Space launches

A batch of 24 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.

A batch of 29 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.

A batch of 25 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.

A batch of 29 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.

First Starlink launch to feature a Falcon 9 booster landing within The Bahamas waters operationally, after the trajectory was tested during launch of Starlink Group 10-12 in February 2025.

Firefly Alpha's Flight 7 will be a test flight and return-To-Flight for the launch vehicle after its April 2025 launch failure. It will test and validate key systems ahead of Firefly’s Block II configuration upgrade on Flight 8 that’s designed to enhance reliability and manufacturability across the vehicle.

Flight 7 will be the last flown in Alpha’s current configuration and will test multiple Block II subsystems, including the in-house avionics and thermal improvements, to gain flight heritage and validate lessons learned ahead of the full configuration upgrade on Flight 8.

A batch of 25 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.

A batch of 28 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.

Payload is a scramjet-powered hypersonic vehicle developed by by Australian company Hypersonix.

A batch of 29 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.

Third flight of the KAIROS launch vehicle.

4 satellites will be on board:

* TATARA-1R

* SC-Sat1a

* HErO

* AETS-1

A batch of 25 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.

A batch of 29 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.

Tranche 1 Transport Layer A is one of six missions by the United States Space Force Space Development Agency (SDA) for the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture (PWSA) Tranche 1 Transport Layer constellation, which will provide assured, resilient, low-latency military data and connectivity worldwide to the full range of warfighter platforms from Low Earth Orbit satellites.

The constellation will be interconnected with Optical Inter-Satellite Links (OISLs) which have significantly increased performance over existing radio frequency crosslinks. It is expected to operate over Ka band, have stereo coverage and be dynamically networked for simpler hand-offs, greater bandwidth and fault tolerance.

This launch carries 21 satellites manufactured by Northrop Grumman.

Details TBD.

First launch of Skyroot Aerospace's Vikram-I launch vehicle, with several cubesats on board. Payload identities TBD.

Artemis II is the first crewed mission as part of the Artemis program. Artemis II will send a crew of 4 - 3 Americans and 1 Canadian around the moon and return them back to Earth.

The mission will test the core systems of NASA's Orion spacecraft including the critical life support system, among other systems which could not be tested during Artemis I due to the lack of crew onboard.

GISAT-1A (GEO Imaging Satellite) is an Indian earth observing satellite operating from geostationary orbit to facilitate continuous observation of Indian sub-continent, quick monitoring of natural hazards and disaster.

Second test flight of the Isar Spectrum launch vehicle. This launch will carry 5 cubesats and 1 non-separable experiment as part of European Space Agency (ESA)'s “Boost!” program:

* CyBEEsat (TU Berlin)

* TriSat-S (University of Maribor)

* Platform 6 (EnduroSat)

* FramSat-1 (NTNU)

* SpaceTeamSat1 (TU Wien Space Team)

* Let It Go (Dcubed, non-separable experiment)

Progress resupply mission to the International Space Station.

Dedicated rideshare flight to a sun-synchronous orbit with dozens of small microsatellites and nanosatellites for commercial and government customers.

Demonstration Flight for Russia's new Soyuz-5 launch vehicle. Details TBD.

AST SpaceMobile’s Block 2 BlueBird satellites are designed to deliver up to 10 times the bandwidth capacity of the BlueBird Block 1 satellites, required to achieve 24/7 continuous cellular broadband service coverage in the United States, with beams designed to support a capacity of up to 40 MHz, enabling peak data transmission speeds up to 120 Mbps, supporting voice, full data and video applications. The Block 2 BlueBirds, featuring as large as 2400 square foot communications arrays, will be the largest satellites ever commercially deployed in Low Earth orbit once launched.

This launch will feature 1 satellite, BlueBird 7/BlueBird Block 2 FM2.

12th test flight of the two-stage Starship launch vehicle. Maiden Flight of Starship V3

Tenth of ten GPS III missions.

The European Space Agency (ESA)'s LEO-PNT (Low Earth Orbit Positioning, Navigation and Timing) demonstrator mission will feature a 10-satellite constellation demonstration mission that will assess how a low Earth orbit fleet of satellites can work in combination with the Galileo and EGNOS constellations in higher orbits that provide Europe’s own global navigation system.

This launch will lift 2 “Pathfinder A” satellites built by Thales Alenia Space and GMV to a 510 km altitude Low Earth Orbit.

JAXA-manifested rideshare of eight separate spacecraft that includes educational small sats, an ocean monitoring satellite, a demonstration satellite for ultra-small multispectral cameras, and a deployable antenna that can be packed tightly using origami folding techniques and unfurled to 25 times its size.

The satellites were originally planned to launch with RAISE-4 on a Japanese Epsilon-S rocket, but the Epsilon-S was heavily delayed due to test firing failures.

The 8 satellites are:

* MAGNARO-II

* KOSEN-2R

* WASEDA-SAT-ZERO-II

* FSI-SAT2

* OrigamiSat-2

* Mono-Nikko

* ARICA-2

* PRELUDE

Synthetic aperture radar satellite for Japanese Earth imaging company Synspective.

Tranche 1 Transport Layer D is one of six missions by the United States Space Force Space Development Agency (SDA) for the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture (PWSA) Tranche 1 Transport Layer constellation, which will provide assured, resilient, low-latency military data and connectivity worldwide to the full range of warfighter platforms from Low Earth Orbit satellites.

The constellation will be interconnected with Optical Inter-Satellite Links (OISLs) which have significantly increased performance over existing radio frequency crosslinks. It is expected to operate over Ka band, have stereo coverage and be dynamically networked for simpler hand-offs, greater bandwidth and fault tolerance.

Tranche 1 Transport Layer E is one of six missions by the United States Space Force Space Development Agency (SDA) for the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture (PWSA) Tranche 1 Transport Layer constellation, which will provide assured, resilient, low-latency military data and connectivity worldwide to the full range of warfighter platforms from Low Earth Orbit satellites.

The constellation will be interconnected with Optical Inter-Satellite Links (OISLs) which have significantly increased performance over existing radio frequency crosslinks. It is expected to operate over Ka band, have stereo coverage and be dynamically networked for simpler hand-offs, greater bandwidth and fault tolerance.

Tranche 1 Transport Layer F is one of six missions by the United States Space Force Space Development Agency (SDA) for the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture (PWSA) Tranche 1 Transport Layer constellation, which will provide assured, resilient, low-latency military data and connectivity worldwide to the full range of warfighter platforms from Low Earth Orbit satellites.

The constellation will be interconnected with Optical Inter-Satellite Links (OISLs) which have significantly increased performance over existing radio frequency crosslinks. It is expected to operate over Ka band, have stereo coverage and be dynamically networked for simpler hand-offs, greater bandwidth and fault tolerance.

No description.

First test launch of CAS Space’s Kinetica-2 rocket.

First test launch of CASC’s Long March 12B rocket.

TDS-01 (Technology Demonstration Satellite-01) is an Indian geostationary orbit technology demonstration satellite carrying payloads for the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)’s Institute of Plasma Research, Gandhinagar and the CSIR-CEERI, Pilani.

Payloads to be tested included an internally developed 300 mN electric powered thrusters, atomic clocks, travelling wave tube amplifiers (TWTA) & a quantum communication suite (QuTDS).

Oceansat-3A is a part of ISRO's Oceansat program. Its main purpose is ocean observation, which includes gathering ocean color data, sea surface temperature measurements and wind vector data.

First test launch of Space Pioneer’s Tianlong-3 rocket.

Amazon Leo, formerly known as Project Kuiper, is a mega constellation of satellites in Low Earth Orbit that will offer broadband internet access, this constellation will be managed by Kuiper Systems LLC, a subsidiary of Amazon. This constellation is planned to be composed of 3,276 satellites. The satellites are projected to be placed in 98 orbital planes in three orbital layers, one at 590 km, 610 km and 630 km altitude.

45 satellites will be carried on each Vulcan launch.

This is the 24th flight of the Orbital ATK's uncrewed resupply spacecraft Cygnus and its 23rd flight to the International Space Station under the Commercial Resupply Services contract with NASA.

STP-S29A is a mission under the U.S. Department of Defense's Space Test Program (STP) that will deliver technology demonstrations to orbit and contribute to future space system development, with this launch delivering up to 200 kg of STP cubesats to Low Earth Orbit.

The main payload will be STPSat-7, an ESPA class satellite based on the Aegis Aerospace M-1 satellite bus used on the STPSat-4 mission for hosting research and technology demonstration payloads for the Department of Defense (DoD). One of the payload is U.S. Naval Research Laboratory's (NRL) Lightsheet Anomaly Resolution and Debris Observation (LARADO) instrument, used to detect and characterize lethal non-trackable orbital debris with lasers in orbit.

Joint mission between the European Space Agency and the Chinese Academy of Sciences to investigate the interaction between Earth’s protective shield – the magnetosphere – and the supersonic solar wind.

Progress resupply mission to the International Space Station.

Starliner-1 is the first operational flight of a Starliner spacecraft to the International Space Station as part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program. Due to problems with the Starliner spacecraft's RCS attitude control system during the Crew Flight Test mission in 2024, this mission has been re-scoped to not carry a crew by NASA. It will instead deliver necessary cargo to the orbital laboratory and allow in-flight validation of the system upgrades implemented following the Crew Flight Test mission last year.

34th commercial resupply services mission to the International Space Station operated by SpaceX. The flight will be conducted under the second Commercial Resupply Services contract with NASA.

Cargo Dragon 2 brings supplies and payloads, including critical materials to directly support science and research investigations that occur onboard the orbiting laboratory.

First of three Next Generation Overhead Persistent Infrared geostationary satellites designed for missile warning.

Contracted by NASA under the Small Business Innovation Research Phase 3 contract, Katalyst Space Technologies' LINK servicing spacecraft will rendezvous and attach to NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory to re-boost its orbit. This aims to demonstrate a key capability for the future of space exploration and extending the Swift mission’s science lifetime in gamma ray astronomy.

Progress resupply mission to the International Space Station.

LOXSAT 1 is a demonstration satellite of a complete cryogenic oxygen fluid management system in orbit, developed by Eta Space and sponsored by NASA's Tipping Point program.

The system will be integrated on a Rocket Lab Photon-LEO satellite bus and collect critical cryogenic fluid management data in orbit for 9 months, demonstrating capabilities of in-space cryogenic storage and transferal. Eta Space plans to use technology developed for this mission to develop a truly commercial depot intended to serve multiple customers in the future.

Dedicated rideshare flight to a sun-synchronous orbit with dozens of small microsatellites and nanosatellites for commercial and government customers.

Amazon Leo, formerly known as Project Kuiper, is a mega constellation of satellites in Low Earth Orbit that will offer broadband internet access, this constellation will be managed by Kuiper Systems LLC, a subsidiary of Amazon. This constellation is planned to be composed of 3,276 satellites. The satellites are projected to be placed in 98 orbital planes in three orbital layers, one at 590 km, 610 km and 630 km altitude.

35-40 satellites will be carried on each Ariane 6 launch.

The SpaceLogistics MRV-1 is a mission extension payload including a mission robotic vehicle (MRV) and multiple mission extension pods (MEPs).

Tranche 1 Tracking Layer A is one of five missions by the United States Space Force Space Development Agency (SDA) for the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture (PWSA) Tranche 1 Tracking Layer constellation, which will provide global indications, warning, tracking, and targeting of advanced missile threats, including hypersonic missile systems.

Tranche 1 Tracking Layer C is one of five missions by the United States Space Force Space Development Agency (SDA) for the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture (PWSA) Tranche 1 Tracking Layer constellation, which will provide global indications, warning, tracking, and targeting of advanced missile threats, including hypersonic missile systems.

Tranche 1 Tracking Layer E is one of five missions by the United States Space Force Space Development Agency (SDA) for the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture (PWSA) Tranche 1 Tracking Layer constellation, which will provide global indications, warning, tracking, and targeting of advanced missile threats, including hypersonic missile systems.

The ViaSat-3 is a series of three Ka-band satellites is expected to provide vastly superior capabilities in terms of service speed and flexibility for a satellite platform. Each ViaSat-3 class satellite is expected to deliver more than 1-Terabit per second of network capacity, and to leverage high levels of flexibility to dynamically direct capacity to where customers are located.

True Anomaly’s Jackal Autonomous Orbital Vehicle (AOV) will support U.S. Space Force Space Systems Command’s VICTUS HAZE Tactically Responsive Space (TacRS) mission with operations in orbit proximity with another spacecraft built by Rocket Lab National Security.

The spacecraft, once completed, will remain on call until the U.S. Space Force provides the notice to launch. The Firefly team will then have 24 hours to transport the payload fairing to the pad, mate the fairing to the Alpha rocket, fuel the rocket, and launch within the first available window.

First low-altitude hop test of a Themis demonstrator, with a targeted altitude up to 100 m.

Classified payload for the US National Reconnaissance Office

Tranche 1 Tracking Layer B is one of five missions by the United States Space Force Space Development Agency (SDA) for the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture (PWSA) Tranche 1 Tracking Layer constellation, which will provide global indications, warning, tracking, and targeting of advanced missile threats, including hypersonic missile systems.

Tranche 1 Tracking Layer D is one of five missions by the United States Space Force Space Development Agency (SDA) for the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture (PWSA) Tranche 1 Tracking Layer constellation, which will provide global indications, warning, tracking, and targeting of advanced missile threats, including hypersonic missile systems.

Amazon Leo, formerly known as Project Kuiper, is a mega constellation of satellites in Low Earth Orbit that will offer broadband internet access, this constellation will be managed by Kuiper Systems LLC, a subsidiary of Amazon. This constellation is planned to be composed of 3,276 satellites. The satellites are projected to be placed in 98 orbital planes in three orbital layers, one at 590 km, 610 km and 630 km altitude.

35-40 satellites will be carried on each Ariane 6 launch.

Starliner-2 is the second crewed operational flight of a Starliner spacecraft to the International Space Station as part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program.

VICTUS HAZE will see Rocket Lab design, build, launch, and operate a rendezvous proximity operation (RPO) capable spacecraft. U.S. Space Force Space Systems Command (SSC)’s Space Safari’s VICTUS HAZE mission will be an exercise of a realistic threat-response scenario and on-orbit space domain awareness (SDA) demonstration. Once the spacecraft build is complete, Rocket Lab will be entered into a Hot Standby Phase awaiting further direction. Once the exercise begins, Rocket Lab will be given notice to launch the spacecraft into a target orbit. After reaching orbit, the spacecraft will be rapidly commissioned and readied for operations. Rocket Lab will configure a Pioneer class spacecraft bus to meet the unique requirements of the VICTUS HAZE mission.

The mission will improve Tactically Responsive Space (TacRS) processes and timelines, demonstrating the ability to respond to on-orbit threats on very short timelines and validating techniques for space domain awareness (SDA) and on-orbit characterization. Rocket Lab’s constellation-class production capability and discriminating technical capabilities in the areas of in-space propulsion, precision attitude control, low latency communications, and autonomous operations are key enablers for this mission.

The Globalstar global mobile communications network offers global, digital real time voice, data and fax services via its Low Earth Orbit satellite constellation. The constellation operates in a 1410 km orbit inclined at 52 degrees.

In early 2022, Globalstar contracted with MDA for the construction of 17 new 3rd generation satellites to replenish the existing constellation. Rocket Lab is sub-contracted to build the satellites' buses and the launch dispensers.

24 satellites for Rivada's internet constellation.

24 satellites for Rivada's internet constellation.

24 satellites for Rivada's internet constellation.

24 satellites for Rivada's internet constellation.

24 satellites for Rivada's internet constellation.

24 satellites for Rivada's internet constellation.

Second orbital launch attempt for the South Korean start-up Innospace and its HANBIT-Nano small launch vehicle.

Shenzhou 23 will be the 23rd flight of the Shenzhou program.

13th test flight of the two-stage Starship launch vehicle. Second flight of Starship V3

Soyuz MS-29 will carry three cosmonauts and one astronaut to the International Space Station aboard the Soyuz spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The crew consists of Roscosmos cosmonauts Pyotr Dubrov and Anna Kikina, as well as NASA astronaut Anil Menon.

Demonstration flight of the Astrobotic Griffin lander and its engines, initially contracted for the cancelled NASA VIPER (Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover) mission. The vacated payload spot will now host the FLIP (FLEX Lunar Innovation Platform) lunar rover from Astrolab.

Aspera houses an ultraviolet telescope and will examine hot gas in the intergalactic medium, thought to be contributing to the birth of stars and planets. Aspera will be the first NASA astrophysics mission to gather and map these ultraviolet light signatures, potentially unlocking a deeper understanding of the origins of stars, planets, and life in the universe.

35th commercial resupply services mission to the International Space Station operated by SpaceX. The flight will be conducted under the second Commercial Resupply Services contract with NASA.

Cargo Dragon 2 brings supplies and payloads, including critical materials to directly support science and research investigations that occur onboard the orbiting laboratory.

Classified mission launched by the Space Development Agency (SDA) for Tranche 2 Transport Layer.

Sentinel-3C is the third satellite in the Sentinel-3 constellation, which provides high-accuracy optical, radar and altimetry data for marine and land services.

The Fluorescence Explorer (FLEX) satellite is a part of ESA's Earth Explorer program. The satellite will map vegetation fluorescence to quantify photosynthetic activity.

The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is a NASA infrared space telescope with a 2.4 m (7.9 ft) wide field of view primary mirror and two scientific instruments. The Wide-Field Instrument (WFI) is a 300.8-megapixel multi-band visible and near-infrared camera, providing a sharpness of images comparable to that achieved by the Hubble Space Telescope over a 0.28 square degree field of view, 100 times larger than imaging cameras on the Hubble. The Coronagraphic Instrument (CGI) is a high-contrast, small field of view camera and spectrometer covering visible and near-infrared wavelengths using novel starlight-suppression technology. Roman objectives include a search for extra-solar planets using gravitational microlensing, and probing the expansion history of the Universe and the growth of cosmic structure, with the goal of measuring the effects of dark energy, the consistency of general relativity, and the curvature of spacetime.

Classified mission launched by the Space Development Agency (SDA) for Tranche 2 Transport Layer.

Second of EUMETSAT's second generation of Metop weather satellites.

Third of EUMETSAT's third generation of weather satellite.

Five Astranis MicroGEO communications satellite to be inserted in a custom geostationary orbit, from where they conduct on-orbit maneuvers to reach their individual slots.

The 5 satellites include:

* Apco 1 & Apco 2 (Mexico)

* Thaicom-9 (Thailand)

* 1x for Chunghwa Telecom (Taiwan)

* 1x for MB Group (Oman)

Classified mission launched by the Space Development Agency (SDA) for Tranche 2 Tracking Layer.

Classified mission launched by the Space Development Agency (SDA) for Tranche 2 Tracking Layer.

QuickSounder is the first satellite mission of the Near Earth Orbit Network (NEON) program of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which aims to replace the current Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) series of polar orbit weather satellites. This pathfinder mission will demonstrate NOAA's ability to launch a small satellite within 3 years, flying a refurbished Advanced Technology Microwave Sounder (ATMS) instrument to polar orbit.

NeonSat-2 to 6 are part of the South Korean government's Earth observation micro-satellite constellation NeonSat (New-space Earth Observation Satellite). The NeonSat constellation is the first satellite system developed by the government using a mass-production approach for precise monitoring of the Korean Peninsula.

Classified mission launched by the Space Development Agency (SDA) for Tranche 2 Transport Layer.

Classified mission launched by the Space Development Agency (SDA) for Tranche 2 Transport Layer.

Dedicated rideshare flight to a sun-synchronous orbit with dozens of small microsatellites and nanosatellites for commercial and government customers.

The Investigation of Convective Updrafts (INCUS) is a NASA Earth science mission led by Colorado State University that will investigate the behavior of tropical storms in order to better represent these storms in weather and climate models. It consists of 3 SmallSats flying in tight coordination to study why convective storms, heavy precipitation, and clouds occur exactly when and where they form.

Each satellite will have a high frequency precipitation radar that observes rapid changes in convective cloud depth and intensities. 1 of the 3 satellites also will carry a microwave radiometer to provide the spatial content of the larger scale weather observed by the radars. By flying so closely together, the satellites will use the slight differences in when they make observations to apply a novel time-differencing approach to estimate the vertical transport of convective mass.

MMX is a Japanese scientific mission to land on Phobos, one of the two moons of Mars, to collect samples before bringing them back to Earth.

The mission includes a small French/German rover to explore the surface of Phobos.

2nd lunar lander developed by Firefly Aerospace. The Blue Ghost lander will be of a new two-stage version utilizing an Elytra Dark transfer vehicle to place it and the European Space Agency's Lunar Pathfinder experimental communication satellite into Lunar orbit.

The lander will land on the far side of the Moon with 2 NASA payloads:

* Lunar Surface Electromagnetics Experiment (LuSEE-Night)

* User Terminal (UT)

KOMPSAT-7 and 7A are the follow-up satellites of KOMPSAT-3A, whose mission is to provide high-resolution satellite images to satisfy South-Korea's governmental and institutional needs.

Korean Multi-purpose Satellite 6 (KOMPSAT-6) is the sixth South Korean Earth observation satellite of the KOMPSAT series. It is equipped with a synthetic aperture radar with a ground resolution between 0.5 and 20 meters.

PLATiNO 1 is an experimental X-band SAR earth observation satellite project by the Italian Space Agency (ASI), with a radar payload from Thales Alenia Space Italia. The X-band SAR will first operate in passive mode at 619 km altitude, then in active mode after the satellites moves lower to a 410 km orbit.

Classified mission launched by the Space Development Agency (SDA) for Tranche 2 Transport Layer.

Up to 18 satellites manufactured by MDA for Canadian satellite operator Telesat's Lightspeed constellation.