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2026 in spaceflight

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2026 in spaceflight
The Artemis II mission, in which the Earthset photo was captured, carried four astronauts around the Moon in April 2026.
Orbital launches
First3 January
Last23 June
Total149
Successes143
Failures6
Partial failures0
National firsts
Space traveller
Rockets
Maiden flights
Retirements
Crewed flights
Orbital3
Orbital travellers11
Suborbital1
Suborbital travellers6
Total travellers17
EVAs0
2026 in spaceflight
← 2025
2027 →

This article documents expected notable spaceflight events during the year 2026.

Overview

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Astronomy and astrophysics

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On 11 January, NASA launched the Pandora small space telescope to study exoplanet atmospheres.[1][2] The same Falcon 9 flight also carried two CubeSat-type space telescopes by NASA: SPARCS and BlackCAT, alongside other payloads.[3][4][5][6]

In February, ESA's experimental heliophysics mission PROBA-3 suffered an anomaly which led to the loss of contact with one of the two spacecraft.[7] Contact was re-established with the spacecraft in March.[8]

On 19 May, ESA and CAS launched their joint heliophysics mission SMILE to study the dynamic interaction between solar wind and Earth's magnetosphere.[9][10][11]

In mid-2026, ESA plans to launch the CubeSpec satellite for testing a low-cost small satellite platform for long-term spectroscopic monitoring of stars from space on the specific case of asteroseismology of massive stars.[12]

In mid-2026, NASA plans to launch the SunRISE mission consisting of six CubeSats for studying solar activity.[13][14]

In mid-2026, NASA's Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory is planned to be boosted to a higher orbit by a private Arizona-based firm, Katalyst Space Technologies.[15] Katalyst Space will use the LINK spacecraft[16] launched on a Northrop Grumman Pegasus XL aircraft-borne rocket. Notably, this will be the final launch of Pegasus XL and will mean there are no airlaunch systems anywhere in the world.[17][18]

In August, NASA plans to launch the small UV telescope Aspera designed to map hot gas in the circumgalactic and intergalactic medium of nearby galaxies.[19]

In September, NASA plans to launch the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, an infrared space telescope for cosmology and search for exoplanets.[20][21]

China plans to launch Xuntian, a large space telescope that will co-orbit with the Tiangong space station, in late 2026[22] or in 2027.[23][24]

Taiwan plans to launch its first space telescope, the Gamma-ray Transients Monitor (GTM), as a secondary payload on the Formosat-8B satellite, in December.[25]

Solar system exploration

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On 15 May, NASA's Psyche spacecraft performed a gravity assist maneuver at Mars, flying 4,500 km from the planet's surface on its way to the asteroid Psyche.[26][27][28]

The year 2026 is expected to bring humanity's first close-up views of two Solar system objects, the near-Earth asteroids Kamoʻoalewa (Tianwen-2 orbit insertion in June; and subsequent sample collection in July) and Torifune (Hayabusa2 flyby in July).[29][30]

ESA's Hera spacecraft is expected to arrive at the double asteroid Didymos in November.[31]

The joint ESA-JAXA mission BepiColombo is expected to enter orbit around Mercury in late 2026.[32][33]

ESA plans to launch its first stand-alone deep space CubeSat, the space weather mission HENON, in late 2026.[34]

In November, NASA's twin ESCAPADE spacecraft are expected to perform a gravity assist maneuver at Earth that will send them towards Mars.[35][36]

In November or December, JAXA plans to launch the Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) mission to Mars.[37]

On 24 December, ESA's Solar Orbiter is expected to perform its 5th Venus flyby, which will tilt its heliocentric orbit from 17° to 24°.[38]

Lunar exploration

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NASA and Blue Origin plan to launch Blue Moon Pathfinder Mission 1, the first uncrewed mission of the Blue Moon Mark 1 intended to test various technologies needed for future crewed Lunar landers.[39]

NASA and Intuitive Machines plan to launch IM-3 aiming to land at Reiner Gamma.[40]

NASA and Astrobotic plan to launch Griffin Mission One aiming to land near the Moon's south pole.[41][42]

In late 2026, NASA and Firefly Aerospace plan to launch Blue Ghost Mission 2 aiming to land on the far side of the Moon. The mission also aims to deliver the ESA's communication satellite Lunar Pathfinder to Lunar orbit.[43][44][45]

China plans to launch Chang'e 7 to explore the lunar south pole in late 2026.[46] The mission will include an orbiter, a relay satellite, a lander, a rover, and a mini-flying probe.[47]

Human spaceflight

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On 8 January, Mike Fincke,[48][49] one of Crew-11 astronauts on the ISS, suffered a serious medical issue, which included a loss of ability to speak for approximately 20 minutes.[50] In response, NASA called off a spacewalk that was under preparation at that time and later decided to return the entire Crew-11 mission back to Earth earlier than planned in a "controlled medical evacuation". This marks the first time in U.S. history, as well as in the ISS program, that a space mission has been cut short due to a medical issue,[51][52] although such cases happened before during Soviet space station missions.[53][54][55][56] The Crew Dragon Endeavour with all 4 crew members of Crew-11 safely splashed down off California coast on 15 January.[57][58]

On 30 January, Blue Origin announced that it will pause the New Shepard suborbital space tourism program for "at least two years" in order to focus on crewed lunar exploration.[59][60][61] On 9 February, SpaceX likewise announced a delay in its Mars ambitions for "about five to seven years" in order to focus on lunar missions.[62][63][64] On 27 February, NASA announced a number of changes to the Artemis program with the stated purpose of increasing its cadence of missions,[65] including changing the Artemis III mission to a LEO demonstration flight, moving the first Artemis Moon landing to Artemis IV,[66][67][68] and replacing the Exploration Upper Stage with another stage,[69][70] later identified as Centaur V.[71][72]

On 11 February, China performed a successful in-flight abort test of the new Mengzhou spacecraft, which verified the spacecraft's launch escape system performance, as well as the Long March 10A first stage ability of soft landing on water.[73][74][75][76] Later in 2026, China plans to launch Mengzhou 1, the first uncrewed orbital flight of the spacecraft and the complete Long March 10A rocket, both intended for the country's crewed lunar program.[77][78][79]

On 13 February, NASA launched the first crewed spaceflight of the year, the Crew-12 mission carrying four NASA, ESA, and Roscosmos astronauts to ISS,[80] returning the station to its normal crew complement of seven in a rare indirect handover caused by the early return of Crew-11.[81][82][83] On 22 March, Roscosmos launched Progress MS-33 to ISS, the first space station uncrewed cargo flight of the year and the first launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome Site 31 after substantial repairs necessitated by the damage caused by the November 2025 launch of Soyuz MS-28.[84] Further resupply missions to ISS were: Cygnus NG-24 on 11 April,[85] Progress MS-34 on 25 April,[86] and SpaceX CRS-34 on 15 May.[87]

On 30 March, China launched a prototype of the new cargo spacecraft Qingzhou on the first flight of the Kinetica 2 rocket.[88][89][90] Once in orbit, the spacecraft conducted a series of rendezvous and proximity operations tests involving another satellite.[91] On 11 May, China launched its first Tiangong space station resupply mission of the year, Tianzhou 10,[92] followed by the first Chinese crewed spaceflight of the year, Shenzhou 23, on 24 May.[93]

On 1 April 2026, NASA launched the Artemis II mission on the Space Launch System, sending astronauts around the Moon on a ten-day lunar flyby.[94] On 6 April, Artemis II became the farthest human spaceflight in history when it surpassed the previous distance record of Apollo 13.[95] The mission's re-entry capsule Integrity safely splashed down in the Pacific Ocean southwest of San Diego on 11 April 2026.[96][97]

NASA and Boeing plan to launch the uncrewed ISS cargo mission Starliner-1, the fourth orbital flight of the Starliner spacecraft.[98]

ISRO aims to launch Gaganyaan-1, India's first uncrewed orbital test flight to support human exploration missions.[99]

NASA and Sierra Space plan to launch Dream Chaser Demo-1, the first free flyer orbital demonstration flight of the uncrewed cargo spaceplane Dream Chaser.[100]

Rocket innovation

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On 12 February, Arianespace launched 32 Amazon Leo satellites on the first flight of Ariane 64, the 4-booster variant of Ariane 6, marking the first successful orbital maiden flight of the year.[101][102]

SpaceX continued testing the Starship system, with a partially successful suborbital Flight 12 in May.[103][104][105]

ESA plans first test flights of the Themis reusable rocket demonstrator in early 2026.[106][107]

Satellite technology

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In January, Hisdesat announced that the Spainsat NG II communications satellite launched in October 2025 for Spanish government and military use was struck by a “space particle" while on its way to Geostationary orbit and suffered non-recoverable damage.[108][109]

On 12 January, the Spanish space capsule company Orbital Paradigm, supported by ESA's FLPP, launched its first technology demonstration mission. The KID capsule was expected to re-enter Earth atmosphere after reaching orbit on the PSLV-C62 flight. The Indian PSLV rocket failed in flight but KID separated from the falling launch vehicle and managed to transmit flight data during its non-nominal suborbital flight, thus becoming the lone survivor of 2026's first launch failure.[110][111][112]

On 27 January, the EU announced that the EUSPA's GOVSATCOM program for encrypted communications is now operational, integrating eight satellites from five EU member states.[113][114][115] The program serves as an operational bridge to the planned IRIS2 constellation.[116] In March, Cyprus became the first country to use GOVSATCOM operationally, possibly in connection with the 2026 Iran war or the country's Presidency of the Council of the European Union.[116]

In March 2026, the Chinese company Sustain Space demonstrated on-orbit operations of a flexible robotic arm for satellite servicing and refuelling on its Xiyuan-0 satellite launched on a Kuaizhou-11 rocket on 16 March 2026.[117]

On 28 March, ESA launched the first two satellites of the GNSS augmentation constellation Celeste (LEO-PNT) on a Rocket Lab's Electron rocket.[118][119][120] The mission delivered its first navigation signals on 8 April 2026.[121]

On 3 May, the German ICARUS Initiative launched its first operational satellite of the ICARUS 2.0 constellation, built by the Bulgarian company EnduroSat and named RAVEN, for tracking animal migrations.[122][123]

NASA plans to launch LOXSAT, a cryogenic fluid management demonstration satellite mission, no earlier than July 17.[124][125]

On 31 August and 1 September, ESA plans to send a small airplane to observe the destructive reentries of the last two satellites of the magnetospheric mission Cluster II. To better coordinate the aerial observation campaign, ESA commanded the satellites in late January 2026 to slightly alter their orbits so they reenter closer to each other. This initiative is part of ESA Space Safety Programme's efforts to reduce the risks of space debris and serves as precursor to the Draco mission planned for 2027.[126][127]

In September, ESA plans to launch the Earth observation satellites FLEX for monitoring terrestrial vegetation by measuring chlorophyll fluorescence together with the oceanography satellite Sentinel-3C for the EU's Copernicus Programme on a single flight of the Vega C rocket.[128][129][130][131]

Orbital launches

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Main articles: List of spaceflight launches in January–March 2026, List of spaceflight launches in April–June 2026, List of spaceflight launches in July–September 2026, and List of spaceflight launches in October–December 2026
Numbers of orbital launches
Month Total Successes Failures Partial failures
January 24 21 3 0
February 18 18 0 0
March 30 29 1 0
April 31 29 2 0
May 22 22 0 0
June 24 24 0 0
July 0 0 0 0
August 0 0 0 0
September 0 0 0 0
October 0 0 0 0
November 0 0 0 0
December 0 0 0 0
Total 149 143 6 0

Deep-space rendezvous

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Date (UTC) Spacecraft Event Remarks
11 March Parker Solar Probe 27th perihelion
6 April Artemis II (Integrity) Crewed flyby of the Moon First crewed spacecraft beyond low Earth orbit and to the Moon's vicinity since Apollo 17 in December 1972
1 May Juno 83rd perijove On the day of this perijove, Juno flew by Thebe at a distance of 5,000 km.
15 May Psyche Flyby of Mars[132]
3 June Juno 84th perijove On the day of this perijove, Juno flew by Adrastea at a distance of 11,747 km.
7 June Tianwen-2 469219 Kamoʻoalewa orbit insertion[133] Success[134]
8 June Parker Solar Probe 28th perihelion
4 July Tianwen-2 Rendezvous with 469219 Kamoʻoalewa and sample collection[133]
5 July Hayabusa2 Flyby of 98943 Torifune[135]
5 September Parker Solar Probe 29th perihelion
29 September JUICE Second gravity assist at Earth
11 October Juno 88th perijove On the day of this perijove, Juno flew by Metis at a distance of 1,735 km.
November BepiColombo Hermocentric orbit insertion at Mercury
November ESCAPADE Gravity assist at Earth
2 December Parker Solar Probe 30th perihelion
3 December Europa Clipper Gravity assist at Earth
24 December Solar Orbiter Fifth gravity assist at Venus This flyby of Venus will increase the inclination of the spacecraft's orbit further to 24 degrees, and will mark the start of the ‘high-latitude’ mission.
28 December Hera Arrival at binary asteroid 65803 Didymos

Extravehicular activities (EVAs)

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Start date/time Duration End time Spacecraft Crew Remarks

Orbital launch statistics

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By country

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For the purposes of this section, the yearly tally of orbital launches by country assigns each flight to the country of origin of the rocket, not to the launch services provider or the spaceport.

Country Launches Successes Failures Partial
failures
 China 44 41 3 0
 France 3 3 0 0
 Italy 1 1 0 0
 Japan 2 1 1 0
 Russia 8 8 0 0
 India 1 0 1 0
 United States 90[a] 89 1 0
World 149 143 6 0

By rocket

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By family

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By type

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By configuration

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By spaceport

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10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
Australia
Brazil
China
France
India
Iran
Israel
Japan
Kazakhstan
New Zealand
Norway
Russia
South Korea
United States
Site Country Launches Successes Failures Partial failures Remarks
Baikonur  Kazakhstan 3 3 0 0
Cape Canaveral  United States 39 38 1 0
Jiuquan  China 17 15 2 0
Kennedy  United States 2 2 0 0
Kii  Japan 1 0 1 0
Kourou  France 4 4 0 0
Mahia  New Zealand 8 8 0 0
MARS  United States 1 1 0 0
Plesetsk  Russia 5 5 0 0
Satish Dhawan  India 1 0 1 0
South China Sea  China 2 2 0 0
Taiyuan  China 7 7 0 0
Tanegashima  Japan 1 1 0 0
Vandenberg  United States 40 40 0 0
Wenchang  China 11 11 0 0
Xichang  China 5 5 1 0
Yellow Sea  China 2 2 0 0
Total 149 143 6 0

By orbit

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  •   Transatmospheric
  •   Low Earth
  •   Low Earth (ISS)
  •   Low Earth (CSS)
  •   Low Earth (SSO)
  •   Low Earth (polar)
  •   Low Earth (retrograde)
  •   Medium Earth
  •   Molniya
  •   Geosynchronous
  •   High Earth
  •   Lunar transfer
  •   Heliocentric
Orbital regime Launches Achieved Not achieved Accidentally
achieved 		Remarks
Transatmospheric 0 0 0 0
Low Earth 136 131 5 0
Geosynchronous / transfer 9 8 1 0
Medium Earth / Molniya 3 3 0 0
High Earth / Lunar transfer 1 1 0 0
Heliocentric orbit 0 0 0 0 Including planetary transfer orbits
Total 149 143 6 0

Suborbital launch statistics

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By country

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For the purposes of this section, the yearly tally of suborbital launches by country assigns each flight to the country of origin of the rocket, not to the launch services provider or the spaceport. Flights intended to fly below 80 km (50 mi) are omitted. This includes suborbital flights for all purposes, including scientific and military application.

Country Launches Successes Failures Partial
failures
 Canada 5 5 0 0
 China 2 2 0 0
 Russia 3 3 0 0
 United States 10 10 0 0
 Norway 1 1 0 0
World 25 25 0 0

Maiden flights

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Rocket Origin Organization Reusable Launch Outcome Ref.
Ceres-2 China Galactic Energy N/a 17 January Failure [136]
Ariane 64 France ArianeGroup N/a 12 February Success [137]
Kinetica 2 China CAS Space N/a 30 March Success [138]
Tianlong-3 China Space Pioneer First stage 3 April Failure
Irtysh (Soyuz 5) Russia TsSKB Progress N/a 30 April Success [139]
Starship Block 3 USA SpaceX Fully 22 May Partial success[b] [140]
Long March 12B China CASC First stage 1 June Success [141]
H3-30S Japan JAXA and MHI N/a 12 June Success [142]
Vikram-1 India Skyroot Aerospace N/a June TBD [143]
Zhihang-1 China Zenk Space[c] Engine bay June TBD [144]
Solid fuel SLV (All stages variant) South Korea ADD N/a June TBD [145]
Nebula-1 China Deep Blue Aerospace First stage Q2 TBD [146]
Long March 10B China CALT First stage July TBD [147]
RFA One Germany Rocket Factory Augsburg First stage Q3 TBD [148]
Long March 10A China CALT First stage Mid 2026 TBD [149]
HLVM3 India ISRO N/a H2 TBD [150]
Terran R USA Relativity Space First stage H2 TBD [151]
Neutron USA Rocket Lab First stage Q4 TBD [152]
Yuanxingzhe-1 China Space Epoch First stage Late 2026 TBD [153]
Epsilon S Japan JAXA N/a 2026 TBD [154]
Hyperbola-3 China i-Space First stage 2026 TBD [155][156]
Microlançador Brasileiro [pt] Brazil Brazilian Space Agency N/a 2026 TBD [157]
Pallas-1 China Galactic Energy First stage 2026 TBD [158]
Agnibaan India AgniKul Cosmos First stage 2026 TBD [159]
Miura 5 Spain PLD Space First stage 2026 TBD [160]
Nova USA Stoke Space Fully 2026 TBD [161]

Notes

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  1. ^ Includes Electron launches from Māhia
  2. ^ See Starship flight test 12 for details
  3. ^ Full company name: Beijing Space Zhihang Technology Co., Ltd.

See also

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References

[edit]
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