| Date | Payload | Launcher | Launch Site | Notes |
| 15 January | Thuraya 3 | Zenit 3SL | Sea Launch's Odyssey platform in the Pacific Ocean | commercial communications satellite |
| 21 January | TecSAR (Polaris) | PSLV | Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota, India | Israeli military synthetic aperture radar (SAR) surveillance satellite |
| 28 January | Express AM-33 | Proton M / Briz M | Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan | commercial communications satellite |
| 5 February | Progress M-63 (ISS 28P) | Soyuz U | Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan | unmanned cargo transport to the International Space Station |
| 7 February | Space Shuttle Atlantis ISS-24-1E | Shuttle Atlantis (STS-122) | Kennedy Space Center, Florida, USA | manned flight to the International Space Station (ISS) delivering the Columbus science laboratory |
| 11 February | Thor 5 | Proton M / Briz M | Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan | commercial communications satellite |
| 23 February | Kizuna (WINDS) | H-2A | Tanegashima Space Center, Kagoshima, Japan | experimental Japanese satellite which will demonstrate very high data rate communications with small terminals |
| 9 March | ATV 1 Jules Verne | Ariane 5 ESV | CSG Kourou, French Guiana | unmanned cargo craft delivering equipment and supplies to the International Space Station |
| 11 March | Space Shuttle Endeavour ISS-25-1J/A | Shuttle Endeavour (STS-123) | Kennedy Space Center, Florida, USA | manned flight to the International Space Station (ISS) delivering the Japanese Experiment Module Kibo and the new Canadian Dextre robotics system |
| 13 March | NRO L-28 | Atlas 5 | Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, USA | US spy satellite |
| 14 March | AMC-14 | Proton M / Briz M | Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan | commercial communications satellite – partial launch failure |
| 15 March | GPS 2R-19 (M6) | Delta 2 | Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, USA | American military navigation satellite |
| 19 March | DirecTV 11 | Zenit 3SL | Sea Launch's Odyssey platform in the Pacific Ocean | commercial television broadcast satellite |
| 27 March | SAR-Lupe 4 | Kosmos-3M | Plesetsk Cosmodrome, Russia | German military SAR radar reconnaissance satellite |
| 8 April | Soyuz TMA-12 ISS 16S | Soyuz FG | Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan | manned transport vessel to the International Space Station |
| 14 April | ICO G1 | Atlas 5 | Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, USA | commercial communications satellite |
| 16 April | Communications / Navigation Outage Forecasting System (C/NOFS) | Pegasus XL | Kwajalein Atoll, Marshall Islands | US military test satellite to forecast outages in DoD satellite communication links caused by ionospheric irregularities |
| 18 April | Star One C-2, Vinasat 1 | Ariane 5 ECA | CSG Kourou, French Guiana | commercial communications satellites |
| 25 April | Tianlian 1 | Long March 3C | Xichang Satellite Launch Center, Sichuan province, China | Chinese data relay satellite |
| 26 April | Giove-B | Soyuz-FG / Fregat | Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan | second demonstration satellite for Europe's Galileo navigation system |
| 28 April | CartoSat 2A, AAUsat 2, CanX-2, CanX-6 (NTS), Compass 1, CUTE-1.7+APD II, Delfi-C3, IMS-1, RUBIN-8, SEEDS 2 | PSLV-C | Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota, India | Indian Earth observation satellite (CartoSat 2A), Canadian experimental satellite which will verify key elements of the Automatic Identification System (AIS) which will be used to track ships (CanX-6), Indian Earth observation satellite (IMS-1), German experimental payload which remains attached to the upper stage of the launcher and which will test the communications systems for a maritime navigation system which will relay information via the Orbcomm system of satellites (RUBIN-8) |
| 28 April | Amos-3 | Zenit 3SLB | Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan | commercial communications satellite |
| 14 May | Progress M-64 (ISS 29P) | Soyuz U | Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan | unmanned cargo transport to the International Space Station |
| 21 May | Galaxy 18 | Zenit 3SL | Sea Launch's Odyssey platform in the Pacific Ocean | commercial communications satellite |
| 23 May | Gonets D1 (3 satellites), Jubilee (Yubilyeniy) | Rokot / Briz KM | Plesetsk Cosmodrome, Russia | commercial LEO communications satellites (Gonets D1), experimental communications satellite (Jubilee) |
| 27 May | Fengyun-3A (FY-3A) | Long March 4C | Taiyuan Space Center, China | Chinese meteorological satellite |
| 31 May | Space Shuttle Discovery ISS-26-1J | Shuttle Discovery (STS-124) | Kennedy Space Center, Florida, USA | manned flight to the International Space Station (ISS) delivering the Japanese Kibo Experiment Module (JEM-PM) and the Japanese Remote Manipulator System (JEM RMS) robot arm |
| 9 June | Chinasat 9 (Zhongxing-9) | Long March 3B | Xichang Satellite Launch Centre, Sichuan Province, China | Chinese direct broadcasting satellite |
| 11 June | Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope (GLAST) | Delta 2 | Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, USA | next-generation high-energy gamma-ray telescope |
| 12 June | Skynet 5C, Turksat 3A | Ariane 5 | CSG Kourou, French Guiana | UK military communications satellite (Skynet 5C), commercial communications satellite (Turksat 3A) |
| 19 June | Orbcomm, Orbcomm CDS | Kosmos-3M | Kapustin Yar, Russia | six commercial communications satellites |
| 20 June | OSTM/Jason 2 | Delta 2 | Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, USA | joint US-French ocean monitoring satellite which will use a radio altimeter to measure the height of the surface of the earth's oceans |
| 26 June | Prognoz | Proton K / DM3 | Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan | Russian early warning satellite |
| 7 July | Badr-6, ProtoStar 1 | Ariane 5ECA | CSG Kourou, French Guiana | commercial communications satellites |
| 16 July | EchoStar 11 | Zenit 3SL | Sea Launch's Odyssey platform in the Pacific Ocean | commercial direct broadcasting satellite |
| 26 July | Persona | Soyuz-2.1b | Plesetsk Cosmodrome, Russia | Russian military optical reconnaissance satellite |
| 2 August | Celestis 07, Nanosail D, PreSat, Trailblazer | Falcon 1 | Reagan Test Site, Kwajalein Atoll, Marshall Islands | launch failure |
| 14 August | AMC-21, Superbird 7 | Ariane 5 ECA | CSG Kourou, French Guiana | commercial communications satellites |
| 17 August | Omid | Safir | Semnan, Iran | launch failure |
| 18 August | Inmarsat 4 F3 | Proton M / Briz M | Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan | commercial communications satellite |
| 29 August | RapidEye (5 satellites) | Dniepr-1 | Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan | five commercial optical imaging satellites |
| 6 September | Huan Jing 1A, 1B | Long March 2C | Taiyuan Satellite Launch Centre, Shanxi Province, China | two Chinese disaster monitoring satellites |
| 6 September | GeoEye-1 | Delta 2 | Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, USA | commercial optical imaging satellite |
| 10 September | Progress M-65 (ISS 30P) | Soyuz U | Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan | unmanned cargo transport to the International Space Station |
| 20 September | Nimiq 4 | Proton K / Briz M | Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan | direct to home broadcast satellite |
| 24 September | Galaxy 19 | Zenit 3SLB | Sea Launch's Odyssey platform in the Pacific Ocean | commercial communications satellite |
| 25 September | Uragan/Glonass (M15/M16/M17) | Proton K / Blok DM-2 | Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan | three Russian navigation satellites |
| 25 September | Shenzhou 7 | Long March 2F | Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre, China | China's third manned launch into low Earth orbit |
| 28 September | Ratsat dummy payload | Falcon 1 | Reagan Test Site, Kwajalein Atoll, Marshall Islands | demonstration flight for the Falcon 1 launch vehicle |
| 1 October | Theos | Dniepr-1 | Dombarovsky Cosmodrome (Yasny), Russia | Thai earth observation satellite |
| 12 October | Soyuz TMA-13 ISS 17S | Soyuz FG | Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan | manned transport vessel to the International Space Station |
| 19 October | Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) | Pegasus XL | Reagan Test Site, Kwajalein Atoll, Marshall Islands | scientific satellite which will investigate the interaction between solar wind and the interstellar medium |
| 22 October | Chandrayaan-1 | PSLV-XL | Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota, India | Indian lunar probe |
| 24 October | COSMO-SkyMed 3 | Delta 2 | Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, USA | Italian synthetic aperture radar Earth imaging satellite |
| 25 October | Shijian 6E, Shijian 6F | Long March 4B | Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center, Shanxi province, China | two Chinese research satellites that will monitor the space environment |
| 30 October | Simon Bolivar | Long March 3B | Xichang Satellite Launch Center, Sichuan province, China | commercial communications satellite |
| 5 November | Chuangxin 1-02, Shiyan Satellite 3 | Long March 2D | Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, Gansu province, China | Chinese scientific satellite which will monitor the Earth's atmosphere (Shiyan Satellite 3), Chinese Earth observation satellite which will be used to collect and relay hydrological and meteorological data for disaster relief (Chuangxin 1-02) |
| 6 November | Astra 1M | Proton M / Briz M | Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan | commercial television broadcast satellite |
| 14 November | Cosmos 2445 (Kobalt-M) | Soyuz-U | Plesetsk Cosmodrome, Russia | Russian optical military reconnaissance satellite |
| 15 November | Space Shuttle Endeavour ISS-27-ULF2 | Shuttle Endeavour (STS-126) | Kennedy Space Center, Florida, USA | manned flight to the International Space Station (ISS) delivering the Multi-Purpose Logistics Module (MPLM) |
| 26 November | Progress M-01M (ISS 31P) | Soyuz U | Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan | unmanned cargo transport to the International Space Station |
| 1 December | Yaogan-4 | Long March 2D | Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, Gansu province, China | Chinese optical imaging satellite |
| 2 December | Oko (US-KS) (Cosmos 2446) | Molniya-M | Plesetsk Cosmodrome, Russia | Russian early warning satellite |
| 10 December | Ciel 2 | Proton M / Briz M | Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan | commercial communications satellite |
| 15 December | Yaogan-5 | Long March 4B | Taiyuan Satellite Launch Centre, Shanxi Province, China | Chinese remote sensing satellite |
| 20 December | Hot Bird 9, W2M | Ariane 5 ECA | CSG Kourou, French Guiana | commercial communications satellites |
| 23 December | Fengyun-2-06 | Long March 3A | Xichang Satellite Launching Centre, Sichuan Province, China | Chinese meteorological satellite |
| 25 December | Uragan / Glonass-M (3 satellites) | Proton K / Blok DM-2 | Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan | three Russian navigation satellites |
