Country Details
Ukraine
Eastern Europe, bordering the Black Sea, between Poland, Belarus, Romania, and Moldova in the west and Russia in the east
Explore Information
Choose a category to dive deeper
Space
Detailed information and insights
Space agency/agencies
State Space Agency of Ukraine (SSAU; established 1992 as the National Space Agency of Ukraine or NSAU and renamed in 2010) (2025)
Space program overview
the country inherited a large, well-developed space program when it gained independence in 1991, taking over all the former Soviet defense/space industry that was located on its territory; the modern program includes the production of satellite/space launch vehicles (SLVs)/rocket carriers, satellites, and related components; prior to the Russian invasion in 2022, the country was producing more than 100 SLVs, SLV stages, or SLV engines annually; has worked with numerous foreign space agencies and industries, including those of Brazil, Canada, China, Japan, Kazakhstan, Russia (curtailed after 2014), Turkey, and the US, as well as the ESA, the EU, and their member states (particularly Italy and Poland); has about 20 state-run space industries; in 2019, the Ukrainian Parliament began allowing private companies to engage in space activities (2025)
Note
note: Dnipro, known as Ukraine's “Rocket City,” was one of the Soviet Union’s main centers for space, nuclear, and military industries and played a crucial role in the development and manufacture of both civilian and military rockets
Key space-program milestones
1995 - first domestically produced remote sensing (RS) satellite (Sich-1) launched on Ukrainian Tsyklon-3 rocket
1997 - first Ukrainian astronaut in space on US Space Shuttle
1999 - first launch of Dnipro-1, a domestically produced satellite launch vehicle (SLV)
2008 - first launch of Zenit-3SLB, a domestically produced SLV
2014 - launched first domestically produced microsatellite (PolyITAN-1)
2020 - signed US-led Artemis Accords for space and lunar exploration
2021 - first successful launch of joint Ukrainian-US commercial light SLV (Alpha)
2022 - domestically produced RS microsatellite (Sich 2-30) launched by US
2024 - first Ukrainian woman to suborbital space on US commercial spacecraft
1997 - first Ukrainian astronaut in space on US Space Shuttle
1999 - first launch of Dnipro-1, a domestically produced satellite launch vehicle (SLV)
2008 - first launch of Zenit-3SLB, a domestically produced SLV
2014 - launched first domestically produced microsatellite (PolyITAN-1)
2020 - signed US-led Artemis Accords for space and lunar exploration
2021 - first successful launch of joint Ukrainian-US commercial light SLV (Alpha)
2022 - domestically produced RS microsatellite (Sich 2-30) launched by US
2024 - first Ukrainian woman to suborbital space on US commercial spacecraft