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!
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August 2025
Aug. 12, 8:15 p.m. EDT (0015 GMT, Aug. 13): United Launch Alliance (ULA)'s Vulcan Centaur rocket will fly its first of more than two dozen U.S. Space Force missions allocated under a national security space launch contract. USSF-106 is expected to launch sometime in the second quarter of 2025.
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Read more: Powerful new Vulcan Centaur rocket gearing up for 1st Space Force mission
August 12, 8:37 pm ET (0037 GMT, Aug. 13). : An Ariane 6 rocket from Arianespace will launch European Organization for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT) MetOp-SG A1 (MetOp Second Generation) satellite to a polar orbit at an altitude of 517 mi (832 km). The satellite also carries the Copernicus Sentinel-5 satellite onboard. MetOp satellites weigh more than 8,819 lbs (4,000 kg) each. The launch will take place at Europe's Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana.
Aug. 12, 10:05 p.m. ET (0205 GMT, Aug. 13): A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch a batch of Starlink satellites into low-Earth orbit (LEO), from SLC-4E; Vandenberg Space Force Base, California. 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.
Aug 12, 11:00 pm ET (0300 GMT, Aug. 13): Under the light of a full moon, the Perseid meteor shower will peak the evening of August 12. Unfortunately, the peak occurs just three days after a full moon, so moonlight may wash out fainter meteors. In previous years, the peak of the Perseid meteor shower's rates reached 150-200 meteors per hour.
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Read More: Perseid meteor shower 2025: when, where and how to see it
August 13, 2:45 a.m. EDT (0645 GMT): 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 5B/YZ-2 rocket. The mission will liftoff from Pad 101, at the Wenchang Space Launch Center, China (WSLC), in China. The Long March 5B/YZ-2 is a heavy lift rocket and the first Chinese launch vehicle designed to use exclusively non-hypergolic propellants.
Aug. 13, 7:09 a.m. EDT (1109 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) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCFS), 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.
Aug. 13, 11:44 a.m. ET (15:44 GMT): A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch 24 V2 Mini 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 nearly seven thousand currently in the orbital network.
August 16, 7:35 a.m. EDT (1135 GMT): A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch a batch of V2 Mini 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.
August 17, 11:44 a.m. ET (1544 GMT): A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch a batch of Starlink satellites into low-Earth orbit (LEO), from Space Launch Complex-4E (SLC-4E), Vandenberg Space Force Base (VSFB), California. 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.
August 20: SpaceX will launch it's eighth mission of the X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle (OTV-8), a cargo spaceplane built by Boeing for the U.S. Space Force (USSF) with the Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The USSF-36 mission will test whether space-based communications using laser links between the spaceplane and “proliferated commercial satellite networks in Low Earth Orbit" are viable or not.
Aug. 20, 1:13 pm ET (17:13 GMT): Russian space agency Roscosmos will launch the Soyuz 2.1a rocket carrying a Bion-M satellite, a type of biological research satellite. The launch will happen at the launch pad at the Baikonur Cosmodome in Kazakhstan.
August 21, 3:57 am EDT (07:57 GMT): A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will lift off with thousands of pounds of science and supplies to the International Space Station aboard a Crew Dragon spacecraft. According to SpaceFlight now: "The Dragon flying this mission will include a new propulsion system within the vehicle’s trunk that will allow it to perform a boost of the space station’s orbit. This is a milestone in SpaceX’s development of the ISS Deorbit Vehicle, which will help slowly lower the orbit of the space station at the end of its functional life around the 2030/2031 timeframe."
August 27, 7:30 p.m. EDT (2330 GMT): SpaceX will launch the tenth flight of its Starship Super Heavy rocket. The mission will liftoff from SpaceX's Starbase facility in South Texas.
August 31: The JUICE (Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer) spacecraft will perform a Venus flyby. This flyby is one of several gravity assist maneuvers designed to help JUICE reach Jupiter. The spacecraft previously performed a lunar-Earth flyby in August 2024 to adjust its trajectory.
Read more: JUICE: A complete guide to Jupiter's icy moon exploring mission
NET August: 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.
September 2025
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.
September 7, 2025: A total lunar eclipse will happen the evening of September 7 as the Earth, Sun and moon all align, with the Earth blocking the Sun's light from the moon and causing an eclipse. This will be the longest total lunar eclipse since 2022. Full totality can be seen from Australia, Asia, Africa, and Europe. These often are called "blood moons" due to the reddish appearance the moon takes during the eclipse.
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September 11, 9:49 am EDT (13:49 pm GMT): The Russian space agency, Roscosmos, will send a Soyuz 2.1A rocket up to the International Space Station (ISS) as part of a progress and resupply mission. The rocket will launch from the Cosmodrome in the Republic of Kazakhstan.
September 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
NET Sept. 2025: 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
NET mid-Sept. 2025: SpaceX will launch a Falcon 9 rocket with a Cygnus spacecraft from Northrop Grumman on a resupply mission to the International Space Station (ISS).
NET Sept. 2025: 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.
October 2025
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
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
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
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 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.
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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