Mark your calendars.
There were many impressive moments in spaceflight this year, but if the industry had a slogan, it would be “onwards and upwards.” So, as 2025 comes to an end, it’s time to shift our focus toward the launches and mission milestones on deck for 2026.
Over the next year, space agencies and companies will push the limits of exploration further than ever before. Planned missions include the first launch of the most powerful rocket ever built, a lunar landing, and a crewed flight around the Moon—and that’s just the beginning.
Without further ado, here are the 11 most exciting spaceflight events scheduled for 2026. You won’t want to miss a single one.First launch of Starship Version 3 (early 2026)
Starship Version 3 pic.twitter.com/1sHD25y49o
Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 13, 2025
The third iteration of SpaceX’s Starship megarocket will be the largest, most powerful launch vehicle ever built. Starship Version 3 (V3) is designed to take American astronauts back to the Moon, deploy the next generation of Starlink satellites, and usher in a new era of Mars exploration. If we’re lucky, we should see it launch in early 2026.
Compared to Starship V2, this upgraded version will be about 5 feet (1.5 meters) taller with a larger propellant capacity and new docking adapters for in-orbit fuel transfer. That last upgrade will be essential to NASA’s Artemis 3 mission, which will use a modified version of Starship V3 called the Human Landing System (HLS) to return astronauts to the Moon.
However, SpaceX’s Artemis 3 contract could get swiped by Blue Origin, which is working on its own lunar lander—more on that in a moment.
As we know from the debut of Starship V2, there’s a major learning curve to launching a new-and-improved Starship. It’s perfectly likely that V3’s first few flights won’t go as planned, and we may even see some explosive failures. Whatever happens will be pivotal for SpaceX and NASA, as V3’s development 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, back to Blue Origin. Blue is developing two lunar landers: Blue Moon Mark 1 (for cargo) and Blue Moon Mark 2 (for crew and cargo). The latter is the lander that could nab the Artemis 3 contract from SpaceX if it’s ready to fly before the Starship HLS, but its development hinges on the success of Blue Moon Mark 1 (MK1).
The 26-foot-tall (8-meter-tall) cargo lander is expected to embark on its first flight during the first quarter of 2026, touching down near the Shackleton crater at the Moon’s south pole. This demonstration mission, dubbed “Pathfinder,” will aim to validate all of the lander’s hardware and systems, including its never-before-flown BE-7 engine.
MK1 is the largest commercial cargo lander ever built, which will allow it to carry more payload than any of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) landers. When it launches aboard New Glenn next year, it will bring a NASA payload called SCALPSS (Stereo Cameras for Lunar Plume Surface Studies) along with it. This array of cameras will take photos of MK1’s descent and gather data to assist future Moon landings.NASA’s Artemis 2 mission launch (no later than April)
Speaking of going to the Moon, NASA plans to launch its first crewed mission under the Artemis program no later than April 2026. Artemis 2 will 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 Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. The crew—consisting of mission commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, and mission specialists Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen—will ride inside the Orion spacecraft.
After separating from SLS, Orion will perform multiple maneuvers to raise its orbit around Earth and eventually set itself on a lunar free return trajectory. This will send the spacecraft and its crew on a slingshot-like journey around the Moon, using Earth’s gravity to naturally pull Orion back home.
To be clear, the Artemis 2 mission will not land astronauts on the lunar surface, but this 10-day flyby will pave the way for the Artemis 3 Moon landing. It will also make history as the first to send a woman and a person color on a lunar mission. If you only watch one space launch in 2026, it should be this one.Vast Haven-1 launch: world’s first commercial space station (May)
Since 2000, the International Space Station (ISS) has served as an orbital outpost for astronauts spanning five space agencies and 15 countries. In 2030, NASA plans to retire it, sending it falling through Earth’s atmosphere where most of it will burn up during reentry.
That doesn’t mean the agency and its international partners will give up their continuous presence in low-Earth orbit. In 2021, NASA created the Commercial LEO Destinations (CLD) program to support the design, build, and operation of private Earth-orbiting space stations. Several companies are working on this, including Vast, a California-based aerospace firm.
Vast plans to send Haven-1, a single-module space station, to orbit in May 2026.
