Orbital launch by year templates arenavboxes listingorbital launches (as opposed tosuborbital launches which do not complete a full orbit) during that year. These navboxes include both successful and failed launches as well as separate orbital payloads and are located at the bottom of orbital spacecraft articles (such asLandsat 8) or articles of theSpaceflight by year series (such as2001 in spaceflight).
Orbital launch by year templates span from 1957 with the launch of theSovietSputnik 1 to the present year. Users can use the overallOrbital launches by year template found at the bottom of this documentation to quickly access a given year's navbox.
To include an orbital launch by year navbox on an article, place the appropriate year's navbox at the bottom of the article, belowAppendices sections (Works or publications,See also,Notes and references,Further reading,External links) and aboveCategories. For more information on navbox placement in aWikipedia article, see theLayout section of theWikipedia Manual of Style.
Within the navbox are twelve groups (group1 through group12) containing the name of the month fully spelled out (e.g. January or September). Under each month is a single list (list1 in January, list2 in February, etc.) which contains each launch and payload launched during that month bulleted.
Item Name. It is important to remember this navbox is to enumerate launches, not necessarily satellites. To enter a launch, type the primary payload name. Note the naming conventions section near the bottom of this page. Item names should be linked to the most specific article encompassing of that launch (e.g.Türksat 5B). If no specific article exists (e.g. FSW-2 4), link to class or program's article (e.g.Fanhui Shi Weixing). For example:
Batch Deployments. For batch deployments, where multiple identical (or likely identical) satellites are launched, place the number of satellites in that launch's batch in parentheses. When a range of satellites from a larger class is launched, list the class name and the range of satellites included in that launch (e.g.Yaogan 31 D–F). For example:
Multiple Launches in Same Month. If multiple satellites of the same name or class are launched separately during the same month, use the times symbol (×) to indicate how many launches occurred that month. For example, fiveÑuSat satellites were separately launched in April 2022. This item would be listed as:
Multiple Payloads. When a single launch contains multiple payloads, separate the payloads by a comma instead entering a new list item. For example:
Sub-Payloads. For launches containing payloads that themselves contain payloads (e.g. theLICIACube sub-satellite deployed from theDART satellite), place the sub-payload in parentheses. For example:
In order to allow quick visual identification and characterization of orbital launches, this navbox uses the following styles for list items and their separations.
When a launched payload falls into one of the following categories, it should following the naming convention found below.
| Series | Naming convention |
|---|---|
| USAF-designated "USA" satellites | Use only the USA designation (e.g. USA-35, USA-293) and link to the specific article if one exists (e.g.USA-298) or the articleList of USA satellites if one does not. Do not use theNRO launch designation (NROL-2) or project name (KH-11 12). |
| Kosmos satellites | Similar to USA satellites, list Kosmos satellites like "Kosmos-2251". Do not use the type of satellite (Strela-2). Link to the specific article if one exists (e.g.) or the articleKosmos (satellite) if one does not. |
Note: Navboxes for earlier years may not reflect this current standard. Edits made to update these navboxes are to the standard listed here are appreciated.
