2025 is a busy year for spaceflight and exploration with countless launches, mission milestones, industry conventions and skywatching events to look forward to.
With so much going on, it's hard to keep track of everything. Never fear — keep up with the latest events in our 2025 space calendar. You can also Find out what's up in the night sky this month with our visible planets guide and skywatching forecast.
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October 2025
Oct. 31, 11:44 a.m. EDT (1544 GMT): The China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) is expected to launch three Chinese astronauts on a Long March 2F/G rocket for a roughly six-month mission aboard the Tiangong space station . The mission will liftoff from Launch Area-4 (LA-4), at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center (JSLC), in China.
October 31, 4:06 p.m. EDT (2006 GMT): A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch a batch of Starlink satellites into low-Earth orbit (LEO), fromSLC-4E, Vandenberg Space Force Base, California. SpaceX's megaconstellation of LEO Starlink satellites provide low-cost internet to locations around the globe, with more than 8,000 currently in the orbital network.
November 2025
November 2, 1:09 a.m. EST (0509 GMT): SpaceX will launch a rideshare mission named Bandwagon-4, the fourth mission in SpaceX's Bandwagon series. The launch will 18 payloads on board this mission for KOREA ADD, Exolaunch, Fergani, Tomorrow Companies Inc., Starcloud, and Vast.
November 2, 6:56 a.m. EST (1056 GMT): The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) will launch CMS-03 (GSAT-7R), aboard a Launch Vehicle Mark-3 (LVM-3), previously known as the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark III (GSLV Mk III) rocket. The mission will liftoff from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh. CMS-03 (GSAT-7R) is a communications satellite for the Indian Navy.
November 2, 10:45 a.m. EST (0245 GMT): The China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) is expected to launch an unknown payload on a Long March 7A rocket . The mission will liftoff from Launch Area-130 (LA-130) at the Wenchang Satellite Launch Center (WSLC), in China. The Long March 7A is a 197-foot-tall (60 meters) variant of the Long March 7 rocket and is designed to send spacecraft into GTO. It is also a nontoxic alternative to the workhorse Long March 3B.
November 4, 4:03 pm EST (2003 GMT). : An Ariane 6 rocket from Arianespace will launch the Sentinel-1D satellite to a sun-synchronous orbit. The Satellite will provide continuous imagery of Earth’s surface as part of the Sentinel-1 constellation.
November 5, 2:45 p.m. ET (1845 GMT): Rocket Lab will launch an Electron rocket from the company's Pad B, at Launch Complex 1 in Mahia, New Zealand. The mission will launch a synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imaging satellite for iQPS called QPS-SAR-14 (nicknamed YACHIHOKO-I for the Japanese god of nation-building). The spacecraft will join iQPS’ growing constellation to deliver frequent high-resolution Earth-imaging of specific locations around the globe.
November 5, 6:08 p.m. ET (2208 GMT): A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch a batch of Starlink satellites into low-Earth orbit (LEO), from SLC-40, at Cape Canaveral Space Force Base, in Florida. SpaceX's megaconstellation of LEO Starlink satellites provide low-cost internet to locations around the globe, with nearly seven thousand currently in the orbital network.
November 5, 10:24 p.m. EST: United Launch Alliance (ULA) will launch an Atlas V 551 rocket to deliver the ViaSat-3 mission with a series of three Ka-band satellites to geostationary transfer orbit. Liftoff will take place from ULA's Space Launch Complex-41 (SLC-41), at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, in Florida.
November 6, 3:56 p.m. EST (1956 GMT): A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch a batch of Starlink satellites into low-Earth orbit (LEO), fromSLC-4E, Vandenberg Space Force Base, California. SpaceX's megaconstellation of LEO Starlink satellites provide low-cost internet to locations around the globe, with more than 8,000 currently in the orbital network.
NET November 8: Blue Origin will launch NASA's ESCAPADE mission on the second flight of the New Glenn rocket. Liftoff will take place from Launch Complex-36, at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The two ESCAPADE probes were built by California-based company Rocket Lab, and will be operated by the University of California, Berkeley Space Sciences Laboratory. The mission will analyze Mars’ magnetic field.
NET Oct: NordSpace will launch the first test flight of its suborbital Taiga rocket. The mission will launch from Space Launch Complex-02 (SLC-02) at the company's Atlantic Spaceport Complex (ASX), in Newfoundland, Canada. The mission, "Getting Screeched In", will launch Taiga on a low-altitude flight to test its primary systems.
November 5, 6:30 a.m. EST (1030 GMT): The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), will launch the CMS-02 (GSAT-7R) naval communications satellite from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, India, on a LVM-3 rocket. The LVM-3 is a three-stage heavy lift launch vehicle with two solid rocket boosters, a liquid core stage and a cryogenic upper stage, capable of launching payloads into geosynchronous orbit.
Nov. 16, 8 pm ET (0000 GMT Nov. 17) : The Leonid meteor shower is active from Nov. 3 to Dec. 2 this year and will peak on Nov. 17. The best time to look for the Leonids will be late on the night of Nov. 16 until dawn on Nov. 17. The shower can result in impressive fireballs producing long, bright and colorful meteor streaks.
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Read More: Leonid meteor shower 2025: When, where and how to see it
NET November: NASA astronaut Chris Williams will launch on his first mission to the International Space Station, serving as a flight engineer and Expedition 74 crew member.
Williams will launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan aboard the Roscosmos Soyuz MS-28 spacecraft in November, accompanied by Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and Sergei Mikaev. The trio will spend approximately eight months aboard the orbiting laboratory.
NET November: SpaceX will launch its Falcon 9 rocket as part of the Sentinel-6 mission. The Sentinel-6B “will use a radar altimeter to bounce signals off the ocean surface and deliver continuity of ocean topography measurements,” according to NASA. The missions is designed through a partnership between NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA), and the European Organization for the Exploration of Meteorological Studies.
December 2025
Dec 13, 8 pm ET (0000 GMT Dec. 14): The Geminid meteor shower peaks overnight on Dec. 13 and Dec. 14. The Geminids are active between Nov. 19 to Dec. 24 each year. Unlike a majority of the meteor showers we see on Earth, the Geminids are the product of an asteroid, not a comet.
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Read More: Geminid meteor shower 2025: When, where and how to see one of the best meteor showers of the year
Dec 21, 8 pm ET (0000 GMT Dec. 22): The Ursid meteor shower is active between Dec. 13 to Dec. 26 and will peak on Dec. 22. The best time to look out for Ursids is the evening of Dec. 21 through dawn.
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Read More: Ursid meteor shower 2025: Everything you need to know
NET Dec: Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergei Ryzhikov and Alexei Zubritsky and NASA astronaut Jonathan Kim return to Earth aboard their Soyuz MS-27 spacecraft. They are scheduled to touchdown in Kazakhstan, wrapping up a six-month stint aboard the International Space Station.
2026
NET 2026: Northrup Grumman will launch the EWS OD-1 payload for the United States Space Force. The Electro-Optical/Infrared Weather System (EWS) Operational Demonstration-1 (OD-1) is a weather satellite made by General Atomics launching into low-Earth obit (LEO) on a Minotaur IV rocket from Space Launch Complex-8 (SLC-8) at Vandenberg Space Force Base (VSFB), in California.
NET 2026: United Launch Alliance (ULA) will launch Sierra Space's Dream Chaser space plane aboard a Vulcan Centaur rocket. The mission will launch from Space Launch Complex-41 (SLC-41), at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, in Florida. the first-ever winged commercial spaceplane, to the International Space Station.
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Read more: ULA delays Dream Chaser space plane launch to certify Vulcan Centaur rocket for US military missions
January
NET 2026: NordSpace will launch the second test flight of its suborbital Taiga rocket. The mission will launch from Space Launch Complex-02 (SLC-02) at the company's Atlantic Spaceport Complex, in Newfoundland, Canada.
February
Feb. 5: NASA's Artemis 2 mission is expected to launch no earlier than Feb. 5, during a window open several days each month through April 2026. Artemis 2 will send three NASA astronauts and one Canadian Space Agency (CSA) astronaut around the moon for the humanity's first lunar excursion in more than 50 years. The mission will launch the crew aboard an Orion spacecraft on NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, on a free-return trajectory lunar flyby to the moon and back to Earth.
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NASA commander Reid Wiseman, NASA pilot Victor Glover, NASA mission specialist Christina Koch and CSA mission specialist Jeremy Hansen will fly around the moon on a roughly 10-day-long mission.
Q1 2026: Rocket Lab will launch an Electron rocket with NASA's Aspera smallsat satellite. Aspera will examine hot gas in the space between galaxies, called the intergalactic medium. The mission will study the inflow and outflow of gas from galaxies, a process thought to contribute to star formation.
NET May 2026: California-based startup Vast Space plans to loft its Haven-1 outpost aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket no earlier than May 2026. Haven-1 — which will eventually be incorporated as a module into a larger space station, and will be followed in quick succession by Vast-1, a four-person jaunt to the new station that could last up to 30 days. Vast-1 will also launch atop a Falcon 9, and its astronauts will ride on a SpaceX Dragon capsule.
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Read more: SpaceX and Vast want ideas for science experiments on Dragon spacecraft and Haven-1 space station
Past Events
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