A statistical comparison of launch crashes at different worldwide space ports with geophysical factors has been performed. A comprehensive database has been compiled, which includes 50 years of information from the beginning of the space age in 1957 about launch crashes occurring world-wide. Special attention has been paid to statistics concerning launches at the largest space ports: Plesetsk, Baikonur, Cape Canaveral, and Vandenberg. In search of a possible influence of geophysical factors on launch failures, such parameters as the vehicle type, local time, season, sunspot number, high-energy electron fluxes, and solar proton events have been examined. Also, we have analyzed correlations with the geomagnetic indices as indirect indicators of the space weather condition. Regularities found in this study suggest that further detailed studies of space weather effects on launcher systems, especially in the high-latitude regions, should be performed. 1. Introduction Since the beginning of the space era in 1957 more than 5000 space vehicles have been launched from different space ports in the world. Details of world-wide space ports (latitude/longitude, operational period, total number of launches, and launch crashes) are listed in Table 1, and their locations are shown in Figure 1. However, 384 of these launches were reported to have failed through 2008. The total number of launches and crashes at the major space ports from 1957 till 2008 is shown in Figure 2. Table 1: Main world space ports. Figure 1: World map locations of main space sites. Arrows indicate the main direction of rocket trajectory after launch. The key world-wide spaceports are as follows: (1) Plesetsk, (2) Kapustin Yar, (3) Baykonur, (4) Jiuquan Space Center, (5) Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center, (6) Tanegashima Space Center, (7) Kagoshima Space Center, (8) Sea Launch, (9) Vandenberg, (10) Cape Canaveral, (11) Wallops space factory, and (12) Centre Spatial Guyanais (Kourou). Figure 2: Number of launches from the most-used space ports in the world from 1957 till 2008. Red mark denotes crashes. Launch crashes are commonly attributed to engineering faults in the rocket equipment and/or control system during launch. Specifically, the reason behind launch crashes can be due to a wide range of reasons: construction errors of the rocket launcher and launch complex systems; breakdown in the preparation process; human factor. Crashes during the prime stage phase of launch (up to an altitude of ~100？km) are mainly caused by combustion instability, ignition failure, turbopump overheating, insufficient
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