Actually, Wang Kon launched in 1954.
You can see this by the last part he built (January, 1954AD: Wang Kon has completed SS Docking Bay!) .
He built no parts in 1955 so why launch a turn afterwards?
As in another thread, the answer is the message you get when the AI launches is given to you the turn after they have launched, so that when you got it, he had already launched.
Not a bug, just a well written information feature.