2028 in spaceflight
This article documents expected notable spaceflight events during the year 2028.
NASA plans to launch the Artemis IV mission, which will land astronauts near the south pole of the Moon. It is expected to be the first mission to land humans on the Moon since 1972.
NASA also plans to launch Dragonfly, a robotic rotorcraft probe which will explore Saturn's moon Titan,[1] and Space Reactor‑1 Freedom (SR-1 Freedom), a nuclear electric propulsion spacecraft which will send Skyfall—three Ingenuity-class helicopters—to Mars.[2]
Russia expects to launch the Luna 26 lunar orbiter in 2028.
Chang'e 8, the last mission before China’s moon base begins construction, is planned to launch.
The first uncrewed flight of Orel, Russia's replacement for the crewed Soyuz spacecraft, is scheduled for 2028.
India plans to launch the first module for the Bharatiya Antariksha Station in 2028.[3] India also plans to launch the Chandrayaan-4 and LUPEX lunar missions.
ESA expects to launch the Rosalind Franklin rover to Mars on an American commercial launch vehicle.[4]
Orbital launches
Suborbital flights
| Date and time (UTC) | Rocket | Flight number | Launch site | LSP | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Payload (⚀ = CubeSat) |
Operator | Orbit | Function | Decay (UTC) | Outcome | ||
| Remarks | |||||||
| March (TBD)[98] | Improved Orion | Esrange | MORABA / SNSA | ||||
| REXUS-39 | DLR / SNSA | Suborbital | Education | ||||
| March (TBD)[98] | Improved Orion | Esrange | MORABA / SNSA | ||||
| REXUS-40 | DLR / SNSA | Suborbital | Education | ||||
| October (TBD)[98] | Red Kite/Red Kite | Esrange | MORABA | ||||
| MAPHEUS-19 | DLR | Suborbital | Microgravity research | ||||
| November (TBD)[98] | VSB-30 | Esrange | MORABA | ||||
| TEXUS-65 | DLR / ESA | Suborbital | Microgravity research | ||||
| November (TBD)[98] | VSB-30 | Esrange | MORABA | ||||
| TEXUS-66 | DLR / ESA | Suborbital | Microgravity research | ||||
Deep-space rendezvous
| Date (UTC) | Spacecraft | Event | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18 April 2028 | Lucy | Flyby of asteroid 11351 Leucus | Target altitude 1000 km |
| June 2028 | Hayabusa2 | Flyby of Earth[99] | Gravity assist |
| 11 November 2028 | Lucy | Flyby of asteroid 21900 Orus | Target altitude 1000 km |
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 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| World | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Transatmospheric | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Low Earth | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Geosynchronous / transfer | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Medium Earth | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| High Earth | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Heliocentric orbit | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Including planetary transfer orbits |
Expected maiden flights
- Dauntless - Vaya Space - USA
References
- ^ a b Donaldson, Abbey A. (25 November 2024). "NASA Awards Launch Services Contract for Dragonfly Mission". NASA. Retrieved 25 November 2024.
- ^ a b Caton, Ryan; Bergin, Chris (24 March 2026). "NASA unveils Space Reactor-1 Freedom mission to Mars in 2028". NASASpaceflight. Retrieved 25 March 2026.
- ^ a b "First module of Indian space station to launch by 2028: ISRO chief". The Indian Express. 23 December 2023. Retrieved 27 December 2023.
- ^ Kuhr, Jack (10 April 2024). "Thales Alenia Space Signs $567M ExoMars 2028 Contract". Payload. Retrieved 13 April 2024.
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- ^ Foust, Jeff (3 June 2023). "UAE outlines plans for asteroid mission". SpaceNews. Retrieved 17 September 2023.
- ^ "Revealed: UAE's MBR Explorer spacecraft to the Asteroid Belt to be launched by Japanese rocket". gulfnews.com. 9 October 2024. Retrieved 10 October 2024.
- ^ "Introducing Ramses, ESA's mission to asteroid Apophis". ESA. 16 July 2024. Retrieved 22 July 2024.
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Vulcan Centaur, in return, will launch USSF-70, a national security mission that had been manifested on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy. USSF-70 will fly no earlier than summer 2028, according to Space Force officials.
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- ^ "This evening, the Senate Commerce Committee released the Senate version of the reconciliation bill, which includes money to fully fund Gateway, as well as funding for both SLS and Orion for the Artemis 4 and 5 missions. Also, $1.25 billion for the ISS". X (Spaceflight Now). Retrieved 6 June 2025.
- ^ a b c d "Запуск спутников для повышения точности ГЛОНАСС отложен на три года" [The launch of satellites to improve the accuracy of GLONASS has been postponed for three years]. RIA Novosti (in Russian). 11 November 2019. Retrieved 19 March 2026.
- ^ a b c d "Russia to launch first Glonass high-orbital satellite in 2028 — Roscosmos". TASS. 18 April 2022. Retrieved 19 March 2026.
- ^ a b c Katya Pavlushchenko [@katlinengrey] (15 August 2023). "Both the first uncrewed test flight and the first crewed test flight of the planned #Oryol spacecraft are scheduled for 2028, said the chief designer of ROS (it's not a misprint, now they call it ROS instead of ROSS), deputy director of RSC Energia Vladimir Kozhevnikov" (Tweet) – via X (formerly Twitter).
- ^ "Первый старт пилотируемого корабля РФ "Орел" перенесен с 2023 г. на более поздний срок" [The first launch of the Orel manned spacecraft of the Russian Federation has been postponed from 2023 to a later date]. Interfax (in Russian). 17 November 2022. Retrieved 19 November 2022.
- ^ a b "Russia to create Angara-A5P rocket for manned space launches by 2024". TASS. 6 November 2019. Retrieved 18 May 2020.
- ^ "В космическом корабле "Орел" применят лучшие техрешения "Союзов"" [The spacecraft "Orel" will use the best technical solutions from "Soyuz"]. TASS (in Russian). 26 September 2022. Retrieved 26 September 2022.
- ^ "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.
- ^ "Russian space launch plan for the long term (after 2025)". Novosti Kosmonavtiki. Retrieved 1 February 2025.
- ^ "Oppdraget over for radarsatellitten Sentinel-1B" [Mission over for the Sentinel-1B radar satellite]. Norwegian Space Agency (in Norwegian). 12 August 2022. Retrieved 14 September 2022.
- ^ "Contract signed for new Copernicus ROSE-L mission". ESA. 3 December 2020. Retrieved 4 December 2020.
- ^ "Thales Alenia Space signs contract from ESA to build Copernicus ROSE-L satellite". Thales Group (Press release). 3 December 2020. Retrieved 4 December 2020.
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- ^ @ISROSpaceflight (9 August 2025). "Recently, we got a detailed look at ISRO's roadmap for India's Human Moon Landing Programme! 🇮🇳🌖
It involves a series of uncrewed Chandrayaan landings between 2027-2037 + the establishment of a communication relay network around Moon, before the first crewed Lunar missions starting in 2038-39, with the first Indians setting foot on the Moon in 2040! 👣
Check out our graphic below to learn about each of the milestones on this roadmap and their tentative timelines 👇" (Tweet) – via X (formerly Twitter). - ^ Jones, Andrew (23 October 2024). "India to target moon's south pole with sample return mission". SpaceNews. Retrieved 23 October 2024.
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There are proposals for two small satellites with high and low inclination named 'Disturbed and quiet time Ionosphere-thermosphere System at High Altitudes (DISHA)' which aims to study the effects in the Ionosphere-Thermosphere system during space weather events and normal condition of the Sun. The proposed DISHA mission will yield critical information on the structures in plasma and neutrals that adversely affect communication and navigation during space weather events. This will eventually help in a better description of influence of space weather on space based technological systems and sub-systems.
- ^ "Space Applications Centre: 'Aeronomy satellite in advanced planning stage'". The Times of India. 23 October 2018. Retrieved 27 January 2022.
- ^ Kumar, Suresh (11 March 2019). Hyperspectral Remote Sensing of Salt-affected Soils : Potential & Future Prospects. Golden Jubilee International Salinity Conference (GJISC-2019). Central Soil Salinity Research Institute, Karnal, India. Archived from the original on 30 May 2022. Retrieved 24 July 2021.
- ^ a b "CEOS EO HANDBOOK – AGENCY SUMMARY - ISRO". CEOS. October 2022. Retrieved 1 December 2022.
- ^ Krebs, Gunter (2 December 2021). "Resourcesat 3S, 3SA". Gunter's Space Page. Retrieved 5 December 2021.
- ^ Mathews, Neelam (31 May 2021). "India ramps up military satellite plans". Shepard Media. Retrieved 17 August 2021.
- ^ a b @frustratedpluto (17 December 2022). "Some little progress from ISRO as I have been able to extract some information via RTI this time. [see third image in tweet]" (Tweet). Retrieved 18 December 2022 – via Twitter.
- ^ "Govt approves proposal for GSAT-7C satellite for Air Force". Deccan Herald. 23 November 2021. Retrieved 28 November 2021.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
nic-20230329was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "【项目巡礼】"澳科二号"B星——抢占地磁场研究制高点". Institute of Geology and Geophysics (in Chinese). CAS. 28 August 2025. Retrieved 18 March 2026.
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- ^ a b c d e "Planned Chinese Space Launches". Novosti Kosmonavtiki. Retrieved 1 February 2025.
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- ^ "Satellite: HY-3C". WMO. 20 August 2020. Retrieved 29 August 2021.
- ^ "Satellite: HY-3D". WMO. 20 August 2020. Retrieved 29 August 2021.
- ^ @AJ_FI (20 March 2025). "state-owned China Academy of Space Technology (CAST) has been selected to build the lunar remote sensing satellite for CMSA ahead of planned crewed lunar landing before end of decade. No surprise; CAST built the Chang'e missions, Tiangong modules, etc" (Tweet). Retrieved 1 February 2025 – via X (formerly Twitter).
- ^ a b "Rajya Sabha Unstarred Question No. 2955". Imgur.com. Archived from the original on 13 September 2020. Retrieved 23 July 2022.
- ^ Foust, Jeff (18 December 2024). "Axiom Space revises space station assembly plans". SpaceNews. Retrieved 18 December 2024.
- ^ "Axiom Station". Axiom Space. 18 December 2024. Retrieved 18 December 2024.
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- ^ a b c "Russian military spacecraft". RussianSpaceWeb. Retrieved 1 February 2025.
- ^ "Russian space launch plan for the long term (after 2025)". Novosti Kosmonavtiki. Retrieved 1 February 2025.
- ^ "Russian space launch plan for the long term (after 2025)". Novosti Kosmonavtiki. Retrieved 1 February 2025.
- ^ "Russian space launch plan for the long term (after 2025)". Novosti Kosmonavtiki. Retrieved 1 February 2025.
- ^ Honney, Tracey (4 February 2026). "Russia resets lunar programme". Nuclear Engineering International. Retrieved 19 March 2026.
The programme has now been officially rescheduled to prioritise the Luna 26 orbiter for 2028.
- ^ "РКС: метеоспутники "Метеор-М" смогут видеть больше благодаря новой аппаратуре" [RKS: Meteor-M meteorological satellites will be able to see more thanks to new equipment]. TASS (in Russian). 9 September 2025. Retrieved 22 March 2026.
- ^ Krebs, Gunter (7 July 2025). "Meteor-M 2-1, 2-2, 2-3, 2-4, 2-5, 2-6". Gunter's Space Page. Retrieved 22 March 2026.
- ^ "Russian space launch plan for the long term (after 2025)". Novosti Kosmonavtiki. Retrieved 1 February 2025.
- ^ Berger, Eric (1 February 2024). "Starlab—with half the volume of the ISS—will fit inside Starship's payload bay". Ars Technica. Retrieved 3 February 2024.
- ^ "Full steam ahead for carbon dioxide monitoring mission". ESA. 23 May 2022. Retrieved 28 November 2022.
- ^ "CO2M". EUMETSAT. 9 March 2026. Retrieved 18 March 2026.
The second and third satellites will be delivered in 2028 and 2029.
- ^ "Arianespace supporting the European Union's Copernicus programme with Vega C". Arianespace (Press release). 29 November 2022. Retrieved 30 November 2022.
- ^ "MERLIN - Die deutsch-französische Klimamission" [MERLIN - The Franco-German climate mission]. DLR (in German). 26 April 2024. Retrieved 29 July 2024.
- ^ a b Henry, Caleb (10 February 2016). "ESA Awards Sentinel 3C and D Satellite Contracts to Thales Alenia Space". Via Satellite. Retrieved 27 May 2021.
- ^ Krebs, Gunter (7 July 2020). "Sentinel 2A, 2B, 2C, 2D". Gunter's Space Page. Retrieved 27 May 2021.
- ^ Krebs, Gunter (7 July 2020). "Sentinel 3A, 3B, 3C, 3D". Gunter's Space Page. Retrieved 27 May 2021.
- ^ "Blue Ghost Mission 3". Firefly Aerospace. 18 December 2024. Retrieved 6 January 2025.
- ^ Shulgin, Dmitry (21 January 2021). "Российский "Экспресс" набирает обороты" [Russian "Ekspress" gaining momentum]. RSCC (in Russian). p. 5. Retrieved 23 July 2021.
- ^ Holmes, Mark (15 October 2020). "Russian Space Leaders Split on GEO vs LEO at SatComRus". Via Satellite. Retrieved 23 July 2021.
- ^ Rainbow, Jason (28 May 2024). "Japanese satellite order puts GEO market on par with 2023". SpaceNews. Retrieved 29 May 2024.
- ^ "HelioSwarm (MIDEX 11)". Gunter's Space Page. Retrieved 14 September 2024.
- ^ "ESA kicks off two new navigation missions". ESA (Press release). 19 March 2024. Retrieved 29 July 2024.
- ^ Berger, Eric (22 November 2024). "A former Orion manager has surprisingly credible plans to fly European astronauts". Ars Technica. Retrieved 23 November 2024.
The current timeline for Nyx's debut is 2028.
- ^ a b c d e "Esrange Space Center - EASP Launching Programme" (PDF). Swedish Space Corporation. 12 April 2024. Retrieved 20 April 2024.
- ^ "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. Archived from the original on 5 December 2020. Retrieved 14 September 2020.
External links
- Bergin, Chris. "NASASpaceFlight.com".
- Clark, Stephen. "Spaceflight Now".
- Kelso, T.S. "Satellite Catalog (SATCAT)". CelesTrak.
- Krebs, Gunter. "Chronology of Space Launches".
- Kyle, Ed. "Space Launch Report". Archived from the original on 5 October 2009. Retrieved 13 August 2022.
- McDowell, Jonathan. "GCAT Orbital Launch Log".
- Pietrobon, Steven. "Steven Pietrobon's Space Archive".
- Wade, Mark. "Encyclopedia Astronautica".
- Webb, Brian. "Southwest Space Archive".
- Zak, Anatoly. "Russian Space Web".
- "ISS Calendar". Spaceflight 101.
- "NSSDCA Master Catalog". NASA Space Science Data Coordinated Archive. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.
- "Хроника освоения космоса" [Chronicle of space exploration]. CosmoWorld (in Russian).
- "Rocket Launch Manifest". Next Spaceflight.
- "Space Launch Plans". Novosti Kosmonavtiki.
- "Space Satellite Tracking". N2YO.