ended July 2023.

Kleos Space, a Luxembourg company listed on the Australian Securities Exchange, used satellites to detect and locate radio transmissions and sold the data for intelligence uses, such as mapping hidden activity at sea. Its shares were suspended in May 2023, and on July 26, 2023, after its lender called in its loans, it said it could not pay its debts and would ask a Luxembourg court to declare it bankrupt. It later said that filing was no longer expected while it tried to sell its assets, and in October 2024 it said it had no employees and that all its contracts had ended in July 2023.

Sources: Kleos Space (market release) · Space Intel Report · Kleos Space (market release) · Kleos Space (market release) · Delano

Hiber

Founded 2016. Ended June 6, 2023.

Hiber, an Amsterdam company, planned a worldwide network of 48 small satellites of its own to connect sensors and machines, and launched four satellites it had built. It later dropped its own satellites and focused on HiberHilo, a monitoring service for oil and gas wells and pipelines that used Inmarsat's satellites. After a planned takeover by the Swiss company Astrocast was called off in November 2022, Hiber was declared bankrupt on June 6, 2023, when the Dutch tax authority did not agree to a deal its other creditors had accepted. Later that month FC Space, part of the investment firm Finch Capital, bought the business with its staff and restarted it around HiberHilo.

Money: By 2023 Hiber had written off the 28 million euros it invested in its own satellites.

Sources: TBM · Quote · Silicon Canals · FaillissementsDossier.nl (copy of the Dutch Central Insolvency Register)

HAKUTO-R Mission 1

Launched December 11, 2022. Lost April 25, 2023.

HAKUTO-R Mission 1 was a Moon lander from the Japanese company ispace, carrying the United Arab Emirates' Rashid rover and a small rover built by Japan's space agency and the toy maker Takara Tomy. During its landing attempt on April 25, 2023, after it passed over the rim of a crater, its software wrongly rejected its altitude sensor readings and judged it was on the surface while it was still about 5 kilometers up. It kept descending until it ran out of propellant, then fell to the surface and crashed.

Sources: Spaceflight Now · SpacePolicyOnline · ispace

Virgin Orbit

Founded 2017. Ended April 4, 2023.

Virgin Orbit, spun out of Virgin Galactic in 2017, launched small satellites on LauncherOne, a rocket dropped from a modified Boeing 747 in flight. After a launch from the United Kingdom failed in January 2023, it could not raise new money and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on April 4, 2023 in order to sell its business. At a May 2023 auction its factory lease, its 747 and a test site lease went to Rocket Lab, Stratolaunch and Launcher, and Virgin Orbit said it would cease operations.

Money: Virgin Orbit's 2021 merger with a special purpose acquisition company valued it at $3.2 billion.

Sources: Virgin Orbit Holdings (press release filed with the SEC) · SpaceNews · Via Satellite

SpaceRyde

Founded 2018. Ended February 10, 2023.

SpaceRyde, founded in 2018 as Loonify Space, was building a system in which a stratospheric balloon would lift its small Ryder rocket above 99 percent of the atmosphere before the rocket fired. It opened a rocket factory in Concord, Ontario in June 2022 and planned to begin commercial launches in 2024. On February 10, 2023 it filed an assignment in bankruptcy under Canada's Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act, with Deloitte as trustee.

Money: SpaceRyde said it had received $10 million in funding (2023).

Sources: SpaceQ · Payload

Masten Space Systems

Founded 2004. Ended July 28, 2022.

Masten Space Systems, based in Mojave, California, built rockets that take off and land vertically and flew them more than 600 times. In April 2020 it won a NASA contract to land its XL-1 robotic lander near the Moon's south pole, but the mission slipped to November 2023 and money problems forced it to furlough much of its staff. It filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on July 28, 2022, and in September 2022 the court approved the sale of its assets to Astrobotic.

Money: Astrobotic bought Masten's assets out of bankruptcy for $4.5 million (2022).

Sources: Spaceflight Now · WKMG News 6 (ClickOrlando) · The Robot Report

UrtheCast

Founded 2010. Ended September 4, 2020.

UrtheCast, based in Vancouver, set out to stream live high definition video of Earth from space, and in January 2014 it announced that its two Earth imaging cameras had been installed on the International Space Station. Delays in funding its planned UrtheDaily project and in finishing an engineering contract for its OptiSAR project, made worse by the COVID-19 pandemic, left it short of money. On September 4, 2020 a British Columbia court granted it protection from its creditors, and its assets were later sold, some to a new company, EarthDaily Analytics, and its radar technology to Alpha Insights.

Sources: UrtheCast (press release via Cision Newswire) · SpaceQ · SpaceQ · eoPortal (ESA)

Intelsat

Founded 1973. Ended May 13, 2020.

Intelsat, one of the largest operators of communications satellites, began as an international organization set up by governments and became a private company in 2001. Weighed down by heavy legacy debt, it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in Virginia on May 13, 2020, as it needed to spend more than $1 billion clearing radio spectrum for 5G service in the United States to qualify for $4.87 billion in payments. The court confirmed its reorganization plan in December 2021, with existing shareholders receiving nothing, and SES completed its purchase of Intelsat in July 2025.

Money: SES agreed to buy Intelsat for $3.1 billion in cash (2024).

Sources: Via Satellite · Intelsat (press release, SEC EDGAR exhibit 99.2) · Intelsat S.A. (SEC EDGAR) · SES (press release) · SES (press release) · International Telecommunications Satellite Organization (ITSO)

Sky and Space Global

Founded 2015. Ended April 6, 2020.

Sky and Space Global planned a constellation of 200 nanosatellites, very small satellites, over the equator to carry voice, data and messaging services, and launched its first three in June 2017. The rest were never launched, and administrators were appointed to its parent company, listed on the Australian Securities Exchange, on April 6, 2020. The parent, later renamed Sky and Space Company, went into administration again on October 2, 2025, after a new company, EllioSat, had taken control of its British operating subsidiary, and liquidators were appointed in November 2025 to wind it up.

Money: Its 2016 share offer sought to raise up to 5 million Australian dollars.

Sources: Hall Chadwick (administrators' announcement on the ASX) · Sky and Space Global (prospectus on the ASX) · Globes · Light Reading · Insolvency News · deListed Australia

Bigelow Aerospace

Founded 1999. Ended March 23, 2020.

Bigelow Aerospace, founded by real estate developer Robert Bigelow and based in North Las Vegas, Nevada, developed expandable space station modules and launched two test modules, Genesis 1 in 2006 and Genesis 2 in 2007. Under a 2013 NASA contract it built the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM), which was attached to the International Space Station in 2016. On March 23, 2020, citing a Nevada order closing nonessential businesses during the coronavirus pandemic, it laid off its remaining 68 employees, after laying off 20 the week before. It said it planned to rehire workers once the order was lifted, but in 2022 it transferred BEAM to NASA.

Sources: SpaceNews · Via Satellite · Spaceflight Now · SpaceNews

OneWeb

Founded 2012. Ended March 2020.

OneWeb, headquartered in London, planned a constellation of 648 satellites to provide internet service around the world. After launching 74 of them, it said a financing deal had failed because of market turmoil from the COVID-19 pandemic, and in March 2020 it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in New York. In July 2020 the UK government and India's Bharti Global each committed $500 million to buy the company, and in September 2023 it combined with the satellite operator Eutelsat.

Money: OneWeb had announced $3.4 billion in money raised from SoftBank and other investors before it filed (2020).

Sources: Spaceflight Now · GOV.UK (UK government) · Spaceflight Now · Eutelsat (press release)

Vector Launch

Founded 2016. Ended December 2019.

Vector, based in Tucson, Arizona, was developing the Vector-R, a small rocket for satellites of up to 60 kilograms. In August 2019 it paused operations after what it called a major change in financing, and its cofounder and chief executive, Jim Cantrell, left. It filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in December 2019, and in February 2020 a judge approved the sale of its GalacticSky satellite software to Lockheed Martin for $4.25 million.

Money: Vector raised a $70 million Series B funding round (2018).

Sources: TechCrunch · TechCrunch · Bloomberg Law · GovCon Wire · Space Explored

Chandrayaan-2 Vikram lander

Launched July 22, 2019. Lost September 6, 2019.

Chandrayaan-2 sent an orbiter, the Vikram lander and a rover to the Moon, with Vikram aiming for a site about 600 kilometers from the lunar south pole. In the second phase of its powered descent the lander slowed more than planned, leaving it outside the conditions needed for the final braking phase, and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) lost contact shortly before touchdown. Vikram hit the surface within 500 meters of its landing site, while the orbiter kept working.

Sources: ISRO Indian Space Science Data Centre (ISSDC) · NASA · The Wire Science (Press Trust of India)

PTScientists

Founded 2010. Ended July 5, 2019.

PTScientists, a Berlin company that grew out of a Google Lunar X Prize team, was developing a lunar lander called Alina with support from companies including Audi and Vodafone. On July 5, 2019 it filed for insolvency in a German court, citing delays in raising money from investors and sponsors. An unnamed aerospace company bought it with effect from September 1, 2019, keeping its staff of about 60, and it carried on as Planetary Transportation Systems.

Sources: SpaceNews · SpaceNews · SpaceNews (PTScientists press release)

Beresheet

Launched February 22, 2019. Lost April 11, 2019.

Beresheet was a Moon lander built by the Israeli nonprofit SpaceIL with Israel Aerospace Industries. During its landing attempt on April 11, 2019, a sensor called an inertial measurement unit malfunctioned, and a command sent to the sensor set off a chain reaction that switched off the main engine. Engineers restarted the engine, but by then the lander was too close to the surface to slow down, and it crashed.

Money: The mission was budgeted at about $100 million (2019) and funded almost entirely by private donations.

Sources: NASA · The Times of Israel · GeekWire · The Planetary Society

Mars One (Mars One Ventures AG)

Founded 2012. Ended January 15, 2019.

Mars One, the idea of Dutch entrepreneur Bas Lansdorp, was announced in May 2012 as a plan to send people on one way trips to settle Mars, paid for mainly by a reality television show about the settlers. More than 202,000 people applied in 2013, and the plan's first landing target of 2023 later became a launch goal of 2031. The for profit company behind it, Mars One Ventures AG, was declared bankrupt by a court in Basel, Switzerland on January 15, 2019.

Sources: Engadget · NPR · SpaceNews · NBC News (Space.com)

Planetary Resources

Founded 2010. Ended October 2018.

Planetary Resources, based in Redmond, Washington, began as Arkyd Astronautics and in 2012 announced plans to prospect near Earth asteroids for water ice that could be sold as rocket propellant, with backers including Larry Page and Eric Schmidt. It built small test satellites, but early in 2018 it failed to close a funding round and made large layoffs. In October 2018 the blockchain company ConsenSys bought its assets and set its asteroid mining plans aside, and in 2020 the remaining hardware was put up for auction.

Money: In 2016 Luxembourg facilitated a $28 million investment in Planetary Resources.

Sources: SpaceNews · TechCrunch · GeekWire · GeekWire

XCOR Aerospace

Founded 1999. Ended November 8, 2017.

XCOR Aerospace, founded in 1999 and based in Mojave, California, and later Midland, Texas, built rocket engines and was developing the Lynx, a piloted suborbital spaceplane meant to fly tourists and research payloads. In 2016 it let go of about half its staff to focus on engine work, and it terminated all remaining employees as of June 30, 2017, citing adverse financial conditions. It filed for bankruptcy on November 8, 2017 after it could not find new investors, and a nonprofit group, Build A Plane, later bought its assets at auction.

Money: Build A Plane bought XCOR's assets at auction for just under $1.1 million, according to court records reported in April 2018.

Sources: SpaceNews · Space.com · GeekWire · GeekWire · SpaceNews (XCOR Aerospace press release)

Swiss Space Systems (S3)

Founded 2012. Ended December 14, 2016.

Swiss Space Systems, founded in 2012 and based in Payerne, planned to launch small satellites with an uncrewed spaceplane carried on the back of an Airbus A300 aircraft, and to sell zero gravity flights to the public. After running into financial difficulties it was granted a postponement of bankruptcy, which a court extended in September 2016. On December 14, 2016 the district court of Broye and North Vaud declared it bankrupt, and the ruling took effect on January 16, 2017 after the company withdrew its appeal.

Money: Debt collection claims against the company exceeded 7 million Swiss francs when it was declared bankrupt (2016).

Sources: The Local (Switzerland) · 20 Minutes · Le Nouvelliste · RTS · SWI swissinfo.ch

Schiaparelli

Launched March 14, 2016. Lost October 19, 2016.

Schiaparelli was a lander built to demonstrate entry, descent and landing on Mars for the ExoMars program of the European Space Agency (ESA) and Roscosmos. During its descent on October 19, 2016 it spun faster than expected after its parachute opened, which pushed a sensor past its measuring range and led its computer to calculate that it was already below ground level. It released its parachute early and fired its braking thrusters for only 3 seconds instead of 30, then fell from about 3.7 kilometers and hit the surface at an estimated 540 kilometers per hour.

Sources: ESA · ESA · Spaceflight Now

Amos-6

Launched and lost September 1, 2016.

Amos-6 was a communications satellite owned by Spacecom of Israel, and Eutelsat and Facebook had leased part of it to provide internet access across Africa south of the Sahara. It never launched: on September 1, 2016 the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket that was to carry it exploded on its launch pad at Cape Canaveral while being fueled for an engine test before its planned launch, destroying the rocket and the satellite. SpaceX traced the failure to one of the helium tanks inside the rocket's upper stage oxygen tank.

Money: Spacecom signed a $195 million contract with Israel Aerospace Industries for the satellite (2012).

Sources: Spaceflight Now · Spaceflight Now · The Times of Israel

Firefly Space Systems

Founded 2014. Ended 2016.

Firefly Space Systems was founded in central Texas in 2014 by Tom Markusic, who had worked at SpaceX, Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic, to build a small rocket for launching satellites. Its funding dried up in 2016, and it furloughed its entire staff after an investor backed out. Its assets were put up for auction in March 2017, and investor Max Polyakov, an internet entrepreneur from Ukraine, later funded a revival of the rocket work as a new company, Firefly Aerospace.

Sources: SpaceNews · SpaceNews · Ars Technica · SiliconHills

SpaceX CRS-7

Launched and lost June 28, 2015.

SpaceX CRS-7 was SpaceX's seventh cargo mission to the International Space Station for NASA, carrying supplies, experiments and the first of two docking adapters for future crew vehicles. About 139 seconds after liftoff from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on June 28, 2015, the liquid oxygen tank in the Falcon 9's upper stage burst and the rocket broke apart. SpaceX concluded that a failed strut most likely let a helium tank break loose inside that tank; NASA's review agreed on the sequence and called SpaceX's use of an industrial grade steel part there a design error.

Money: NASA's Office of Inspector General said the failure destroyed $118 million of NASA cargo (2015).

Sources: NASA · NASA Office of Inspector General · Spaceflight Now

Armadillo Aerospace

Founded 2000. Ended August 2013.

Armadillo Aerospace was founded in 2000 by video game designer John Carmack, who paid for it with his own money; it did contract work for NASA and later concentrated on reusable rockets. In August 2013 Carmack said he was winding the company down, had laid off most of its full time staff and did not have the funding to continue. Former Armadillo staff later formed Exos Aerospace, which set out to revive the company's reusable suborbital rockets.

Money: John Carmack said in 2013 that he had spent around $8 million of his own money on the company since founding it in 2000.

Sources: Ars Technica · SpaceNews

LightSquared

Founded 2010. Ended May 14, 2012.

LightSquared, based in Reston, Virginia, planned a wholesale 4G LTE wireless network, built on mobile satellite technology, that other companies could use or resell. Tests showed the network would interfere with GPS navigation systems used by the military and many industries, and the Federal Communications Commission said it would revoke permission to build it. LightSquared filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in Manhattan on May 14, 2012, and its business carried on from 2015 as Ligado Networks, which itself filed for Chapter 11 in January 2025.

Money: LightSquared had about $2 billion in outstanding debt when it filed (2012).

Sources: TechCrunch · NBC News · Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) · Light Reading · Via Satellite

Phobos-Grunt

Launched November 8, 2011. Lost January 15, 2012.

Phobos-Grunt was a Russian mission to bring back soil samples from Phobos, the largest moon of Mars, and it also carried Yinghuo-1, China's first spacecraft bound for another planet. A few hours after launch it failed to fire its engines to leave Earth orbit, leaving both stranded. Russia's investigation blamed a simultaneous reboot of two working channels of its onboard computer, and the spacecraft fell back to Earth on January 15, 2012, mostly burning up over the Pacific Ocean west of Chile.

Money: Spaceflight Now reported it as a $165 million mission (2012), while the Associated Press put the cost at $170 million.

Sources: NASA · Spaceflight Now · The Planetary Society · Associated Press (via NBC News)

Glory

Launched and lost March 4, 2011.

Glory was a NASA climate satellite meant to measure airborne particles called aerosols and the Sun's energy reaching Earth. It launched on a Taurus XL rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, on March 4, 2011 and was lost the same way as the Orbiting Carbon Observatory in 2009: the payload fairing did not separate, so the rocket could not reach orbit. In 2019 NASA said both failures were traced to faulty aluminum parts from the supplier Sapa Profiles, which had altered test results and provided false certifications.

Money: The US Government Accountability Office put Glory's total project cost at $424.1 million (2011).

Sources: NASA · NASA · Scientific American · U.S. Government Accountability Office

TerreStar Networks

Founded 2002. Ended October 19, 2010.

TerreStar Networks, based in Reston, Virginia, built a network combining satellite and land based wireless service, so that phones of ordinary size could connect through its TerreStar-1 satellite, launched in July 2009. Four weeks after it and AT&T started a satellite phone service, it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in Manhattan on October 19, 2010, with $1.64 billion in liabilities; its parent company followed in February 2011. Dish Network's offer for its assets won in June 2011, and Dish completed the purchase in March 2012.

Money: TerreStar Networks reported $1.64 billion in liabilities when it filed (2010), and Dish Network's winning bid for its assets was $1.375 billion (2011).

Sources: TechCrunch · Via Satellite · Via Satellite · Via Satellite · TerreStar Corporation (SEC EDGAR)

Kistler Aerospace (later Rocketplane Kistler)

Founded 1993. Ended June 15, 2010.

Kistler Aerospace, founded in 1993 and based in Kirkland, Washington, was developing the K-1, a fully reusable rocket whose two stages would return to Earth under parachutes and air bags. It filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on July 15, 2003, unable to pay more than $600 million in debt, and was bought in February 2006 to form Rocketplane Kistler, which NASA picked for its commercial cargo program that August. NASA ended the agreement in October 2007 after the company failed to raise enough private money. The parent company filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy on June 15, 2010, and the assets were sold at auction in December 2011 for $25,000.

Money: By August 2007 NASA had paid Rocketplane Kistler about $32 million of the $207 million it could earn under its commercial cargo agreement.

Sources: NASA (NASA/SP-2014-617) · SpaceNews · Space.com · Via Satellite · NBC News

Sea Launch

Founded 1995. Ended June 22, 2009.

Sea Launch was a venture, 40 percent owned by Boeing from its start in 1995, that launched satellites on Zenit rockets from a floating launch pad at sea. On June 22, 2009 it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in Delaware, and it emerged from bankruptcy on October 27, 2010 after the court approved its reorganization plan. It made 32 launches in all before it was put on hold in 2014, and in September 2016 the Russian S7 group took possession of the system.

Money: Boeing said in 2009 that it expected a $35 million charge from the filing and could face up to $478 million in further charges.

Sources: The Boeing Company (SEC EDGAR) · The Boeing Company (SEC EDGAR) · Intelsat S.A. (SEC EDGAR) · Hughes Network Systems (SEC EDGAR) · TASS

Orbiting Carbon Observatory

Launched and lost February 24, 2009.

The Orbiting Carbon Observatory was a NASA satellite built to measure carbon dioxide in Earth's atmosphere from space. It launched on a Taurus XL rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, on February 24, 2009, but the payload fairing, the shell protecting the satellite during the climb, did not separate, and the extra weight kept the rocket from reaching orbit. In 2019 NASA said its investigators had traced this failure and the loss of the Glory satellite in 2011 to faulty aluminum parts from the supplier Sapa Profiles, which had altered test results and provided false certifications.

Money: Scientific American reported the mission's cost as $278 million (2009).

Sources: NASA · NASA · Scientific American

WorldSpace

Founded 1990. Ended October 17, 2008.

WorldSpace, founded in 1990 by Noah Samara and based in Silver Spring, Maryland, broadcast digital radio from two satellites, AfriStar and AsiaStar, to paying subscribers outside the United States. It went public on Nasdaq in August 2005, and investors later sued its underwriters, claiming its offering documents overstated its subscriber count. It filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in Delaware on October 17, 2008, and in June 2010 it sold substantially all its assets to Yazmi USA, a company controlled by its founder.

Money: Yazmi USA paid $5.5 million in cash for the assets, plus certain operating expenses (2010).

Sources: WorldSpace, Inc. (SEC EDGAR) · WorldSpace, Inc. (SEC EDGAR) · WorldSpace, Inc. (SEC EDGAR) · Cowen Group, Inc. (SEC EDGAR)

Beagle 2

Launched June 2, 2003. Lost December 25, 2003.

Beagle 2 was a small British led lander carried to Mars by the European Space Agency's Mars Express orbiter, which released it on December 19, 2003. Nothing was heard from it after its scheduled landing on December 25, 2003. Images from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, released in January 2015, showed that it had landed but only partly unfolded its solar panels, which blocked its radio antenna and explains why no signal was ever received.

Sources: ESA · ESA · UK Space Agency · The Planetary Society

Nozomi

Launched July 3, 1998. Lost December 9, 2003.

Nozomi was Japan's first spacecraft sent to another planet, built to study the upper atmosphere of Mars. During a flyby of Earth on December 20, 1998, a faulty valve cost it propellant, so it had to take a longer route that would bring it to Mars in December 2003, four years late. Solar flares later damaged its communication and power systems, and on December 9, 2003 its team gave up trying to put it into orbit around Mars; it passed the planet and remains in orbit around the Sun.

Sources: JAXA (ISAS) · NASA · The Globe and Mail

Loral Space & Communications

Founded 1996. Ended July 15, 2003.

Loral Space & Communications, formed in 1996, built satellites through its Space Systems/Loral unit, ran communications satellites of its own and was a founding backer of the Globalstar satellite phone network. On July 15, 2003 it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in New York, and the same day Intelsat agreed to buy six of its satellites and the rights to their orbital locations through a court supervised auction. It came out of bankruptcy on November 21, 2005, when its old shares were cancelled and a successor company took over the business.

Money: Intelsat's 2003 agreement to buy the six satellites and their orbital locations was valued at $1.0 billion.

Sources: Loral Space & Communications Inc. (SEC EDGAR) · Loral Space & Communications Ltd. (SEC EDGAR) · Intelsat, Ltd. (SEC EDGAR) · Lockheed Martin Corporation (SEC EDGAR) · Globalstar Telecommunications and Globalstar, L.P. (SEC EDGAR) · SEC EDGAR

Space Shuttle Columbia (STS-107)

Launched January 16, 2003. Lost February 1, 2003.

STS-107 was Space Shuttle Columbia's 28th mission, a research flight that spent 16 days in orbit. During launch a piece of foam from the external tank struck the orbiter's left wing. The Columbia Accident Investigation Board found that the damaged wing was exposed to extreme heating during reentry on February 1, 2003 and that its destruction caused Columbia to break apart; all seven astronauts on board died.

Crew: Rick Husband, William McCool, Michael Anderson, Kalpana Chawla, David Brown, Laurel Clark and Ilan Ramon

Sources: NASA · Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum · NASA

Orbital Imaging Corporation (ORBIMAGE)

Founded 1992. Ended April 5, 2002.

Orbital Imaging Corporation was set up in 1992 by Orbital Sciences to run satellites that take pictures of the Earth, and it launched OrbView-1 in 1995 and OrbView-2 in 1997. On April 5, 2002 it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the Eastern District of Virginia, and in that case it brought claims against Orbital Sciences. The court approved its reorganization plan in October 2003, and it came out of bankruptcy on December 31, 2003 under the name ORBIMAGE Inc.

Sources: ORBIMAGE Inc. (SEC EDGAR) · Orbital Sciences Corporation (SEC EDGAR)

Globalstar, L.P.

Founded 1994. Ended February 15, 2002.

Globalstar, founded by Loral and Qualcomm, built a network of low Earth orbit satellites for satellite phone service and began commercial service in early 2000. By the end of 2001 it had only about 66,000 commercial subscribers, too few to cover its operating costs and debt, and on February 15, 2002 it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in Delaware. A new company bought its business and assets out of bankruptcy in two steps completed in December 2003 and April 2004, and it carried on as Globalstar Inc.

Money: Globalstar took a $2.9 billion charge in 2000 to write down the value of its satellite system.

Sources: Globalstar Telecommunications and Globalstar, L.P. (SEC EDGAR) · Loral Space & Communications Ltd. (SEC EDGAR) · Globalstar, Inc. (SEC EDGAR)

Teledesic

Founded 1990. Ended 2002.

Teledesic, a company in Bellevue, Washington founded by the wireless pioneer Craig McCaw, planned a constellation of satellites to provide fast internet access and affordable phone service anywhere in the world, with investors including Microsoft chairman Bill Gates and Boeing. Started in 1990, it spent hundreds of millions of dollars on design and development over the following decade. In 2002, citing turmoil in the telecommunications industry and financial markets, it suspended work under its satellite construction contract and said it would significantly reduce staff.

Money: Boeing took a $100 million charge in 2002 to write down its investment in Teledesic.

Sources: The Seattle Times (Bloomberg News and The Associated Press) · The Boeing Company (SEC EDGAR)

Beal Aerospace

Founded 1997. Ended October 23, 2000.

Beal Aerospace was started in 1997 by Andrew Beal to build the BA-2, a large three stage rocket for launching satellites, powered by hydrogen peroxide and kerosene. It grew to more than 200 employees in Frisco, Texas, and test fired the rocket's second stage engine in March 2000. It ceased all operations on October 23, 2000. Beal said the main reason was that it could not compete with launch systems subsidized by the US government, after Congress approved an initial $290 million for a NASA program to develop them.

Money: Forbes reported in April 2000 that Andrew Beal was spending more than $200 million of his own money on the venture.

Sources: SpaceNews · Spaceflight Now · Via Satellite · Forbes · Beal Bank USA (andrewbeal.com)

ORBCOMM Global

Founded 1993. Ended September 15, 2000.

ORBCOMM Global was formed in 1993 by a subsidiary of Orbital Sciences and a partnership set up by affiliates of Teleglobe, to run a network of low Earth orbit satellites that relay short messages for tracking and monitoring. On September 15, 2000 it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in Delaware. On April 23, 2001 a new company, ORBCOMM LLC, bought substantially all of its assets out of bankruptcy for a fraction of their original cost, and the business continued as ORBCOMM.

Sources: Orbital Sciences Corporation (SEC EDGAR) · ORBCOMM Inc. (SEC EDGAR)

Mars Polar Lander

Launched January 3, 1999. Lost December 3, 1999.

Mars Polar Lander was designed to land near the Martian south pole and spend 90 days studying the region's ice and climate history, and it carried two small Deep Space 2 probes meant to strike and burrow into the ground. Contact ended as planned before it entered the atmosphere on December 3, 1999, and no signal was ever received from the lander or the probes. A review board judged the probable cause to be a software flaw that mistook a jolt from the landing legs unfolding for touchdown and shut off the engines about 40 meters up, but said other causes could not be ruled out.

Sources: NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory · NASA (NSSDCA) · CBS News

Mars Climate Orbiter

Launched December 11, 1998. Lost September 23, 1999.

Mars Climate Orbiter was sent to study the weather and climate of Mars from orbit. On September 23, 1999 it fired its engine to enter orbit, passed behind the planet and was never heard from again. NASA's review board found a navigation error: ground software used English units while the spacecraft's software worked in metric, so it passed only about 57 kilometers above Mars, inside the atmosphere, instead of the planned 140 to 150 kilometers.

Money: A NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory official described it as a $125 million mission (1999).

Sources: NASA (NSSDCA) · NASA · IEEE Spectrum

ICO Global Communications

Founded 1995. Ended August 27, 1999.

ICO Global Communications, based in England, was set up in 1995 to provide mobile communications around the world through a network of satellites in medium Earth orbit. On August 27, 1999 it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the United States, with related proceedings in Bermuda and the Cayman Islands. Investors led by Eagle River Investments lent it money during the bankruptcy and then funded a new company that bought its assets, and ICO emerged from bankruptcy under new ownership.

Money: From 1995 to May 2000 ICO spent about $2.6 billion on building its satellites, buying launch vehicles and setting up ground stations.

Sources: ICO Global Communications (Holdings) Limited (SEC EDGAR) · Globalstar Telecommunications and Globalstar, L.P. (SEC EDGAR) · SEC EDGAR

Iridium LLC

Founded 1993. Ended August 13, 1999.

Iridium LLC, backed by Motorola, built a constellation of satellites for a satellite phone service and began commercial phone service on November 1, 1998. On August 13, 1999 Iridium LLC and related companies, including the publicly traded Iridium World Communications, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. On December 11, 2000 a new company, Iridium Satellite LLC, bought the satellite assets out of bankruptcy, and service resumed under the new owners in April 2001; the network is now run by Iridium Communications.

Money: Iridium's funding needs from 1993 through 1998 added up to about $4.8 billion.

Sources: Iridium LLC and Iridium World Communications (SEC EDGAR) · Iridium World Communications and Iridium LLC (SEC EDGAR) · Iridium World Communications (SEC EDGAR) · Raytheon Company (SEC EDGAR) · Globalstar Telecommunications and Globalstar, L.P. (SEC EDGAR) · Iridium Communications Inc. (SEC EDGAR)

Mars 96

Launched November 16, 1996. Lost November 17, 1996.

Mars 96 was a Russian mission to put an orbiter and landers at Mars. After launch on a Proton rocket, the planned second firing of the rocket's fourth stage failed, so the spacecraft stayed in Earth orbit and fell back through the atmosphere on November 17, 1996, coming down in the Pacific Ocean, Chile or Bolivia. A review board could not tell whether the rocket or the spacecraft was at fault, because data was missing for critical parts of the flight.

Sources: NASA · NASA · The Planetary Society

Cluster (Ariane 5 Flight 501)

Launched and lost June 4, 1996.

Cluster was a set of four European Space Agency (ESA) satellites meant to fly in formation and study Earth's magnetosphere in three dimensions. They were launched on the first flight of the Ariane 5 rocket from Kourou, French Guiana, on June 4, 1996. About 40 seconds after the flight sequence began, the rocket veered off course, broke up and exploded, destroying all four satellites. The inquiry board found that errors in the software of the rocket's inertial reference system had caused it to lose its guidance and attitude information.

Sources: ESA · ESA · UPI

American Rocket Company (AMROC)

Founded 1985. Ended August 1995.

AMROC, founded in 1985 by George Koopman in Camarillo, California, developed hybrid rocket motors, which burn a solid fuel with a liquid or gas oxidizer, for sounding rockets and a small launch vehicle. Koopman died in a car accident in 1989, and the company's first launch attempt, a test rocket called SET-1, was not successful. After years of financial difficulties it filed for bankruptcy in August 1995 without completing or launching any of its planned rockets. SpaceDev later licensed AMROC's patents from an individual who had acquired them from the former company.

Money: AMROC had spent about $25 million of private investors' money by the time it filed for bankruptcy in August 1995.

Sources: Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum Archives · EUCASS (European Conference for Aerospace Sciences), paper by Matthias Grosse, Astrium · SpaceDev (SEC filing) · Reason

Phobos 2

Launched July 12, 1988. Lost March 27, 1989.

Phobos 2, the twin of Phobos 1, reached orbit around Mars and sent back data on the Sun, Mars and its moon Phobos. On March 27, 1989, after a session photographing Phobos and shortly before it was to fly within 50 meters of the moon's surface and release two landers, controllers could not establish stable radio contact. Its signal was never recovered, and NASA's records give the cause as a malfunction of the onboard computer.

Sources: NASA · UPI · Astronomy magazine

Phobos 1

Launched July 7, 1988. Lost September 2, 1988.

Phobos 1 was one of two Soviet probes launched in July 1988 to study Mars and its moon Phobos. Software uploaded to it on 29 or August 30, 1988 contained an error that switched off its attitude control thrusters, so its solar panels turned away from the Sun and its batteries ran down. A planned communications session on September 2, 1988 did not happen, and contact was never regained; the head of the institute responsible said the failure came from a single character left out of the program.

Sources: NASA · UPI · Astronomy magazine

Space Shuttle Challenger (STS-51-L)

Launched and lost January 28, 1986.

STS-51-L was the 10th mission of Space Shuttle Challenger, and its crew included Christa McAuliffe, flying as the Teacher in Space payload specialist. Challenger broke apart 73 seconds after liftoff from Kennedy Space Center, and all seven astronauts on board died. The presidential commission that investigated found that seals in a joint of the right solid rocket booster failed, letting hot gas burn through the external tank, and that cold weather at launch was a contributing factor.

Crew: Dick Scobee, Michael Smith, Judith Resnik, Ronald McNair, Ellison Onizuka, Gregory Jarvis and Christa McAuliffe

Sources: NASA · NASA · NASA · Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum

Soyuz 11

Launched June 6, 1971. Lost June 29, 1971.

Soyuz 11 carried three cosmonauts to the Salyut 1 space station, where they became the first crew to live aboard a space station, staying more than three weeks. During the return to Earth, the explosive bolts that separated the spacecraft's modules jarred open a pressure equalization valve, and the air in the crew cabin escaped into space. The three cosmonauts, who were not wearing pressure suits, died; the capsule then landed automatically in Kazakhstan.

Crew: Georgi Dobrovolski, Vladislav Volkov and Viktor Patsayev

Sources: NASA · NASA · Royal Museums Greenwich

Soyuz 1

Launched April 23, 1967. Lost April 24, 1967.

Soyuz 1 was the first crewed flight of the Soviet Soyuz spacecraft, flown by cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov alone. In orbit one of its two solar panels failed to open and the craft was hard to control, so a planned second launch for a docking was cancelled and the flight was ended the next day. During the descent the parachute did not open properly and the capsule struck the ground, killing Komarov.

Crew: Vladimir Komarov

Sources: NASA · Royal Museums Greenwich · Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum