In May and October, the first Commercial Orbital Transportation Services resupply missions took place, during which the SpaceX Dragon became the first private spacecraft to dock with the International Space Station (ISS).

A total of 139 payloads were launched during the year, including communication and navigation satellites, logistics spacecraft and scientific probes.

Additionally, a large number of suborbital sounding rockets and ballistic missiles were launched by scientific and military organisations.

[5][6][7][8][9] Numerous significant milestones in robotic spaceflight occurred in 2012, including the landing of NASA's Curiosity rover on Mars in August,[10] and the first commercial resupply missions to the ISS in May and October.

Elsewhere in the Solar System, NASA's Dawn spacecraft completed its mission to 4 Vesta in September 2012,[13] while China achieved its first asteroid flyby in December.