Space calendar 2026: Rocket launches, skywatching events, missions & more!

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Note: Launch dates are subject to change. Please DO NOT schedule travel based on launch dates you see here.

March

Rocket Launch

A Rocket Lab Electron rocket launches "The Wisdom God Guides" mission for the Japanese company iQPS from New Zealand on Dec. 21, 2025.

March 28, 5:14 a.m. EDT (0914 GMT): Rocket Lab will launch an Electron rocket from the company's Launch Complex 1 in Mahia, New Zealand. The Daughter Of The Stars mission will launch two pathfinder satellites of a future European navigation constellation, for the European Space Agency, Thales Alenia Space and GMV.

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Rocket Launch

a crane stretches above a rocket on a launchpad, flanked by tall, cylindrical pressure tanks on either side. the hazy clouds in the sky wash the background in dim sunset hues.

March 28, 4:00 p.m. EDT (2000 GMT): The second flight of the first orbital rocket to launch from Europe will launch Isar Aerospace’s Spectrum rocket from Andøya Spaceport, in Norway. The mission will launch several cubesats from the European Space Agency's "Boost!" program.

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.

March 29, 3:53 a.m. EDT (0853 GMT): United Launch Alliance (ULA) will launch an Atlas V 551 rocket to deliver a batch of Amazon Leo, formerly Project Kuiper, megaconstellation internet satellites to low-Earth orbit. Liftoff for the LA-04 mission will take place from ULA's Space Launch Complex-41 (SLC-41), at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, in Florida.

Rocket Launch

A white rocket topped with a payload fairing stands on the launch pad in a close-up set against a blue sky.

March 29, 5:15 p.m. EDT (2215 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 Base, in 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 row of people in the distance take photos of a rocket far away but large in frame.

March 30, 6:20 a.m. EDT (1120 GMT): SpaceX will launch the Transporter 16 mission. As its name suggests, Transporter 16 is the 16th mission in SpaceX's Transporter series, part of the company's SmallSat Rideshare Program to provide small satellite operators with affordable, regularly scheduled Falcon 9 rideshare missions to orbit.

Rocket Launch

A Long March 2C rocket launches three Yaogan-43 spy satellites to orbit from southwestern China on Oct. 22, 2024.

March 30, 8:00 p.m. EDT (0000 GMT, March 31): The China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) is expected to launch a demonstration flight of the Long March 12B rocket. The mission will liftoff from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center (JSLC), in China.

Rocket Launch

a white rocket lifts off above a cloud of dust and smoke in the desert

March 30, 8:00 p.m. EDT (0000 GMT, March 31): Chinese company Landspace will launch its 216-foot (66-meter) stainless steel Zhuque-2E rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gobi Desert in northern China.

Rocket Launch

Artist's illustration of Blue Origin's planned New Glenn 9x4 super heavy lifter launching into space.

NET March 30: Blue Origin will launch a New Glenn rocket with AST SpaceMobile’s Block 2 BlueBird satellites from Launch Complex-36 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Base, in Florida.

Rocket Launch

An Indian Space Research Organisation GLSV-F14 rocket launches the powerful INSAT-3DS weather satellite to orbit from Satish Dhawan Space Centre on Sriharikota, India on Feb. 17, 2024 local time.

NET March: The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) will launch a GPS satellite, known as the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS), aboard a Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark II (GSLV Mk II) rocket. The mission will liftoff from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh.

Rocket Launch

An Indian LVM3 rocket launches the final 36 satellites for OneWeb's first-generation broadband constellation from Satish Dhawan Space Centre on March 25, 2023.

NET March: The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) will launch the first uncrewed test flight of the Gaganyaan spacecraft. The uncrewed demonstration will test crew and service modules, reentry, parachute deployment and a safe splashdown in the Bay of Bengal.

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India delays its 1st-ever Gaganyaan astronaut launch to 2026

April

Rocket Launch

two massive side booster spew yellow orange fire lifting the core stage of a rocket as two main engines also ignite

April 1, 6:24 p.m. EST (2324 GMT): Artemis 2 will send three NASA astronauts and one Canadian Space Agency (CSA) astronaut around the moon for 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

Soyuz 2-1b rocket lifts off on Sunday, October 2, 2011, from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northern Russia.

April 2: Russian manufacturer RKK Energiya will launch a demo flight of the debut Soyuz 5 rocket. The 213-foot (65 meters) rocket is designed to launch up to 17 tons to a low Earth orbit.

Rocket Launch

A white and black rocket lifts off against a blue sky.

April 9: SpaceX will launch a Falcon 9 rocket with Northrop Grumman’s uncrewed Cygnus XL spacecraft to the International Space Station on NG-24 mission. The cargo vehicle will deliver more than 8,200 pounds of supplies, scientific investigations, commercial products, hardware, and other cargo to the ISS.

Human Spaceflight

NASA astronaut and Expedition 72 Flight Engineer Anne McClain is pictured near one of the International Space Station’s main solar arrays during a spacewalk on May 1, 2025 to upgrade the orbital outpost’s power generation system and relocate a communications antenna.

NET Spring 2026: Two NASA astronauts will conduct the station's 279th spacewalk, U.S. EVA 95, early Jan. 15. The duo will spend about 6.5 hours outside the International Space Station (ISS) to prepare the station’s 3B power channel for a future IROSA installation.

Rocket Launch

A Hyperbola 1 solid rocket lifts off from Jiuquan spaceport in the Gobi Desert on April 7, 2023.

Q1 2026: The Chinese company iSpace is expected to launch an unknown payload aboard a solid propellant-fueled Hyperbola-1 rocket.

Rocket Launch

A Canadian rocket flies in space

Q1 2026: 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 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.

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

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.

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 Canadian rocket flies in space

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.

2027

Rocket Launch

a black and white space plane stands on end in folded up in a hanger.

Rocket Launch

Illustration shows the first the first Haven-2 module, scheduled to be operational in 2028

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