11 Exciting Space Launches Happening This Year

Space was the last frontier, however with more and more rocket launches from government and private companies lined up for take-off, our understanding of how to safely traverse the solar system improves with every launch.  And with every mission our understanding of the cosmos advances.

Here are our top picks for significant launches about to blast-off in the final months of 2021.

1. July – Russian Module to Increase Size of ISS

The Russian built Proton rocket will launch the Nauka Science Module to the International Space Station from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. It will dock with the ISS on July 23 and will be a multi-purpose laboratory module.

2. July - Blue Origin First Space Tourism Flight

Jeff Bezos' space company will launch their first ever human suborbital flight aboard its New Shepard launch vehicle. The winning bid to join the flight was $28 million with the bidder’s name yet to be revealed.

3. July - SpaceX Aiming for First Starship Launch

Plans are in motion for the first orbital test flight of SpaceX's big Starship rocket. If successful, it will be a huge step towards landing humans on the Moon and Mars.

4. October - Tom Cruise’s Mission to the ISS

If reports are true, the Mission Impossible star and Edge of Tomorrow director, Doug Liman will shoot the first-ever feature film in orbit. Their names have been added to the ISS manifest and will be launched on a SpaceX Crew Dragon rocket.

5. October – Russia Returns to the Moon

Russia’s Luna 25 space craft will be the first Russian moon landing since 1976. Luna 25 will aim for the Moon’s South Pole to study ice deposits, a critical resource for long-term exploration of the moon.

6. October - New Crew to Launch to Chinese Space Station

The Chinese Space Station, Tianhe meaning “Harmony of the Heavens” will receive three more astronauts when the Shenzhou 13 mission launches on a Long March 2F rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in the Gobi Desert.

7. October 31 - Launch of LUCY to Study Trojan Asteroids

This ambitious mission aims for the spacecraft LUCY to track down and study eight asteroids associated with the planet Jupiter, over a 12-year period.

8. November – Artemis 1, To the Moon and Beyond

NASA’s SLS mega rocket will launch its first space flight to test capabilities for extended human flight. The craft will travel 70,000kms out past the Moon and stay in orbit for a period of three weeks as part of the Artemis Program.

9. November – Double Asteroid Redirection Test - DART

NASA’s DART mission is a crucial step in preventing impacts on Earth by hazardous asteroids. The mission will test kinetic impactor techniques that change the motion of an asteroid in space.

10. December – Japanese Billionaire to Film Flight to ISS

Yusaku Maezawa will fly aboard a Russian Soyuz MS-20 spacecraft along with a video producer who will film the 12 day mission to the International Space Station. Viewers can watch the cosmic adventure on his YouTube channel.

11. 2021 Launch – James Webb Space Telescope

NASA’s premier telescope is on track for a launch in 2021 and will produce remarkable information for scientists. Different to Hubble, it will look at the universe in infrared and being bigger, it will peer farther back in time.

For more Launches and Landings visit:

 

https://www.nasa.gov/launchschedule/

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