Gizmodo’s Information to the Coolest House Missions of 2026

There have been many spectacular moments in spaceflight this yr, but when the business had a slogan, it might be “onwards and upwards.” So, as 2025 involves an finish, it’s time to shift our focus towards the launches and mission milestones on deck for 2026.

Over the following yr, house companies and corporations will push the boundaries of exploration additional than ever earlier than. Deliberate missions embody the primary launch of probably the most highly effective rocket ever constructed, a lunar touchdown, and a crewed flight across the Moon—and that’s just the start.

With out additional ado, listed below are the 11 most enjoyable spaceflight occasions scheduled for 2026. You gained’t wish to miss a single one.

First launch of Starship Model 3 (early 2026)

Starship Model 3 pic.twitter.com/1sHD25y49o

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 13, 2025

The third iteration of SpaceX’s Starship megarocket would be the largest, most powerful launch vehicle ever built. Starship Model 3 (V3) is designed to take American astronauts again to the Moon, deploy the following technology of Starlink satellites, and usher in a brand new period of Mars exploration. If we’re fortunate, we should see it launch in early 2026.

In comparison with Starship V2, this upgraded model can be about 5 ft (1.5 meters) taller with a bigger propellant capability and new docking adapters for in-orbit gas switch. That final improve can be important to NASA’s Artemis 3 mission, which can use a modified model of Starship V3 known as the Human Touchdown System (HLS) to return astronauts to the Moon.

Nevertheless, SpaceX’s Artemis 3 contract may get swiped by Blue Origin, which is working by itself lunar lander—extra on that in a second.

As we all know from the debut of Starship V2, there’s a serious studying curve to launching a new-and-improved Starship. It’s completely probably that V3’s first few flights gained’t go as deliberate, and we could even see some explosive failures. No matter occurs can be pivotal for SpaceX and NASA, as V3’s growth underpins the Artemis timeline, Starlink’s evolution, and Starship’s path to full operation.

Blue Origin’s Blue Moon Pathfinder Mission 1 launch (early 2026)

Alright, again to Blue Origin. Blue is creating two lunar landers: Blue Moon Mark 1 (for cargo) and Blue Moon Mark 2 (for crew and cargo). The latter is the lander that might nab the Artemis 3 contract from SpaceX if it’s able to fly earlier than the Starship HLS, however its growth hinges on the success of Blue Moon Mark 1 (MK1).

The 26-foot-tall (8-meter-tall) cargo lander is predicted to embark on its first flight in the course of the first quarter of 2026, touching down close to the Shackleton crater on the Moon’s south pole. This demonstration mission, dubbed “Pathfinder,” will purpose to validate the entire lander’s {hardware} and methods, together with its never-before-flown BE-7 engine.

MK1 is the most important business cargo lander ever constructed, which can permit it to hold extra payload than any of NASA’s Business Lunar Payload Providers (CLPS) landers. When it launches aboard New Glenn subsequent yr, it’ll bring a NASA payload known as SCALPSS (Stereo Cameras for Lunar Plume Floor Research) together with it. This array of cameras will take photographs of MK1’s descent and collect knowledge to help future Moon landings.

NASA’s Artemis 2 mission launch (no later than April)

Talking of going to the Moon, NASA plans to launch its first crewed mission below the Artemis program no later than April 2026. Artemis 2 can be humanity’s farthest journey from Earth since the Apollo era ended over 50 years ago.

The mission will launch aboard NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket from Kennedy House Middle in Cape Canaveral, Florida. The crew—consisting of mission commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, and mission specialists Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen—will journey contained in the Orion spacecraft.

After separating from SLS, Orion will perform a number of maneuvers to lift its orbit round Earth and finally set itself on a lunar free return trajectory. This can ship the spacecraft and its crew on a slingshot-like journey across the Moon, utilizing Earth’s gravity to naturally pull Orion again house.

To be clear, the Artemis 2 mission is not going to land astronauts on the lunar floor, however this 10-day flyby will pave the best way for the Artemis 3 Moon touchdown. It’ll additionally make historical past as the primary to ship a girl and an individual of colour on a lunar mission. When you solely watch one house launch in 2026, it needs to be this one.

Huge Haven-1 launch: world’s first business house station (Could)

Since 2000, the International Space Station (ISS) has served as an orbital outpost for astronauts spanning 5 house companies and 15 nations. In 2030, NASA plans to retire it, sending it falling via Earth’s environment the place most of it’ll expend throughout reentry.

That doesn’t imply the company and its worldwide companions will quit their steady presence in low-Earth orbit. In 2021, NASA created the Business LEO Locations (CLD) program to help the design, construct, and operation of personal Earth-orbiting house stations. A number of corporations are engaged on this, together with Huge, a California-based aerospace agency.

Huge plans to ship Haven-1, a single-module house station, to orbit in Could 2026. The station is designed to launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. Weighing in at roughly 31,000 kilos (14,000 kilograms), Haven-1 would be the largest spacecraft the rocket has ever carried. Huge claims it’ll even be the world’s first business house station.

Haven-1 can be able to internet hosting as much as 4 astronauts at a time for short-duration missions. That’s not appropriate to interchange the ISS, however it’ll function a stepping stone to the modular Haven-2 space station. The corporate goals to suggest Haven-2 for the second section of NASA’s CLD program, with plans to launch the primary module in 2028.

NASA SunRISE mission launch (summer time 2026)

Understanding the solar activity that drives house climate is important to defending infrastructure in Earth’s orbit and on the bottom. Subsequent summer time, NASA plans to launch an array of six toaster-sized CubeSats that may work collectively to check the Solar’s dynamic habits.

The Solar Radio Interferometer House Experiment, or SunRISE, will observe low radio frequency emissions to enhance scientists’ understanding of how the Solar generates photo voltaic particle storms, in keeping with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. These bursts of high-energy particles might be hazardous to aircraft, spacecraft and astronauts. They’ll additionally set off geomagnetic storms, which can disrupt energy grids and communications methods.

The mission will launch as a rideshare aboard a United Launch Alliance Vulcan Centaur Rocket, sponsored by the U.S. House Drive’s House Methods Command. After launch, the SunRISE satellites will orbit Earth inside 6 miles (10 kilometers) of one another to behave like a large single-aperture radio telescope, utilizing a technique often called interferometry.

SunRISE knowledge will produce detailed 3D maps of the place energetic radio emissions happen within the Solar’s heliosphere. These emissions level to the places of extraordinarily highly effective bursts of radiation. The mission can even map the Solar’s magnetic subject traces for the primary time. These findings will considerably enhance our understanding of how photo voltaic particle storms kind and evolve.

China’s Chang’e 7 launch (August)

Blue Origin isn’t the one one making an attempt a Moon touchdown in 2026. In August, the China Nationwide House Administration (CNSA) plans to launch a mission to the lunar south pole.

The Chang’e 7 mission will launch aboard China’s Lengthy March 5 rocket, lifting off from Wenchang House Launch Web site on the island province of Hainan. It’ll ship an orbiter, lander, rover, and “hopper” probe to discover the Moon’s south pole and seek for assets that may assist China set up a sustained lunar presence, notably water-ice.

The lander carrying the rover and hopper probe will contact down close to the rim of the Shackleton impression crater, which is prime lunar actual property. NASA is also eyeing the area as a touchdown web site for the Artemis 3 mission and a perfect place to construct a Moon base.

The Shackleton crater is so sought-after as a result of daylight solely ever reaches its rim, which stays illuminated for 90% of the yr. In the meantime, the inside is perpetually darkish. This makes it a perfect touchdown web site for future crewed Moon missions, permitting astronauts to harness solar energy on the rim whereas additionally exploring the crater’s completely shadowed inside for water ice.

With Chang’e 7’s goal launch date quick approaching, it seems China is on observe to beat the U.S. to extracting water from the lunar floor. If the mission succeeds, it might put much more strain on NASA to speed up its progress towards a sustained lunar presence.

ESA’s Hera reaches Didymos (November)

In 2022, NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) demonstrated that ramming a spacecraft into an asteroid may change the house rock’s trajectory. The mission was an enormous success that supplied a possible technique to defend Earth from oncoming asteroids, although Dimorphos—the one focused by DART—was by no means a menace to our planet.

NASA scientists are tracking practically 2,000 doubtlessly hazardous asteroids that—in contrast to Dimorphos—may pose a threat to Earth. The company desires to be prepared to reply rapidly if one among these house rocks finally ends up on a collision course with our planet. However earlier than it could possibly reliably rely upon this protection technique—the kinetic impactor technique—it wants to grasp the consequences of using it. That’s the place the European House Company’s Hera mission is available in.

The Hera spacecraft launched in October 2024 and is on its technique to Dimorphos to conduct a post-impact survey, with an anticipated arrival of November 2026. Hera’s devices will carry out visible, laser, and radio mapping of the asteroid to assist scientists totally perceive the aftermath of the kinetic impactor method.

This knowledge will validate and refine numerical fashions of the impression course of at asteroid scale, confirming whether or not this deflection technique is prepared for operational use. If that’s the case, it might be a serious win for our planetary protection capabilities.

ESA’s BepiColombo enters Mercury’s orbit (November)

Of all of the planets within the interior photo voltaic system, the one we’ve explored the least is definitely our closest neighbor: Mercury. That’s as a result of it’s extraordinarily tough for spacecraft to enter the small planet’s orbit.

The rationale for that’s Mercury’s proximity to the Solar. To enter the planet’s orbit, a spacecraft has to continuously brake in opposition to the gravitational pull of our house star, which both requires loads of gas or utilizing the gravity of different planets to decelerate.

Subsequent yr, the BepiColombo mission will obtain this feat for the second time in historical past. This joint mission between ESA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Company (JAXA) launched in 2018, and has since accomplished six gravity-assisted flybys of Mercury. It’s on observe to enter the planet’s orbit in November 2026.

BepiColombo consists of three separate spacecraft. Two of them are science orbiters: the Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO) and the Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter (MMO). These spacecraft are being transported to the desert planet by the Mercury Switch Module (MTM). As soon as they arrive, MPO and MMO will break up off into two completely different orbits greatest suited to their science devices.

MPO will orbit near Mercury to observe the planet’s surface, whereas MMO hangs again to check its magnetic subject. Their findings ought to assist scientists higher perceive how Mercury shaped and what the early photo voltaic system was like.

Sierra House Dream Chaser first launch (late 2026)

Sierra House, a Colorado-based aerospace firm, plans to launch the world’s first commercial spaceplane in late 2026.

Dubbed “Dream Chaser,” this winged plane is designed to launch to low-Earth orbit atop a rocket, then survive atmospheric reentry and carry out runway landings like a aircraft. Its foldable wings unfurl as soon as it’s in flight and generate energy utilizing photo voltaic arrays. Its exterior can also be geared up with warmth protect tiles to guard it from the intense temperatures of reentry.

In essence, Dream Chaser combines engineering parts of airplanes and spacecraft to function a flexible, reusable automobile for cargo (and finally crewed) missions to low-Earth orbit. In 2016, NASA awarded Sierra House a Business Resupply Providers 2 contract to offer at the least seven cargo deliveries to the Worldwide House Station.

Its first flight was initially alleged to happen in 2020, however the spaceplane’s growth has been repeatedly delayed by certification hurdles and technical points. In November, Sierra House announced that Dream Chaser had accomplished a collection of important pre-flight milestones and is on observe for a primary launch to low-Earth orbit within the fourth quarter of 2026.

The inaugural Dream Chaser, named “Tenacity,” will launch from Kennedy House Middle aboard a United Launch Alliance Vulcan Centaur Rocket.

JAXA Martian Moons Exploration launch (late 2026)

JAXA is gearing up for probably the most bold planetary science missions in historical past. In late 2026, the company hopes to launch the Martian Moons Exploration (MMX) mission, which can ship a robotic probe to discover Mars’s two moons, Deimos and Phobos.

No spacecraft have performed prolonged investigations of those moons earlier than; what little info we now have about them comes from a couple of fly-by measurements. MMX would be the first mission to not solely take detailed measurements of the moons, but additionally land on Phobos to gather a pattern and return it to Earth for evaluation. MMX may additionally assist pave the best way for future crewed Mars missions.

The spacecraft is designed to launch aboard JAXA’s H3 rocket, which recently suffered an engine anomaly throughout its seventh flight. Hopefully JAXA can determine and proper the problem rapidly, as points with H3 have already pushed the mission previous its authentic launch goal of September 2024.

If MMX does get off the bottom subsequent yr, the probe will enter Martian orbit about one yr later. It’ll then transfer right into a quasi satellite tv for pc orbit round Phobos, land on the floor for pattern assortment, and carry out a number of shut flybys of Deimos earlier than setting course again to Earth. In line with this timeline, it ought to return in 2031.

Roman telescope launch (doubtlessly fall 2026)

In an thrilling flip of occasions, NASA has accomplished building of the Nancy Grace Roman House Telescope forward of schedule. Whereas the official launch date for this unbelievably highly effective observatory remains to be Could 2027, it’s on track to launch as quickly as fall 2026.

Roman is a multi-billion-dollar infrared telescope with a subject of view 100 instances bigger than Hubble’s. In line with NASA, it may observe a billion galaxies in its lifetime, providing an unprecedented view of the cosmos. Roman can even be capable to block starlight to see exoplanets and planet-forming disks, conduct a statistical census of planetary methods in our galaxy, reply huge questions on darkish vitality, exoplanets, and infrared astrophysics.

With all this on Roman’s horizon, it could come as a shock that one among its first duties can be to stare at absolutely nothing. Astronomers not too long ago laid out an motion plan to make use of the telescope to analyze cosmic voids—immense, low-density areas of the universe. Researchers suspect these areas are dominated by darkish vitality, and Roman may assist them search for it.

The telescope will launch aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Kennedy House Middle. If we’re fortunate sufficient to see it launch subsequent yr, it’ll mark the start of a brand new age of scientific discovery.