2026 in spaceflight

2026 in spaceflight

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

Overview

Astronomy and astrophysics

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

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. Contact was re-established with the spacecraft in March.

On 9 April, ESA and CAS plan to launch their joint heliophysics mission SMILE to study the dynamic interaction between solar wind and Earth's magnetosphere.

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.

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

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. Katalyst Space announced that they would utilize a spacecraft launched on a Northrop Grumman Pegasus XL aircraft-borne rocket.

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.

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

In December 2026 or January 2027, ESA plans to launch the PLATO space telescope for discovery and characterization of exoplanets.

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

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.

Solar system exploration

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).

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

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

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

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

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

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°.

Lunar exploration

In early 2026, 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.

In the first half of 2026, NASA and Intuitive Machines plan to launch IM-3 aiming to land at Reiner Gamma.

In July, NASA and Astrobotic plan to launch Griffin Mission One aiming to land near the Moon's south pole.

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.

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

Human spaceflight

On 8 January, one of Crew-11 astronauts on the ISS—later identified as Mike Fincke—suffered a serious medical issue. 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, although such cases happened before during Soviet space station missions. The Crew Dragon Endeavour with all 4 crew members of Crew-11 safely splashed down off California coast on 15 January.

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. 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. On 27 February, NASA announced a number of changes to the Artemis program with the stated purpose of increasing its cadence of missions, including changing the Artemis III mission to a LEO demonstration flight, moving the first Artemis Moon landing to Artemis IV, and replacing the Exploration Upper Stage with another stage, later identified as Centaur V.

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. 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.

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, returning the station to its normal crew complement of seven in a rare indirect handover caused by the early return of Crew-11.

On 30 March, China launched a prototype of the new cargo spacecraft Qingzhou on the first flight of the Kinetica 2 rocket.

NASA plans to launch the Artemis II mission on the Space Launch System sending astronauts around the Moon on a ten-day lunar flyby in early 2026, the first crewed lunar flyby since the Apollo program.

NASA and Boeing plan to launch the uncrewed ISS cargo mission Starliner-1, the fourth orbital flight of the Starliner spacecraft, no earlier than April 2026.

ISRO aims to launch Gaganyaan-1, India's first uncrewed orbital test flight to support human exploration missions in late March 2026.

In late 2026, 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.

Rocket innovation

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.

SpaceX plans to continue testing the Starship system, with Flight 12 expected in late April.

ESA plans first test flights of the Themis reusable rocket demonstrator in early 2026.

Satellite technology

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.

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.

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. The program serves as an operational bridge to the planned IRIS2 constellation. 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.

On 28 March, ESA launched the first two satellites of the GNSS augmentation constellation Celeste (LEO-PNT) on a Rocket Lab's Electron rocket.

The German ICARUS Initiative plans to launch first operational satellites of the ICARUS 2.0 constellation, built by the Bulgarian company EnduroSat, for tracking animal migrations.

NASA plans to launch LOXSAT, a cryogenic fluid management demonstration satellite mission, in early 2026.

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.

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.

The UK Space Agency plans to launch the first satellite of the ESA-supported Atlantic Constellation for Earth observation.

Orbital launches

2026 in spaceflight

Month	Total	Successes	Failures	Partial failures
January	24	21	3	0
February	18	18	0	0
March	30	29	1	0
April	0	0	0	0
May	0	0	0	0
June	0	0	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	72	68	4	0

Deep-space rendezvous

2026 in spaceflight

<table><thead><tr><th>Date (UTC)</th><th>Spacecraft</th><th>Event</th><th>Remarks</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>May</td><td>Psyche</td><td>Flyby of Mars</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>7 June</td><td>Tianwen-2</td><td>469219 Kamoʻoalewa orbital insertion</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>4 July</td><td>Tianwen-2</td><td>Rendezvous with 469219 Kamoʻoalewa and sample collection</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>5 July</td><td>Hayabusa2</td><td>Flyby of 98943 Torifune</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>29 September</td><td>JUICE</td><td>Second gravity assist at Earth</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>November</td><td>BepiColombo</td><td>Hermocentric orbit insertion at Mercury</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>November</td><td>ESCAPADE</td><td>Gravity assist at Earth</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>3 December</td><td>Europa Clipper</td><td>Gravity assist at Earth</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>24 December</td><td>Solar Orbiter</td><td>Fifth gravity assist at Venus</td><td>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.</td></tr><tr><td>28 December</td><td>Hera</td><td>Arrival at binary asteroid 65803 Didymos</td><td></td></tr></tbody></table>

Orbital launch statistics

By country

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	18	16	2	0
	France	1	1	0	0
	Japan	1	0	1	0
	Russia	4	4	0	0
	India	1	0	1	0
	United States	47	47	0	0
World	72	68	4	0

By family

Family	Country	Launches	Successes	Failures	Partial failures	Remarks
Alpha	United States	1	1	0	0
Ariane	France	1	1	0	0
Ceres	China	2	1	1	0
Electron	United States	5	5	0	0
Falcon	United States	40	40	0	0
ILV	India	1	0	1	0
Jielong	China	2	2	0	0
KAIROS	Japan	1	0	1	0
Kinetica	China	1	1	0	0
Kuaizhou	China	1	1	0	0
Long March	China	12	11	1	0
R-7	Russia	3	3	0	0
Universal Rocket	Russia	1	1	0	0
Vulcan	United States	1	1	0	0

By type

Rocket	Country	Family	Launches	Successes	Failures	Partial failures	Remarks
Alpha	United States	Alpha	1	1	0	0
Ariane 6	France	Ariane	1	1	0	0
Ceres-1	China	Ceres	1	1	0	0
Ceres-2	China	Ceres	1	0	1	0	Maiden flight
Electron	United States	Electron	5	5	0	0
Falcon 9	United States	Falcon	40	40	0	0
Jielong 3	China	Jielong	2	2	0	0
KAIROS	Japan	KAIROS	1	0	1	0
Kinetica 2	China	Kinetica	1	1	0	0	Maiden flight
Kuaizhou 11	China	Kuaizhou	1	1	0	0
Long March 2	China	Long March	6	6	0	0
Long March 3	China	Long March	1	0	1	0
Long March 6	China	Long March	2	2	0	0
Long March 8	China	Long March	2	2	0	0
Long March 12	China	Long March	1	1	0	0
Proton	Russia	Universal Rocket	1	1	0	0
PSLV	India	ILV	1	0	1	0
Soyuz-2	Russia	R-7	3	3	0	0
Vulcan Centaur	United States	Vulcan	1	1	0	0

By configuration

Rocket	Country	Type	Launches	Successes	Failures	Partial failures	Remarks
Alpha Block I	United States	Alpha	1	1	0	0	Final flight
Ariane 64	France	Ariane 6	1	1	0	0	Maiden flight
Ceres-1S	China	Ceres-1	1	1	0	0
Ceres-2	China	Ceres-2	1	0	1	0	Maiden flight
Electron	United States	Electron	5	5	0	0
Falcon 9 Block 5	United States	Falcon 9	40	40	0	0
Jielong 3	China	Jielong 3	2	2	0	0
KAIROS	Japan	KAIROS	1	0	1	0
Kinetica 2	China	Kinetica 2	1	1	0	0	Maiden flight
Kuaizhou 11	China	Kuaizhou 11	1	1	0	0
Long March 2C	China	Long March 2	2	2	0	0
Long March 2C / YZ-1S	China	Long March 2	1	1	0	0
Long March 2D	China	Long March 2	2	2	0	0
Long March 2F/T	China	Long March 2	1	1	0	0
Long March 3B/E	China	Long March 3	1	0	1	0
Long March 6A	China	Long March 6	2	2	0	0
Long March 8A	China	Long March 8	2	2	0	0
Long March 12	China	Long March 12	1	1	0	0
Proton-M / DM-03	Russia	Proton	1	1	0	0	Final flight
PSLV-DL	India	PSLV	1	0	1	0
Soyuz-2.1a	Russia	Soyuz	1	1	0	0
Soyuz-2.1b / Fregat-M	Russia	Soyuz	2	2	0	0
Vulcan Centaur VC4S	United States	Vulcan Centaur	1	1	0	0

By spaceport

Site	Country	Launches	Successes	Failures	Partial failures	Remarks
Baikonur	Kazakhstan	2	2	0	0
Cape Canaveral	United States	22	22	0	0
Jiuquan	China	7	6	1	0
Kii	Japan	1	0	1	0
Kourou	France	1	1	0	0
Mahia	New Zealand	5	5	0	0
Plesetsk	Russia	2	2	0	0
Satish Dhawan	India	1	0	1	0
South China Sea	China	1	1	0	0
Taiyuan	China	3	3	0	0
Vandenberg	United States	20	20	0	0
Wenchang	China	3	3	0	0
Xichang	China	2	1	1	0
Yellow Sea	China	2	2	0	0
Total	72	68	4	0

By orbit

Orbital regime	Launches	Achieved	Not achieved	Accidentally achieved	Remarks
Transatmospheric	0	0	0	0
Low Earth	67	64	3	0
Geosynchronous / transfer	4	3	1	0
Medium Earth	1	1	0	0
High Earth	0	0	0	0
Heliocentric orbit	0	0	0	0	Including planetary transfer orbits
Total	72	68	4	0

Suborbital launch statistics

By country

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	4	4	0	0
	China	2	2	0	0
	Russia	1	1	0	0
	United States	9	9	0	0
	Norway	1	1	0	0
World	17	17	0	0

Expected maiden flights

2026 in spaceflight

Rocket	Origin	Organization	Reusable	Launch	Outcome	Ref.
Ceres-2	China	Galactic Energy	—N/a	17 January	Failure
Ariane 64	France	ArianeGroup	—N/a	12 February	Success
Kinetica 2	China	CAS Space	—N/a	30 March	Success
Irtysh	Russia	TsSKB Progress	—N/a	2 April	TBD
Vikram-1	India	Skyroot Aerospace	—N/a	April	TBD
HLVM3	India	ISRO	—N/a	March	TBD
Solid fuel SLV (All stages variant)	South Korea	ADD	—N/a	March	TBD
Agnibaan	India	AgniKul Cosmos	First stage	Q1	TBD
Tianlong-3	China	Space Pioneer	First stage	Q1	TBD
Starship Block 3	USA	SpaceX	Fully	Q1	TBD
Long March 10B	China	CASC	First stage	Q2	TBD
H3-30S	Japan	JAXA and MHI	—N/a	Q2	TBD
Miura 5	Spain	PLD Space	First stage	2026	TBD
Nova	USA	Stoke Space	Fully	Early 2026	TBD
Nebula-1	China	Deep Blue Aerospace	First stage	Early 2026	TBD
Neutron	USA	Rocket Lab	First stage	Late 2026	TBD
Daytona I	USA	Phantom Space	—N/a	Late 2026	TBD
Pallas-2	China	Galactic Energy	First stage	Late 2026	TBD
Antares 330	USA	Northrop Grumman	—N/a	Late 2026	TBD
Yuanxingzhe-1	China	Space Epoch	First stage	Late 2026	TBD
Long March 10A	China	CASC	First stage	2026	TBD
Terran R	USA	Relativity Space	First stage	Late 2026	TBD
Skyrora XL	UK	Skyrora	—N/a	2026	TBD
Epsilon S	Japan	JAXA	—N/a	2026	TBD
Maia	France	MaiaSpace (ArianeGroup)	First stage	2026	TBD
Hyperbola-3	China	i-Space	First stage	2026	TBD
RFA One	Germany	Rocket Factory Augsburg	First stage	2026	TBD
Microlançador Brasileiro	Brazil	Brazilian Space Agency	—N/a	2026	TBD
Pallas-1	China	Galactic Energy	First stage	2026	TBD