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?

October 2025

Rocket Launch
A computer with a large wifi logo sits atop a reflective surface. To the left, in the distance, a streak of light arches into the sky.
Rocket Launch
SpaceX, Falcon 9: Project Kuiper (KF-03)

October 11, 9:34 p.m. EDT (0134 GMT, Oct. 9): A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch the first batch of Project Kuiper megaconstellation internet satellites carried by a SpaceX rocket to low-Earth orbit (LEO). Liftoff for the KF-03 mission will take place from Launch Complex-39A (LC-39A), at NASA's Kennedy Space Center (KSC), in Florida.

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 10-52

October 12, 4:11 a.m. EDT (0811 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
Against a blue sky, a black-tiled dual-finned nose of a giant rocket stands through the center.
Rocket launch
SpaceX, Starship Flight 11

October 13, 7:15 p.m. EDT (2315 GMT): SpaceX will launch the 11th flight of its Starship Super Heavy rocket. The mission will liftoff from SpaceX's Starbase facility in South Texas.

Rocket Launch
satellite in orbit around earth
Rocket Launch
SpaceX, Falcon 9: SDA Tranche 1 Layer C

Oct. 14, 7:11 p.m. EDT (2311 GMT): A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch the Tranche 1 Transport Layer C payload, one of six missions by the Space Development Agency. Liftoff will take place from Space Launch Complex-4E (SLC-4E), at Vandenberg Space Force Base (VSFB), in California.

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 10-17

October 15, 12:21 p.m. EDT (1621 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 Chinese Long March 5B rocket launches the first 10 satellites for the Guowang broadband megaconstellation on Dec. 16, 2024.
Rocket Launch
CASC, Long March 8A: unknown payload

October 15, 9:40 p.m. EDT (0130 GMT, Oct. 16): The China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) is expected to launch a batch of SatNet communication satellites into low-Earth orbit on a Long March 8A rocket. The mission will liftoff from the Wenchang Space Launch Center, China (WSLC), in China.

Rocket Launch
wide shot of a white rocket on the launch pad, surrounded by four tall lightning towers
Rocket Launch
ISRO, LVM-3: CMS-02 (GSAT-7R)

October 17, 7:30 a.m. EDT (1130 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.

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 11-19

October 17, 8:00 p.m. EDT (0000 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 orange rocket lifts off during day time as a huge cloud of smoke forms beneath it
Rocket Launch
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, JAXA, H3: HTV-X1

October 20, 9:58 p.m. EDT (0158 GMT, Oct. 21): 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.

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
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 October: 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.

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

NET mid-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 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

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 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.

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 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

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

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.


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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