2021 in spaceflight

Spacecraft from three Mars exploration programs (Mars 2020, Tianwen-1, and Hope) are expected to arrive at Mars for orbit insertion in February. The Perseverance rover will attempt landing on 18 February while the Chinese lander will do so on 23 April.

Lucy, a NASA space probe will launch and begin a 12-year journey to seven different asteroids, visiting six Jupiter trojans, and one Main Belt asteroid.[1] Trojans are asteroids which share Jupiter's orbit around the Sun, orbiting either ahead of or behind the planet.

The Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) is planned to launch in July on a Falcon 9. It is a space probe that will visit the double asteroid Didymos and demonstrate the kinetic effects of crashing an impactor spacecraft into an asteroid moon for planetary defense purposes. The mission is intended to test whether a spacecraft impact could successfully deflect an asteroid on a collision course with Earth.

The Juno probe will continue its exploration of Jupiter. Originally, its mission was intended to conclude on 31 July by burning up in Jupiter's atmosphere following its 35th perijove. However, on January 8, 2021, NASA announced that the probe was granted a second mission extension through September 2025, which could include future fly-bys of Europa and Io.[2][3]

Multiple spaceflights to the Moon are planned to take place in 2021. As part of NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services program, the launches of commercial landers developed by Astrobotic Technology and Intuitive Machines are scheduled. Russia plans to resume its Luna-Glob exploration programme with the Luna 25 lander, and India will attempt once more to deliver a robotic lander to the lunar surface with Chandrayaan-3. Artemis 1 is planned to fly in November, the first flight of the Space Launch System and the first lunar mission for Orion. NASA is planning a crewed return to the Moon in 2024, and following that a human mission to Mars in the mid 2030s.

In the United States, Boeing's CST-100 Starliner will conduct a second uncrewed test flight in March[4] in advance of a first crewed test flight in September 2021.[5][6]

China plans to start the construction of the Chinese Space Station (CSS), phase 3 of its Tiangong program, with the planned launches of the Tianhe core module and Wentian lab module. It will follow the launches with crewed visits of Shenzhou 12 and Shenzhou 13, interspersed with Tianzhou cargo deliveries.

The long-delayed James Webb Space Telescope, the largest optical space telescope ever built, is planned to be launched to the Sun–Earth L₂ point by a European Ariane 5 rocket in October.[7]

The trend towards cost reduction in access to orbit is expected to continue. United Launch Alliance plans to debut their Vulcan rocket, which was designed to gradually replace Atlas V and Delta IV Heavy at lower costs.[8] Mitsubishi Heavy Industries's H3 launch vehicle, scheduled to enter service this year, will cost less than half that of H-IIA, its predecessor.[9] Blue Origin plans to launch its first orbital-class New Glenn rocket with a reusable first stage.[10] After suborbital tests in 2020, SpaceX plans the first orbital flight of the fully reusable Starship.[11] Multiple other companies plan to introduce smaller rockets.

For the purposes of this section, the yearly tally of orbital launches by country assigns each flight to the country of origin of the rocket, not to the launch services provider or the spaceport. For example, Soyuz launches by Arianespace in Kourou are counted under Russia because Soyuz-2 is a Russian rocket.

Country		Launches	Successes	Failures	Partial failures	Remarks
	China	4	3	1	0
	Russia	1	1	0	0	Includes Soyuz launches from Kourou
	United States	6	6	0	0	Includes Electron launches from Mahia
World		12	11	1	0

For the purposes of this section, the yearly tally of suborbital launches by country assigns each flight to the country of origin of the rocket, not to the launch services provider or the spaceport. Flights intended to fly below 80km (50 mi) are omitted.

Country		Launches	Successes	Failures	Partial failures	Remarks
	China	3	3	0	0
	Iran	19	19	0	0
	Pakistan	2	2	0	0
	United States	1	1	0	0
World		25	25	0	0

• New Glenn - Blue Origin - USA
• Starship - SpaceX - USA (maiden orbital flight)
• Vulcan Centaur - ULA - USA
• Space Launch System - NASA - USA

• Cyclone-4M - Ukraine
• H3 - Japan
• Nuri - South Korea
• Zhuque-2 - LandSpace - China -
• Ariane-6 - ArianeGroup - Europe

• Firefly Alpha - Firefly Aerospace - USA
• SSLV - India
• Vikram I - Skyroot Aerospace - India
• Miura 1 - PLD Space - Spain
• Hyperbola-2 - i-Space - China
• New Line 1 - LinkSpace - China
• Tianlong - Space Pioneer - China
• Sky Dragon 1 - Space Pioneer - China
• Xingtu-1 - Space Trek - China
• Nebula-1 - Deep Blue Aerospace - China
• ZK-1A - CAS Space - China
• HAPITH I - TiSPACE - Taiwan
• Reaction Dynamics - Canada -
• SpaceRyde - Canada
• Firehawk-1 - Firehawk Aerospace - USA
• Neptune - Interorbital Systems - USA
• Ravn - Aevum - USA
• Intrepid - Rocket Crafters - USA [13]
• RS-1 - ABL Space Systems - USA
• Sleek Eagle - Earth to Sky - USA -
• RocketStar - USA
• Spyder - UP Aerospace - USA
• Terran 1 - Relativity Space - USA
• EcoRocket - ARCAspace - USA
• Vega-C

• PD AeroSpace - Japan