How many satellites are in space now?

As of 2015, there are 1,071 active, man-made satellites in orbit around Earth alone. In addition, there are two man-made satellites orbiting the moon; one each orbiting Mercury and Venus; three orbiting Mars; one orbiting Saturn; one orbiting Jupiter; one orbiting the asteroid Vesta; and four orbiting the sun.

The first man-made, or artificial, satellite in space was Sputnik 1, which was launched by the Soviet Union on Oct. 4, 1957. The overwhelming majority of active and non-active artificial satellites are in orbit around Earth.

The four artificial satellites currently orbiting the sun, called a heliocentric orbit, include the Spitzer Space Telescope, Kepler Mission, STEREO and Dawn.