As of May 2023, the competition between nations for superiority in space is not as active as during the Cold War, when space was seen as potential theater of war between politically incompatible world superpowers. 

What appears to matter now chiefly the possibility to operate satellites for economical and military activities. Many nations have their satellites orbiting the Earth, often having had them launched by a third party. 

But few actors are capable of delivering a satellite into low Earth orbit: 
* The **European Union** utilizes its **Ariane** launch system since 1979, as well as on smaller **Vega** rockets since 2012.
* **Israel** has operated the light **Shavit** rocket since 1982.
* **Russia**, having inherited the Soviet Union's rich airspace programme, posesses:
    * **Soyz** (translated as 'Union'). The first model of Soyuz flew in 1966, and it is also used for cargo and **manned aircraft** launches;
    * heavy lift **Proton-M** rockets, operating since 2001 and notable for frequent failures throughout the 2010s;
    * the **Angara** rocket family, still in the test flight phase.
* **India** uses the **LVM-3** since 2017, as well as the **PSLV** for the polar orbit since 2007, and **GSLV** for geosynchronous orbits. 
* **China** uses the **Long March** rocket family since 1970, with the Long March F system also suitable for **manned spacecraft**.
* **Japan** relies on its **H-2A**, **H-3** and **Epsilon** rockets. The H-2A's predecessor, H-2, flew in 1994 and was the first launch system developed completely in Japan, without using major components licenced from USA companies.
* **USA** have multiple options for a delivery system, developed either by the government or by private companies:
    * The super-heavy lift **SLS** (Space Launch System) is **intended for crewed missions to the Moon**, developed by the national space agency NASA and flew only once in 2021
    * **Falcon** heavy-lift and super-heavy lift rocket family by SpaceX, in operation since 2015. The Falcon-9 rocket has already delivered a **crewed Dragon One spacecraft** to the orbit;    
    * **Antares 230** by  Northrop Grumman, developed together with the Ukrainian Pivdenne Design Bureau, has operated since 2013 and has set world records for the number of satellites delivered by one rocket;
    * **Minotaur** rocket family by Northrop Grumman, converted from military Peacemaker and Minuteman II rockets, first flew in 1994;
    * **Alpha** by Firefly Airspace, with 2 launches since 2021;
    * The smaller **Launcher One** by Virgin Orbit, operationg since 2021;
    * **Delta IV** heavy-lift rockets, currently produced by United Launch Alliance, first delivered a satellite in 2002 and planned for de-comission in 2024.
    
**Ukraine** used to operate their **Tsyklon-3**, **Zenit-2** and **Zenit-3** and **Dnepr** launch systems, in particular as a service to bring customers' payload to the orbit. Some launches started from the commercial mobile **Sea Launch facility**, and others from Baikonur in Kasahstan and Kourou in French Guiana. But these capacities were lost after 2014 due to the Russian military involvement and later full-scale invasion, which enormously strained the Ukraine's economy and made the space-industry cooperation between the countries impossible.

As we can see, only USA, Russia and China have capacity for a manned space flight. Yet even they have not sent a human beyond low space orbit since Apollo 17 in 1972, although the USA is actively preparing for the new Artemis mission to the Moon.

The **lunar space race** was clearly won by the USA back in the 1960s and 1970s, when they sent multiple crewed missions to the Moon, while the Soviet Union only delivered three remotely controlled rovers.

Results in **Mars exploration** are also clearly in favour of the USA: the Soviet Union has ever delivered one lander which soon lost connection, Russia made no attempts to do so and China only recently succeeded in landing a rover on Mars.

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