The year 2007 contained several significant events in spaceflight, including a Chinese ASAT test, the launches of the US Phoenix and Dawn missions to study Mars and Asteroid belt respectively, Japan's Kaguya Lunar orbiter, and the first Chinese Lunar probe, Chang'e 1.

The internationally accepted definition of a spaceflight is any flight which crosses the Kármán line, 100 kilometres above sea level.

The first Colombian and Mauritian satellites, Libertad 1 and Rascom-QAF 1 respectively, were launched in 2007, although a helium leak reduced Rascom's operational lifetime by thirteen years.

China launched its first Lunar probe, Chang'e 1, on 24 October, with the spacecraft entering Selenocentric orbit on 5 November.

In August, the NASA Phoenix spacecraft was launched towards Mars, followed by the Dawn mission to the Asteroid belt in September.

When TMA-10 returned to Earth in October, it made the first of two consecutive ballistic re-entries of Soyuz spacecraft, due to problems with separation bolts.

Soyuz TMA-11, launched on 10 October, carried the Expedition 16 crew, and the first Malaysian in space, Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor, who was selected for flight under the Angkasawan programme.

Launch had previously been delayed from February due to Hail damage to the External Tank, which required a rollback to repair in the Vehicle Assembly Building.

Three orbital launch attempts in 2007, involving a Zenit, a Falcon 1, and a Proton failed, and two others, an Atlas V and a GSLV, resulted in partial failures.

A faulty valve caused a fuel leak in the Centaur upper stage, resulting in a premature cutoff at the end of its second burn.

This required the spacecraft to use fuel reserved for stationkeeping to raise itself to the correct orbit, at the expense of its operational lifetime.

The final launch of the year was conducted on 25 December, by a Proton-M with three GLONASS navigation satellites for the Russian government.

On 11 January, the Chinese People's Liberation Army used a Dong-Feng 21 derived anti-satellite weapon to destroy Feng Yun 1C, a retired weather satellite.