The continent contributed just three of the years launches its lowest total since 2004.
Its a figure that pales in comparison to several individual nations.
The US alone had 109 successful orbital launches the most a single country has ever completed.
The previous record holder was the Soviet Union, which sent 108 rockets into orbit in 1982.
Taking the silver medal for 2023 was China, with 66 successful launches.
Russia, which is categorised separately from Europe due to its transcontinentalspaceprogramme, came in third with 19.
One reason for the continents deficit is geographical restrictions.
The continent is also short on aerospace giants.
Last years orbital launches were all completed by the same company: Frances Arianespace.
The first of them was theEuropean Space Agencymission to theicy moons of Jupiter.
The April launch wasthe penultimate flight of the Ariane 5 rocket.
Three months later, the launcher completed its final voyage, sendingcommunication satellites for Germany and France into space.
Ariane 5 was then retired, which sparked fears that Europe now faced an acute launcher crisis.
In Western Europe, however, a satellite has still never been sent into orbit.
Nonetheless, there are growing hopes that the landmark is getting closer.
One source of optimism is an expanding range of sites with orbital launch capacities.
They include Andya Spaceport in northwest Norway, whichofficially openedin November.
Andya aims to be the firstoperational orbital spaceport in continental Europe.
There has also been positive progress at SaxaVord spaceport in the UKs Shetland Islands.
Last month, the site became thefirst spaceport in Western Europeto receive a licence for vertical rocket launches.
Europe can also take some solace from last years 100% success rate.
Story byThomas Macaulay
Thomas is the managing editor of TNW.
He leads our coverage of European tech and oversees our talented team of writers.
Away from work, he e(show all)Thomas is the managing editor of TNW.
He leads our coverage of European tech and oversees our talented team of writers.
Away from work, he enjoys playing chess (badly) and the guitar (even worse).
