# Rocket Launch Scraper (Launch Library 2) (`ninhothedev/launch-library-scraper`) Actor $0.5/1K 🔥 Rocket launch scraper! Upcoming & past launches — rocket, provider, pad, date & status. No key. JSON, CSV, Excel or API in seconds. Build launch calendars & space apps ⚡ - **URL**: https://apify.com/ninhothedev/launch-library-scraper.md - **Developed by:** [ninhothedev](https://apify.com/ninhothedev) (community) - **Categories:** News, Developer tools - **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks - **User rating**: No ratings yet ## Pricing from $0.50 / 1,000 results This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events. Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/platform/actors/running/actors-in-store#pay-per-event ## What's an Apify Actor? Actors are web data automations that power AI and operations. They run on the Apify platform to scrape websites, process data, connect APIs, and automate workflows. In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours, and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store. In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server. Actors are written with capital "A". ## How to integrate an Actor? If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects. You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready. The best way to integrate Actors is as follows. - **AI agents and MCP clients** — the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/integrations/mcp.md) at `https://mcp.apify.com` (remote, streamable HTTP, OAuth on first use). - **Agentic workflows and local Actor development** — [Agent Skills](https://apify.com/.well-known/agent-skills/index.json) with the [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): `npm install -g apify-cli`, then `apify login`. - **JavaScript/TypeScript projects** — the official [JS/TS client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md): `npm install apify-client`. - **Python projects** — the official [Python client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md): `pip install apify-client`. - **Any other language** — the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md). For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below. For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt). # README ## Rocket Launch Scraper (Launch Library 2) **Scrape upcoming and past rocket launches — rocket, provider, mission, orbit, launch pad, coordinates, country, NET date, launch window and status — as clean JSON, CSV or Excel. No API key, no login, no proxy required.** This Apify Actor pulls structured launch data from the public [Launch Library 2](https://thespacedevs.com/llapi) API by The Space Devs, the same dataset that powers most launch-tracking apps and space news sites. Every launch becomes one flat dataset row you can export straight into a spreadsheet, a database, a calendar feed or an LLM pipeline. *** ### What you get | Field | Description | |---|---| | `id` | Launch Library UUID for the launch | | `name` | Full launch name, e.g. `Falcon 9 Block 5 \| NROL-95` | | `status` | Human status, e.g. `Go for Launch`, `Launch Successful`, `To Be Determined` | | `status_abbrev` | Short status code, e.g. `Go`, `Success`, `TBD` | | `net` | NET (No Earlier Than) launch datetime, ISO-8601 UTC | | `window_start` / `window_end` | Launch window bounds, ISO-8601 UTC | | `provider` | Launch service provider, e.g. `SpaceX`, `Rocket Lab`, `Arianespace` | | `provider_type` | `Commercial`, `Government`, etc. | | `rocket` | Rocket configuration full name, e.g. `Falcon 9 Block 5`, `Starship V3` | | `rocket_family` | Rocket family, e.g. `Falcon`, `Long March`, `Electron` | | `mission` | Mission name, e.g. `Starlink Group 17-51` | | `mission_type` | `Communications`, `Earth Science`, `Test Flight`, … | | `mission_description` | Mission summary (capped at 3,000 characters) | | `orbit` | Target orbit, e.g. `Low Earth Orbit`, `Sun-Synchronous Orbit`, `GTO` | | `pad` | Launch pad name, e.g. `Space Launch Complex 40` | | `pad_latitude` / `pad_longitude` | Pad coordinates as floats — ready for mapping | | `location` | Spaceport, e.g. `Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA` | | `country` | Country code of the launch site, e.g. `USA`, `CHN`, `NZL` | | `webcast_live` | Whether a live webcast is currently running | | `probability` | Weather/launch probability in percent (when published) | | `fail_reason` | Failure explanation for past launches that did not succeed | | `image` | Rocket/mission image URL | | `source` | Always `launchlibrary` | | `scraped_at` | ISO-8601 UTC timestamp of the run | All fields are nullable — the upstream API leaves many of them empty for early-planning launches, and the Actor maps them to `null` instead of failing. *** ### Input ```json { "mode": "upcoming", "maxItems": 50 } ``` | Input | Type | Default | Notes | |---|---|---|---| | `mode` | select — `upcoming` / `previous` | `upcoming` | `upcoming` = scheduled launches, soonest first. `previous` = launches that already happened, most recent first (including failures with `fail_reason`). | | `maxItems` | integer (1–500) | `50` | Maximum launches to return. Fetched in pages of up to 100 with a polite delay between pages. | *** ### Example output ```json { "id": "beac6ac1-97dd-4eb2-912c-8b4d4d15cd4e", "name": "Falcon 9 Block 5 | NROL-95", "status": "Go for Launch", "status_abbrev": "Go", "net": "2026-07-30T07:09:00+00:00", "window_start": "2026-07-30T07:09:00+00:00", "window_end": "2026-07-30T11:09:00+00:00", "provider": "SpaceX", "provider_type": "Commercial", "rocket": "Falcon 9 Block 5", "rocket_family": "Falcon", "mission": "NROL-95", "mission_type": "Government/Top Secret", "mission_description": "A classified payload for the National Reconnaissance Office.", "orbit": "Low Earth Orbit", "pad": "Space Launch Complex 40", "pad_latitude": 28.56194122, "pad_longitude": -80.57735736, "location": "Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA", "country": "USA", "webcast_live": false, "probability": 80, "fail_reason": null, "image": "https://thespacedevs-prod.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/media/images/falcon2520925_image_20221115115934.jpeg", "source": "launchlibrary", "scraped_at": "2026-07-28T01:52:32.465907+00:00" } ``` *** ### Use cases - **Space news** — auto-generate "launches this week" roundups, breaking-launch alerts and post-launch success/failure reports without hand-copying schedules. - **Launch calendars** — feed `net`, `window_start` and `window_end` into an iCal feed, a Google Calendar sync or a countdown widget that stays accurate as dates slip. - **Aerospace research** — build datasets on cadence per provider, per rocket family, per country or per orbit; analyse launch-failure rates over time with `status` and `fail_reason`. - **Apps** — power a launch-tracker mobile app, a Discord/Slack bot, a Home Assistant dashboard or a map of active spaceports using `pad_latitude` / `pad_longitude`. *** ### Pricing Roughly **$0.5 per 1,000 launches** on Apify's pay-per-event style compute. The Actor runs on 512 MB and one API request returns up to 100 launches, so typical runs finish in seconds and cost fractions of a cent. ### Free-tier rate limits (read this) The Launch Library 2 API is free and needs no key, but the anonymous tier is rate limited to roughly **15 requests per hour per IP**. This Actor is built to stay inside that budget: - page size is maxed out (100 launches per request) so fewer requests are needed, - a polite delay is inserted between pages, - HTTP 429 responses trigger exponential backoff and honour `Retry-After`. Practical guidance: keep `maxItems` at 100 or below for routine runs, and don't schedule the Actor more often than every few minutes. If the limit is hit before any data arrives, the run fails loudly with a clear message so you can simply retry later. *** ### FAQ **Do I need an API key or account?** No. The Launch Library 2 API is fully public. **How fresh is the data?** The Space Devs update launch records continuously; `net` dates shift as providers reschedule, so re-run before publishing anything time-sensitive. **Why is `orbit` sometimes `Unknown`?** Many Chinese and classified launches have no published target orbit until after liftoff. The field mirrors upstream honestly rather than guessing. **Can I get more than 500 launches?** `maxItems` is capped at 500 to protect the free-tier quota. Run the Actor several times with different `mode` values, or space out runs, to build a larger archive. **Is scraping this legal?** Yes — this is a public, documented, key-less API intended for third-party use. Please credit The Space Devs when you publish derived data. *** ### Related Actors - [Spaceflight News Scraper](https://apify.com/ninhothedev/spaceflight-news-scraper) — space news articles, blogs and reports - [NASA NEO Scraper](https://apify.com/ninhothedev/nasa-neo-scraper) — near-Earth objects and close-approach data - [NASA Images Scraper](https://apify.com/ninhothedev/nasa-images-scraper) — NASA image and video library - [OpenSky Flights Scraper](https://apify.com/ninhothedev/opensky-flights-scraper) — live aircraft positions and flight tracks *** ### Development ```bash python -m src.main # run locally python tests/test_smoke.py # offline smoke tests ``` Data source: [Launch Library 2](https://ll.thespacedevs.com/2.2.0/) by [The Space Devs](https://thespacedevs.com/). # Actor input Schema ## `mode` (type: `string`): Which launch list to scrape. 'upcoming' returns scheduled launches ordered by NET date (soonest first); 'previous' returns launches that have already happened (most recent first), including failures with a fail reason. ## `maxItems` (type: `integer`): Maximum number of launches to scrape. Results are fetched in pages of up to 100 with a polite delay between pages. Keep this low (50-100) on the free tier, because the Launch Library API allows only about 15 anonymous requests per hour. ## Actor input object example ```json { "mode": "upcoming", "maxItems": 50 } ``` # API You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup. ## JavaScript example ```javascript import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client'; // Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token // Replace the '' with your token const client = new ApifyClient({ token: '', }); // Prepare Actor input const input = {}; // Run the Actor and wait for it to finish const run = await client.actor("ninhothedev/launch-library-scraper").call(input); // Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any) console.log('Results from dataset'); console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`); const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems(); items.forEach((item) => { console.dir(item); }); // 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs ``` ## Python example ```python from apify_client import ApifyClient # Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token # Replace '' with your token. client = ApifyClient("") # Prepare the Actor input run_input = {} # Run the Actor and wait for it to finish run = client.actor("ninhothedev/launch-library-scraper").call(run_input=run_input) # Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any) print("💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/" + run["defaultDatasetId"]) for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items(): print(item) # 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start ``` ## CLI example ```bash echo '{}' | apify call ninhothedev/launch-library-scraper --silent --output-dataset ``` ## MCP server setup ```json { "mcpServers": { "apify": { "command": "npx", "args": [ "mcp-remote", "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=ninhothedev/launch-library-scraper", "--header", "Authorization: Bearer " ] } } } ``` ## OpenAPI specification ```json { "openapi": "3.0.1", "info": { "title": "Rocket Launch Scraper (Launch Library 2)", "description": "$0.5/1K 🔥 Rocket launch scraper! Upcoming & past launches — rocket, provider, pad, date & status. No key. JSON, CSV, Excel or API in seconds. Build launch calendars & space apps ⚡", "version": "0.1", "x-build-id": "H8jVpH2VNtxSF6lVb" }, "servers": [ { "url": "https://api.apify.com/v2" } ], "paths": { "/acts/ninhothedev~launch-library-scraper/run-sync-get-dataset-items": { "post": { "operationId": "run-sync-get-dataset-items-ninhothedev-launch-library-scraper", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for its completion, and returns Actor's dataset items in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK" } } } }, "/acts/ninhothedev~launch-library-scraper/runs": { "post": { "operationId": "runs-sync-ninhothedev-launch-library-scraper", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor and returns information about the initiated run in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK", "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/runsResponseSchema" } } } } } } }, "/acts/ninhothedev~launch-library-scraper/run-sync": { "post": { "operationId": "run-sync-ninhothedev-launch-library-scraper", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for completion, and returns the OUTPUT from Key-value store in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK" } } } } }, "components": { "schemas": { "inputSchema": { "type": "object", "properties": { "mode": { "title": "Mode", "enum": [ "upcoming", "previous" ], "type": "string", "description": "Which launch list to scrape. 'upcoming' returns scheduled launches ordered by NET date (soonest first); 'previous' returns launches that have already happened (most recent first), including failures with a fail reason.", "default": "upcoming" }, "maxItems": { "title": "Max items", "minimum": 1, "maximum": 500, "type": "integer", "description": "Maximum number of launches to scrape. Results are fetched in pages of up to 100 with a polite delay between pages. Keep this low (50-100) on the free tier, because the Launch Library API allows only about 15 anonymous requests per hour.", "default": 50 } } }, "runsResponseSchema": { "type": "object", "properties": { "data": { "type": "object", "properties": { "id": { "type": "string" }, "actId": { "type": "string" }, "userId": { "type": "string" }, "startedAt": { "type": "string", "format": "date-time", "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z" }, "finishedAt": { "type": "string", "format": "date-time", "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z" }, "status": { "type": "string", "example": "READY" }, "meta": { "type": "object", "properties": { "origin": { "type": "string", "example": "API" }, "userAgent": { "type": "string" } } }, "stats": { "type": "object", "properties": { "inputBodyLen": { "type": "integer", "example": 2000 }, "rebootCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "restartCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "resurrectCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "computeUnits": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } }, "options": { "type": "object", "properties": { "build": { "type": "string", "example": "latest" }, "timeoutSecs": { "type": "integer", "example": 300 }, "memoryMbytes": { "type": "integer", "example": 1024 }, "diskMbytes": { "type": "integer", "example": 2048 } } }, "buildId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultKeyValueStoreId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultDatasetId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultRequestQueueId": { "type": "string" }, "buildNumber": { "type": "string", "example": "1.0.0" }, "containerUrl": { "type": "string" }, "usage": { "type": "object", "properties": { "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 1 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_SERPS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } }, "usageTotalUsd": { "type": "number", "example": 0.00005 }, "usageUsd": { "type": "object", "properties": { "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": { "type": "number", "example": 0.00005 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_SERPS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } } } } } } } } } ```