2026 in spaceflight

This article documents expected notable spaceflight events during the year 2026.

2026 in spaceflight
In 2026, the final elements of a multi-year Mars sample-return mission is planned to be launched by NASA and ESA.

In 2026, as part of a Mars sample-return mission, NASA plans to launch the Sample Retrieval Lander. Later in the year, the European Space Agency (ESA) plans to launch the Earth Return Orbiter, which will transport the retrieved samples from Mars to Earth.

Orbital launches
Date and time (UTC) Rocket Flight number Launch site LSP
Payload
(⚀ = CubeSat)		 Operator Orbit Function Decay (UTC) Outcome
Remarks


March

March (TBD)[1] SLS Block 1B Kennedy LC-39B NASA
Artemis 4 NASA Selenocentric Crewed lunar landing 
Fourth crewed Orion flight. First launch of the SLS Block 1B variant with the Exploration Upper Stage.


July

July (TBD)[2][3] Commercial launch vehicle TBA TBA
Sample Retrieval Lander NASA / ESA TMI to Martian Surface Mars sample-return 
Lander component of the NASA–ESA Mars sample-return mission. It will carry the ESA's Sample Fetch Rover and the Mars Ascent Vehicle.


October

October (TBD)[2][3] Ariane 6 Kourou ELA-4 Arianespace
Earth Return Orbiter ESA Areocentric Mars sample-return 
Orbiter component of the NASA–ESA Mars sample-return mission. It will collect the sample return canister delivered into orbit by the Mars Ascent Vehicle and carry it back to Earth.


To be determined

2026 (TBD)[4] Angara A5P Vostochny Site 1A Roscosmos
Orel Roscosmos Low Earth Crewed flight test 
2026 (TBD)[5] Epsilon S[6] Uchinoura JAXA
Solar-C EUVST JAXA Low Earth (SSO) Heliophysics 
Extreme Ultraviolet High-Throughput Spectroscopic Telescope Epsilon Mission.
2026 (TBD)[7] Falcon Heavy Kennedy LC-39A SpaceX
SpaceX GLS-2 SpaceX / NASA Selenocentric (NRHO) Gateway logistics 
Second Dragon XL resupply mission to the Lunar Gateway.
2026 (TBD)[8] Soyuz ST-B / Fregat-MT Kourou ELS Arianespace
PLATO ESA Sun–Earth L2 Exoplanetary science 
2026 (TBD)[9] Vega-C Kourou ELV Arianespace
FORUM ESA Low Earth (SSO) Earth observation 
Ninth Earth Explorer mission for ESA's Living Planet Programme. FORUM is baselined for launch on the Vega-C, and will fly in a loose sun-synchronous formation with MetOp-SG A1.[10]
2026 (TBD)[11] TBA TBA TBA
Axiom Lab (AxL) Axiom Space Low Earth (ISS) ISS assembly / Commercial habitat 
Third Axiom module.
2026 (TBD)[12] TBA TBA TBA
International Habitation Module (I-HAB) ESA Selenocentric (NRHO) Lunar Gateway component 

Suborbital flights

Deep-space rendezvous
Date (UTC) Spacecraft Event Remarks
July Hayabusa2 Flyby of (98943) 2001 CC21[13]

Extravehicular activities (EVAs)
Start Date/Time Duration End Time Spacecraft Crew Remarks

Orbital launch statistics

By country

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

By rocket

By family

Family Country Launches Successes Failures Partial failures Remarks

By type

Rocket Country Family Launches Successes Failures Partial failures Remarks

By configuration

Rocket Country Type Launches Successes Failures Partial failures Remarks

By spaceport

Site Country Launches Successes Failures Partial failures Remarks

By orbit

Orbital regime Launches Achieved Not achieved Accidentally
achieved		 Remarks
Transatmospheric0000
Low Earth0000
Geosynchronous / transfer0000
Medium Earth0000
High Earth0000
Heliocentric orbit0000Including planetary transfer orbits

Notes

    References
    1. "NASA's Management of the Gateway Program for Artemis Missions" (PDF). OIG. NASA. 10 November 2020. p. 3. Retrieved 4 January 2021. Artemis IV is scheduled to launch in March 2026 (as of August 2020).
    2. Cowart, Justin (13 August 2019). "NASA, ESA Officials Outline Latest Mars Sample Return Plans". The Planetary Society. Retrieved 2 December 2019.
    3. Wall, Mike (29 July 2019). "Bringing Pieces of Mars to Earth in 2031: How NASA and Europe Plan to Do It". Space.com. Retrieved 2 December 2019.
    4. "Определен срок полета российского корабля "Орел" с экипажем на МКС" [The scheduled time for the first crewed flight of the Russian spacecraft Orel to the ISS has been determined]. RIA Novosti (in Russian). 13 February 2020. Retrieved 29 June 2020.
    5. "NASA Approves Heliophysics Missions to Explore Sun, Earth's Aurora". NASA (Press release). 29 December 2020. Retrieved 30 December 2020.
    6. "Instruments | Next-generation solar-observing satellite Solar-C_EUVST". NAOJ. Retrieved 30 December 2020.
    7. "Report No. IG-21-004: NASA's Management of the Gateway Program for Artemis Missions" (PDF). OIG. NASA. 10 November 2020. pp. 5–7. Retrieved 24 December 2020.
    8. "Construction of Europe's exoplanet hunter PLATO begins". ESA. 4 October 2018. Retrieved 13 January 2019.
    9. "A new satellite to understand how Earth is losing its cool". ESA. 24 September 2019. Retrieved 4 October 2019.
    10. "Earth Explorer 9 Candidate Mission FORUM – Report for Mission Selection" (PDF). ESA. 21 June 2019. Retrieved 4 October 2019.
    11. Axiom Space [@Axiom_Space] (30 November 2020). "The Axiom Lab module is the next step for astronaut-tended manufacturing & research in space. What industries could you reshape in microgravity?" (Tweet). Retrieved 1 December 2020 – via Twitter.
    12. "Thales Alenia Space on its way to reach the Moon". Thales Group (Press release). 14 October 2020. Retrieved 17 October 2020.
    13. "はやぶさ２、次のミッションは小惑星「１９９８ＫＹ２６」…ＪＡＸＡ". The Yomiuri Shimbun (in Japanese). 13 September 2020. Retrieved 14 September 2020.
    Generic references:
     Spaceflight portal
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