T-Minus 6000 is a fascinating story-map by Aaron Koelker that chronicles more than six decades of humanity’s journey into orbit. Blending historical milestones with rich data visualizations, it traces the rise and fall of spacefaring powers, from the launch of Sputnik in 1957 to the surge of private companies in the 21st century.
Embedded within this Esri story-map is an interactive dashboard that pinpoints the locations of all 6,060 rocket launches worldwide since 1957. Using the map, with just a few clicks, you can explore the data not only by location, but also by decade, by launch operator, or even by individual spaceport. The dashboard brings the history of spaceflight to life, letting you switch between a flat map, a rotating globe, or clear, data-driven charts to reveal shifting patterns and trends over more than six decades of space exploration.
Among its most insightful features is the date filter, which lets you watch the story of rocket launches unfold decade by decade. As you slide through time, patterns emerge that reveal the shifting balance of spacefaring nations. In the early decades, launches were concentrated in the Soviet Union’s eastern spaceports, like Baikonur and Plesetsk, underscoring its dominance during the height of the Space Race. By the 1990s, as the Soviet Union collapsed and its space program lost momentum, the center of global launch activity drifted westward toward the United States, powered by the era of the Space Shuttle. In the 21st century, the trend swung east again as China’s rapidly expanding launch programs at Jiuquan, Xichang, and Wenchang reshaped the map, marking the rise of a new powerhouse in the space race.
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