Space Activity
Track upcoming and recent space events beyond launches - dockings, spacewalks, tests, and more
Track upcoming and recent space events beyond launches - dockings, spacewalks, tests, and more
After more than seven months aboard the International Space Station, NASA’s SpaceX Crew-12 mission safely splashed down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Los Angeles. The crew members will discuss their science mission during a news conference at the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway, ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Sophie Adenot, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev will answer questions about their mission.
NASA will hold a media teleconference to preview the agency’s contributions to JAXA’s (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) mission. The mission is scheduled to launch from JAXA’s Tanegashima Space Center in Japan on Monday, Oct. 19 EDT (Tuesday, Oct. 20 JST). Participants in the briefing, who will provide an overview of the mission and NASA’s contributions, include: - Lindsay Hays, acting director, Planetary Science Division, NASA Headquarters in Washington - Tom Statler, MMX program executive and scientist, Planetary Science Division, NASA Headquarters - David Lawrence, MEGANE (Mars-moon Exploration with Gamma-rays and Neutrons) principal investigator, Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory - Kris Zacny, vice president, Blue Origin’s Honeybee Robotics
NASA will preview two upcoming spacewalks to complete solar array installation and power augmentation of the International Space Station during a news conference at 2 p.m. EDT, Tuesday, Oct. 20, from NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. NASA participants include: - Gaurang Patel, operations integration manager, Low Earth Orbit Program - Garrett Hehn, spacewalk flight director, Flight Operations Directorate
Participants include: - NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman - NASA Associate Administrator Amit Kshatriya - Jeremy Parsons, NASA’s Artemis program manager
NASA astronaut Anil Menon and CSA astronaut Joshua Kutryk will exit the station’s Quest airlock to install and deploy an International Space Station Roll-Out Solar Array (IROSA) on the 2A electrical power channel. The solar array will be the seventh IROSA and will provide additional power to support critical station operations, including its safe and controlled deorbit.
NASA is conducting a hot fire of an RS-25 engine as part of certification testing for future SLS (Space Launch System) rockets. The test of developmental RS-25 engine No. 10001 is planned to run for almost eight-and-a-half minutes (500 seconds) and throttle up to 111% of its rated power level.
NASA astronaut Anil Menon and CSA astronaut Joshua Kutryk will install and deploy the eighth and final IROSA on the 3B channel of the space station, completing the power augmentation upgrades. The final two roll-out solar arrays will complete the space station’s power system augmentation. Together, the eight roll-out arrays will increase available power by up to 30%, boosting the station’s electric power generation capacity from 160 kilowatts to approximately 215 kilowatts.
Orbital insertion around Mercury of the ESA-JAXA BepiColombo mission.
Solar Orbiter, a partnership between ESA and NASA, will perform a gravity assist maneuver with Venus on December 24, 2026. Throughout its mission it also makes repeated gravity assist flybys of Venus to get closer to the Sun, and to change its orbital inclination, boosting it out of the ecliptic plane, to get the best – and first – views of the Sun’s poles.
NASA’s Europa Clipper will fly by Earth for a second and final gravity assist on its way to Jupiter.
The Starliner-1 spacecraft will dock autonomously to the International Space Station, carrying four astronauts to the International Space Station.
Following its deorbit burn, the Boeing CST-100 Starliner will reenter the Earth's atmosphere and land at the White Sands Missile Range using its parachutes.
The Boeing CST-100 Starliner will undock from the International Space Station and conduct a deorbit burn as part of its first operational mission. Following the deorbit burn the capsule will renter the Earth's atmosphere and land at the 'White Sands Missile Range' using its parachutes.
NASA TV will livestream the rendezvous and capture of Sierra Nevada Corporation's Dream Chaser cargo craft to the International Space Station.
The Sierra Nevada Corporation SNC-1 Dream Chaser will be unberthed from the ISS before re-entering the Earth's atmosphere and landing at Kennedy Space Center.
The Sierra Nevada Corporation SNC-1 Dream Chaser will land autonomously at the Launch and Landing Facility of Kennedy Space Center.
Flyby of the Trojan asteroid (3548) Eurybates and its satellite Queta by NASA's Lucy mission.
Flyby of the Trojan asteroid (15094) Polymele by NASA's Lucy mission.
As part of its mission extension, JAXA's Hayabusa2 spacecraft will fly by Earth on its way to asteroid 1998 KY26.
Solar Orbiter, a partnership between ESA and NASA, will perform a gravity assist maneuver with Venus on March 17, 2028. Throughout its mission it also makes repeated gravity assist flybys of Venus to get closer to the Sun, and to change its orbital inclination, boosting it out of the ecliptic plane, to get the best – and first – views of the Sun’s poles.