US and Russia extend cooperation in space. The International Space Station (ISS) is one of the few projects in which Russians and Americans are still working together after Moscow's attack on Ukraine. There will also be joint flights in the coming year. In September 2023, U.S. astronaut Frank Rubio and the two Russian cosmonauts Sergei Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelin returned to Earth together from the ISS. With 371 days in space, it was the longest, but not planned, mission on the ISS, Russian space agency Roscosmos announced.
In 2023, there were at least 200 successful orbital launches, and nearly half of them were conducted by SpaceX. Private space companies have been ramping up their activities as they compete to serve as launch providers and facilitate space tourism. But it wasn't a milestone year for all.