Launch Library 2 API

Beginner's Pick Science & Math / No Auth Required Beginner HTTPS CORS
Free to Use
81 A
Measured Score 0 50 100 Speed 18/30 Consistency 20/20 Security 20/20 Browser access 15/15 Transparency 8/15 TESTED 2026-08-10

Overview

Launch Library 2 is a free, comprehensive API for spaceflight launches, rockets, missions, and events maintained by The Space Devs community. You can retrieve upcoming and historical launch data including launch vehicles, launch sites, agencies, and astronaut crews. It is one of the best space APIs for beginners because it requires no authentication and has excellent documentation.

Beginner Tip

Start by querying the upcoming launches endpoint to get a list of the next rocket launches with all mission details. The API supports filtering, ordering, and pagination through URL query parameters.

Measurement Record

What actually happened when we called this API from our own infrastructure. Every value below was recorded by the request, not copied from the provider's documentation.

Request
GET https://ll.thespacedevs.com/2.2.0/launch/upcoming/?limit=5&format=json
Result
HTTP 200 · application/json · 22,733 bytes · compressed
Response time
204 ms (median of 3) · fastest 198 ms
Transport
TLSv1.3 · TLS_AES_256_GCM_SHA384 · certificate issued by Google Trust Services
Browser CORS
Allowed — Access-Control-Allow-Origin: *
Served by
cloudflare
Recorded
2026-08-10

Fields Returned

Top-level fields present in the response we captured, with the type and value we actually received.

Field Type Value received
count integer 364
next string (url) https://ll.thespacedevs.com/2.2.0/launch/upco…
previous null null
results array [1 item]

Captured Response

Captured from a real request to https://ll.thespacedevs.com/2.2.0/launch/upcoming/?limit=5&format=json on 2026-08-10. Long arrays and nested objects are truncated to keep the shape readable.

JSON Response · Captured
{
  "count": 364,
  "next": "https://ll.thespacedevs.com/2.2.0/launch/upcoming/?format=json&limit=5&offset=5",
  "previous": null,
  "results": [
    {
      "id": "cff704ab-8098-4f65-899e-50adaf908e59",
      "url": "https://ll.thespacedevs.com/2.2.0/launch/cff704ab-8098-4f65-899e-50adaf908e59/?format=json",
      "slug": "long-march-7a-chinasat-4b",
      "name": "Long March 7A | ChinaSat 4B",
      "status": {
        "…": "(4 more fields)"
      },
      "last_updated": "2026-08-10T16:26:32Z",
      "net": "2026-08-10T12:02:00Z",
      "window_end": "2026-08-10T13:12:00Z",
      "window_start": "2026-08-10T11:54:00Z",
      "net_precision": {
        "…": "(4 more fields)"
      },
      "probability": null,
      "weather_concerns": null,
      "holdreason": "",
      "failreason": "Launch vehicle disintegrated when passing around Max-Q.",
      "…": "(18 more fields)"
    }
  ]
}

Field Reference

id Unique UUID identifier for the launch record.
name Name of the launch mission.
net No Earlier Than (NET) launch time in ISO 8601 UTC format.

Implementation Example

Calls a real endpoint of this API. Replace any placeholder credentials with your own key.

Request
const url = "https://ll.thespacedevs.com/2.2.0/launch/upcoming/?limit=5&format=json";
const response = await fetch(url);
if (!response.ok) throw new Error(`Request failed: ${response.status}`);
const data = await response.json();
console.log(data);

What Can You Build?

Note: These code examples are AI-generated and unverified. Always refer to the official API documentation for accurate usage.

How This API Fails

We deliberately sent this API a broken request and recorded exactly what came back on 2026-08-10. Knowing the shape of an error before you hit it makes error handling much easier to write.

HTTP 500 Requesting a path that does not exist text/html

Returned an HTML error page rather than JSON — worth knowing if your client assumes every response can be parsed as JSON.

Common Errors & Troubleshooting

Generated guidance based on this API's documentation, not observed by us. Treat it as a starting point and check against the provider's own error reference.

429 Too Many Requests The free tier has a rate limit of 15 requests per hour.
Cache API responses locally and implement retry logic with exponential backoff to stay within limits.
net::ERR_NAME_NOT_RESOLVED Using the wrong base URL for the API version.
Use https://ll.thespacedevs.com/2.2.0/ as the base URL for the stable Launch Library 2 API.
Missing net_launch_time field The launch time is not yet confirmed and may be listed as TBD.
Check the status.abbrev field for launch readiness (e.g., "Go", "TBD") before using the time.

Measured Score Breakdown

Live HTTP request to the API endpoint

Speed 18/30
Consistency 20/20
Security 20/20
Browser access 15/15
Transparency 8/15
Endpoint Response Time 204ms

Fully tested on Aug 10, 2026

Technical Specifications

Auth No Auth
HTTPS REQUIRED
CORS YES
Category Science & Math
Difficulty Beginner
Endpoint last called: 2026-08-10

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