Space calendar 2025: Rocket launches, skywatching events, missions & more!

Graphic illustration with 'space calendar' in large blue neon letters and 2025 below it in smaller white letters. Below the title are four neon images depicting a meteor or comet, a telescope, a rocket launch and an astronaut's helmet. There is a starry background to the entire image.
(Image credit: Neon images: Zeybart via Getty Images. Image assembled with Canva by Daisy Dobrijevic)

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.

Please note: Launch dates are subject to change and will be updated throughout the year as firmer dates arise. Please DO NOT schedule travel based on a date you see here. Launch dates are collected from NASA events, ESA news, Roscosmos space launch schedule, Spaceflight Now launch schedule, Everyday Astronaut, Supercluster and others.

Related: Wondering what happened today in space history? Check out our "On This Day in Space" video!

Is there a rocket launch today?

September 2025

Rocket Launch
A Russian Soyuz rocket launches the Kosmos 2558 military satellite from Plesetsk Cosmodrome on Aug. 1, 2022.
Rocket Launch
Roscosmos, Soyuz 2.1b/Fregat: Glonass-K1 No. 18

Sept. 12, 10:10 p.m. ET (0210 GMT): Roscosmos, the Russian space agency, will launch a Soyuz 2.1b/Fregat rocket with the Glonass-K1 No. 18 navigation satellite. The rocket will liftoff from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome, in Russia.

Rocket Launch
A white rocket topped with a payload fairing stands on the launch pad in a close-up set against a black sky.
Rocket Launch
SpaceX, Falcon 9,: Starlink 17-10

Sept. 13, 11:41 a.m. EDT (1541 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.

Rocket launch
a spacecraft is held by a robotic arm above Earth.
Rocket launch
SpaceX, Falcon 9: NG-23

Sept. 14, 6:11 p.m. EDT (2211 GMT): SpaceX will launch a Falcon 9 rocket with a Cygnus spacecraft from Northrop Grumman on a resupply mission to the International Space Station (ISS).

Rocket Launch
A Long March 2C rocket carrying MISRSAT-2 and two other satellites lifts off from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center on Dec. 4, 2023 local time.
Rocket Launch
CASC, Long March 2C/YZ-1S: unknown payload

Sept. 14, 9:20 p.m. ET (0120 GMT): The China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) is expected to launch a Space Computing Constellation on a Long March 2C/YZ-1S rocket . The mission will liftoff from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center (JSLC), in China. Long March 2D is a 2-stage rocket used to deliver satellites to low-Earth orbit (LEO) and sun-synchronous (SSO) orbits.

Rocket Launch
A white rocket topped with a payload fairing stands on the launch pad in a close-up set against a black sky.
Rocket Launch
SpaceX, Falcon 9,: Starlink 17-12

Sept. 17, 11:41 a.m. EDT (1541 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.

Rocket Launch
A white rocket topped with a payload fairing stands on the launch pad in a close-up set against a blue sky.
Rocket Launch
SpaceX, Falcon 9: Starlink 10-61

September 18, 5:30 a.m. EDT (0930 GMT): A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch a batch of Starlink satellites into low-Earth orbit (LEO), from Space Launch Complex-40 (SLC-40), Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCFS), Florida. SpaceX's megaconstellation of LEO Starlink satellites provides low-cost internet to locations around the globe, with nearly seven thousand currently in the orbital network.

Rocket Launch
A hexagonal mission patch that says NS-35.
Rocket Launch
Blue Origin, New Shepard: NS-35

NET Sept. 18: Blue Origin will launch its New Shepard rocket on the NS-35 mission carrying a set of experiments and research designed by students, teachers and university teams on a suborbital flight. This will be New Shepard's seventh launch of 2025.

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Read more: Watch Blue Origin launch its 200th payload on 35th New Shepard rocket

Rocket Launch
A Canadian rocket flies in space
Rocket Launch
NordSpace, Taiga: Getting Screeched In

NET Sept. 20: 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.

Rocket Launch
A white rocket topped with a payload fairing stands on the launch pad in a close-up set against a blue sky.
Rocket Launch
SpaceX, Falcon 9: Starlink 10-27

September 21, 5:20 a.m. EDT (0920 GMT): A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch a batch of Starlink satellites into low-Earth orbit (LEO), from Space Launch Complex-40 (SLC-40), Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCFS), Florida. SpaceX's megaconstellation of LEO Starlink satellites provides low-cost internet to locations around the globe, with nearly seven thousand currently in the orbital network.

Skywatching
A partial solar eclipse, as observed by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory in February 2012.
Skywatching
Partial solar eclipse

Sept. 21, 2025: A partial solar eclipse will occur on the evening of September 21, as parts of the south-eastern hemisphere see the Sun partially blocked by the moon. The partial eclipse will be visible from New Zealand, Australia’s eastern coast, parts of Antarctica and some Pacific islands.

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Read more: Partial solar eclipse September 2025: Live updates

Space Industry
NASA's 23rd group of astronaut candidates pose together with their fellow trainees, Mohammad AlMulla and Nora AlMatrooshi from the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Space Industry
NASA Astronaut Class announcement

September 22, 12:30 p.m. EDT (1630 GMT): After evaluating more than 8,000 applications, NASA will debut its 2025 class of astronaut candidates during a ceremony at the Johnson Space Center, in Houston, Texas.

Rocket launch
NASA’s Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP) spacecraft has completed a critical design review and is on track for its scheduled 2025 launch.
Rocket launch
SpaceX, Falcon 9: NASA IMAP

Sept. 23, 7:32 a.m. EDT (1132 GMT): SpaceX has a launch planned for the Falcon 9 rocket which is part of a rideshare mission carrying two spacecraft for NASA and one for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Onboard is NASA's Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP), which has 10 instruments to study the Sun’s heliosphere. Read more

Space Industry
four astronauts in orange spacesuits pose for a portrait
Space Industry
NASA Artemis 2 preview

September 23: NASA will host a series of media briefings on Tuesday, Sept. 23, and Wednesday, Sept. 24, to preview the upcoming Artemis II mission, slated for no later than April 2026. The test flight, a launch of the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket and Orion spacecraft, will send NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, along with CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen, on an approximately 10-day mission around the Moon.

Rocket Launch
A ULA Atlas V rocket carrying the first two prototypes for Amazon's Project Kuiper internet constellation makes its way to the launch pad on Oct. 5, 2023.
Rocket Launch
ULA, Atlas V 551: Project Kuiper (KA-03)

NET Sep. 24: United Launch Alliance (ULA) will launch an Atlas V 551 rocket to deliver the second batch of Project Kuiper megaconstellation internet satellites to low-Earth orbit. Liftoff for the KA-02 mission will take place from ULA's Space Launch Complex-41 (SLC-41), at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, in Florida.

Rocket launch
Blue Origin's first New Glenn rocket on the launch pad at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
Rocket launch
Blue Origin, New Glenn: ESCAPADE

NET Sep. 29: 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.

Space exploration
This illustration shows NASA's Juno spacecraft orbiting over Jupiter's south pole. The probe has just completed its eighth science flyby of the gas giant.
Space exploration
Juno mission ending

NET Sept. 29: NASA's Juno spacecraft orbited Jupiter 37 times in 2018, which completed its mission. Since then, the spacecraft has been extending that mission, with an end-date sometime in September. If the mission is ended, Juno may be deliberately crashed into the planet Jupiter.

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Read more: NASA extends planetary science missions at Mars and Jupiter

Rocket Launch
Rocket Lab's HASTE suborbital vehicle launches on the "HASTE a La Vista" mission for the U.S. military from Virginia on Nov. 24, 2024.
Rocket Launch
Rocket Lab, HASTE: JAKE 4

NET September: Rocket Lab will launch a HASTE (Hypersonic Accelerator Suborbital Test Electron) rocket from the company's Launch Complex 2, at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility, in Virginia. The payload, JAKE 4, is a classified government payload.

Rocket Launch
A Minotaur 4 rocket sits on its launch pedestal here Wednesday, Aug. 3, 2011. The Minotaur 4 will carry DARPA's hypersonic HTV-2 aircraft scheduled to launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California in August 2011.
Rocket Launch
Northrup Grumman, Minotaur IV: EWS OD-1

NET Summer 2025: 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.

October 2025

Skywatching
Photographer Brad Goldpaint captured this spectacular view of the Orionid meteor shower over Middle Falls outside the city of McCloud, Calif., near Mount Shasta in 2011. The photo, called Nighted Veil, is a composite of many meteors streaking through the Milky Way galaxy over the lighted falls.
Skywatching
Orionid meteor shower peaks

Oct. 20, (12 am ET, 0400 GMT, Oct. 21): The Orionid meteor shower will be active between Sept. 26 to Nov. 22 2025 and will peak on Oct. 20-21 between midnight and dawn. The meteors are some of the fastest among meteor showers because Earth is hitting the stream of particles from Halley's Comet almost head-on.

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Read more: Orionid meteor shower 2025: When, where and how to see it

Rocket Launch
a black and white space plane stands on end in folded up in a hanger.
Rocket Launch
ULA, Vulcan Centaur: Sierra Space — Dream Chaser

NET Summer 2025: 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

Rocket Launch
a orange rocket lifts off during day time as a huge cloud of smoke forms beneath it
Rocket Launch
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, JAXA, H3: HTV-X

Late fall 2025: An H3 launch vehicle developed by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency), will launch the first HTV-X cargo resupply vehicle to the International Space Station.

November 2025

Skywatching
This false-color video still from 2002 Leonid meteor shower, seen through a camera operated by the NASA Meteoroid Environment Office at Marshall Space
Skywatching
Leonid meteor shower peak

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

Rocket Launch
The Russia Soyuz spacecraft in front of an aurora, as captured by NASA astronaut Matthew Dominick on the International Space Station during Expedition 71 in 2024.
Rocket Launch
Roscosmos, Soyuz rocket: Soyuz MS-28

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.

Rocket Launch
Falcon 9 rocket.
Rocket Launch
SpaceX, Falcon 9: Sentinel-6B

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

Skywatching
Photographer Matt Payne blended 2 hours of photos into one composite for this image taken at the Paint Mines Interpretive Park in Colorado on Dec. 13, 2012..
Skywatching
Geminid meteor shower peaks

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

Skywatching
This NASA graphic shows where the Ursid meteor shower will appear to radiate out from a part of the northern night sky during the 2016 Ursids peak on Dec. 21 and 22.
Skywatching
Ursid meteor shower peaks

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

Spaceflight
A Soyuz TMA-11M space capsule lands with Expedition 39 Commander Koichi Wakata of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), Soyuz Commander Mikhail Tyurin of Roscosmos, and Flight Engineer Rick Mastracchio of NASA near the town of Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan on May 14, 2014.
Spaceflight
Soyuz MS-27 astronauts return to Earth

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

January

Rocket Launch
A Canadian rocket flies in space
Rocket Launch
NordSpace, Taiga: Suborbital Flight Test 2

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

Rocket Launch
two massive side booster spew yellow orange fire lifting the core stage of a rocket as two main engines also ignite
Rocket Launch
NASA, SLS: Artemis 2

NET Feb. 2026: Artemis 2 is the second scheduled flight of the Artemis program and the first crewed Artemis mission. Three astronauts from NASA and one from the Canadian Space Agency will use on a Space Launch System (SLS) rocket aboard the Orion spacecraft on the lunar flyby mission.  

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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.

Rocket Launch
A Rocket Lab Electron booster is decked out with a big NASA logo ahead of the company's first launch for the U.S. space agency from its New Zealand launch site, on the North Island's Mahia Peninsula. Liftoff is scheduled for Dec. 12, 2018.
Rocket Launch
Rocket Lab, Electron: NASA, Aspera smallsat

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.

Rocket Launch
Illustration shows the first the first Haven-2 module, scheduled to be operational  in 2028
Rocket Launch
SpaceX, Falcon 9: Vast — Haven-1

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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