Launch Library Space Launch Scraper

Track every rocket launch on Earth — upcoming and past — plus agencies, launch pads and astronauts, from the free and open Launch Library 2 API by The Space Devs. Get launch schedules, rockets, missions, orbits, providers and pad coordinates as clean JSON. No account, no API key, no login.

Covers all providers: SpaceX, NASA, ULA, Rocket Lab, Roscosmos, CASC (China), ESA, ISRO, Blue Origin and more.

Great for launch-tracker apps, dashboards, Discord/Telegram bots, calendars, newsletters, and any project that needs an authoritative spaceflight schedule.

What this actor does

• Five modes: upcomingLaunches, previousLaunches, agencies, launchPads, astronauts
• Direct lookup: fetch specific launches by Launch Library ID (UUID) or launch URL
• Detailed launch rows: rocket, mission, orbit, provider and pad all in one record
• Free-text search (e.g. Falcon 9, SpaceX, Baikonur) and per-mode sort order
• Empty fields are omitted — you never get nulls

⚠️ Rate limit

The Launch Library 2 API allows ~15 requests per hour for anonymous access. This actor is built for that limit: it keeps the default page size and maxItems modest and automatically backs off (honoring Retry-After) if it hits HTTP 429. For most runs a single page (up to 25 records) is one request. Keep maxItems small and avoid running the actor many times in quick succession.

Output per record

Empty fields are always omitted. Every record carries recordType, sourceUrl (the live API URL for that record) and scrapedAt (UTC).

Launch (upcomingLaunches, previousLaunches, launchIds)

launchId, name, slug, status, statusAbbrev, statusDescription, net, windowStart, windowEnd, netPrecision, weatherProbability, weatherConcerns, holdReason, failReason, lastUpdated, padTurnaround, webcastLive, programs, orbitalLaunchAttemptCount, locationLaunchAttemptCount, padLaunchAttemptCount, agencyLaunchAttemptCount, provider, providerAbbrev, providerType, providerCountry, providerId, providerLaunchCount, rocketName, rocketFamily, rocketVariant, rocketId, rocketReusable, rocketWikiUrl, rocketImageUrl, missionName, missionDescription, missionType, orbit, orbitAbbrev, padName, padLocation, padCountry, padTimezone, latitude, longitude, padTotalLaunchCount, padWikiUrl, padMapUrl, padMapImageUrl, imageUrl, infographicUrl.

Agency (agencies)

agencyId, name, abbrev, type, countryCode, description, administrator, foundingYear, totalLaunchCount, successfulLaunches, failedLaunches, pendingLaunches, consecutiveSuccessfulLaunches, successfulLandings, failedLandings, attemptedLandings, consecutiveSuccessfulLandings, launchers, spacecraft, featured, infoUrl, wikiUrl, logoUrl, imageUrl, nationUrl.

Launch pad (launchPads)

padId, name, description, latitude, longitude, locationName, countryCode, locationTimezone, totalLaunchCount, orbitalLaunchAttemptCount, locationTotalLaunchCount, locationTotalLandingCount, mapUrl, wikiUrl, infoUrl, mapImageUrl.

Astronaut (astronauts)

astronautId, name, status, type, nationality, agencyName, bio, dateOfBirth, dateOfDeath, age, inSpace, timeInSpace, evaTime, flightsCount, landingsCount, spacewalksCount, firstFlight, lastFlight, twitter, instagram, wiki, profileImageUrl.

Sample launch record

{
  "recordType": "launch",
  "launchId": "2bedbf8c-8df2-4e24-8397-8c2a08fab581",
  "name": "Long March 4B | Haiyang 2E",
  "status": "Launch Successful",
  "net": "2026-07-01T23:46:00Z",
  "provider": "China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation",
  "providerCountry": "CHN",
  "rocketName": "Long March 4B",
  "missionName": "Haiyang 2E",
  "orbit": "Sun-Synchronous Orbit",
  "padName": "Launch Area 94 (SLS-2 / 603)",
  "padLocation": "Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China",
  "latitude": 40.960482,
  "longitude": 100.298059,
  "imageUrl": "https://…/long-march-4b.jpg",
  "sourceUrl": "https://ll.thespacedevs.com/2.2.0/launch/2bedbf8c-8df2-4e24-8397-8c2a08fab581/",
  "scrapedAt": "2026-07-02T13:35:00+00:00"
}

Input

Field	Type	Default	Description
mode	string	upcomingLaunches	upcomingLaunches / previousLaunches / agencies / launchPads / astronauts
search	string	–	Free-text filter (e.g. Falcon 9, SpaceX, Baikonur)
netAfter	string	–	Only launches on/after this ISO date (launch modes), e.g. 2026-01-01
netBefore	string	–	Only launches on/before this ISO date (launch modes), e.g. 2026-12-31
ordering	string	–	Sort order. Date options apply to launches; "most launches" applies to agencies and pads
launchIds	array	–	Fetch specific launches by Launch Library ID (UUID) or launch URL. When set, other filters are ignored
maxItems	integer	10	Hard cap on emitted records (1–100). Kept low because of the ~15 req/hr limit

Example: upcoming launches for a rocket

{
  "mode": "upcomingLaunches",
  "search": "Falcon 9",
  "maxItems": 25
}

Example: recent past launches

{
  "mode": "previousLaunches",
  "maxItems": 10
}

Example: top launch providers

{
  "mode": "agencies",
  "ordering": "-total_launch_count",
  "maxItems": 20
}

Example: specific launches by ID

{
  "mode": "upcomingLaunches",
  "launchIds": ["2bedbf8c-8df2-4e24-8397-8c2a08fab581"]
}

Use cases

• Launch trackers — power an app, calendar or bot with the worldwide launch manifest
• Dashboards & newsletters — surface upcoming launches with rocket, mission and pad details
• Analytics — compare providers by total, successful and failed launch counts
• Mapping — plot launch pads by latitude/longitude and launch history
• Spaceflight research — pull astronaut flight, EVA and spacewalk statistics

FAQ

Do I need an account or API key? No. Launch Library 2 is free and public. The actor works out of the box.

How current is the schedule? It mirrors the Launch Library 2 database, which is community-maintained and updated continuously as launches are announced, slip or complete.

Why is maxItems low by default? Because anonymous API access is limited to ~15 requests per hour. Larger pulls are possible but keep maxItems reasonable and don't run the actor repeatedly in a short window.

What happens if I hit the rate limit? The actor waits (honoring the Retry-After header) and retries, then stops cleanly with a status message rather than failing. Any records already fetched are kept.

Can I get a specific launch? Yes — put its Launch Library ID(s) or launch URL(s) in launchIds. These always return launch records, whatever the selected mode.

What is net? "No Earlier Than" — the scheduled launch time (ISO 8601, UTC). netPrecision tells you how exact it is (Minute, Hour, Day, Month…).

Data source

This actor uses the public Launch Library 2 API at https://ll.thespacedevs.com/2.2.0, provided by The Space Devs. Data is available under a Creative Commons license. This is a third-party actor and is not affiliated with The Space Devs.