2025 in spaceflight

Spaceflight in 2025 promises to follow the 2020s trend of record-breaking orbital launches (with at least 300 expected) and increased developments in lunar, Mars, and low-earth orbit exploration. Spaceflight in 2025 will include more private companies' launches, and reusable launch vehicles will be used. Private robotic landers, part of NASA's CLPs Program have touched down with more to land as part of the Artemis program.

2025 in spaceflight

Firefly's Blue Ghost lunar lander touched down successfully in March 2025
Orbital launches
First	4 January
Last	29 May
Total	122
Successes	115
Failures	6
Partial failures	1
National firsts
Satellite	Botswana
Space traveller	Bahamas  Malta  Saint Kitts and Nevis
Rockets
Maiden flights	Long March 8A New Glenn Spectrum Starship Block 2
Retirements	Soyuz-2.1v / Volga
Crewed flights
Orbital	4
Orbital travellers	14
Suborbital	2
Suborbital travellers	12
Total travellers	26
EVAs	3
v t e

2025 in spaceflight

Timeline of spaceflight ← 2024 2026 →

Overview

Astronomy and astrophysics

Exploration of the Solar System

AstroForge's Brokkr-2 was launched on 27 February 2025 to perform a flyby of a near-Earth asteroid and determine if the asteroid is metallic.^[1] The mission failed because of communication issues.

China launched the Tianwen-2 (ZhengHe) asteroid sample-return and comet probe in May.^[2]

Lunar exploration

On 15 January, Blue Ghost Mission 1 by Firefly Aerospace and Hakuto-R Mission 2 by ispace launched together on a Falcon 9.

Firefly Aerospace's lunar lander carried NASA-sponsored experiments and commercial payloads as a part of Commercial Lunar Payload Services program to Mare Crisium.^[3] Landing was completed successfully on 2 March 2025.^[4]

The Hakuto-R Mission 2 will carry the RESILIENCE lunar lander and the TENACIOUS micro rover.^[5] Landing is expected in Mare Frigoris around June 2025.^[6]

Intuitive Machines's lunar lander IM-2, carrying NASA-sponsored experiments and commercial rovers (Yaoki, AstroAnt, Micro-Nova and MAPP LV1) and payloads as a part of Commercial Lunar Payload Services program to Mons Mouton, was launched on 27 February 2025 on a Falcon 9 launch vehicle with Brokkr-2 and Lunar Trailblazer. IM-2 landed on 6 March 2025. The spacecraft was intact after touchdown but resting on its side, thereby complicating its planned science and technology demonstration mission; this outcome is similar to what occurred with the company's IM-1 Odysseus spacecraft in 2024.^[7]

Lunar Trailblazer aims to aid in the understanding of lunar water and the Moon's water cycle. The mission failed as contact was never established with spacecraft after launch.^[8] On March 13, Intuitive Machines shared that, like on the IM-1 mission, the Athena's altimeter had failed during landing, leaving its onboard computer without an accurate altitude reading. As a result, the spacecraft struck a plateau, tipped over, and skidded across the lunar surface, rolling once or twice before settling inside the crater. The company's CEO compared it to a baseball player sliding into a base. During the slide, the spacecraft rolled once or twice, before coming to rest inside the crater. The impact also kicked up regolith that coated the solar panels in dust, further degrading their performance.^[9]

Blue Origin plans to launch their MK1 Lunar Lander as a "pathfinder" mission in 2025.^[10]

Human spaceflight

On 30 January, Sunita Williams broke the world record for the most time spent on spacewalk by a woman when she accumulated 62 hours and 6 minutes on her ninth EVA. The record was previously held by Peggy Whitson with 60 hours and 21 minutes.^[11]

Private human spaceflight and space tourism

On 1 April at 01:46 (UTC), Fram2 launched aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, becoming the first crewed spaceflight to enter a polar retrograde orbit,^[12] i.e., to fly over Earth's poles.^[13]

Rocket innovation

Blue Origin completed the maiden flight of its New Glenn rocket on 16 January 2025. The second stage successfully placed its payload into orbit, while the first stage failed to land on the recovery ship offshore.^[14]

SpaceX expects to perform an in-space propellant transfer demonstration using two docked Starships in 2025—a critical milestone that will allow SpaceX to refuel their Starship HLS vehicle for an uncrewed lunar landing demonstration in the following year.^[15]

Satellite technology

ISRO successfully completed the docking of two SpaDeX satellites (SDX-01 & SDX-02) in the early hours of 16 January 2025.^[16] Docking of two vehicles in space has previously only been achieved by the Soviet Union/Russia, United States, ESA, and China.

Kuiper Systems, Amazon's satellite internet subsidiary, plans to ramp up launches for its constellation of over 3,000 satellites. The launches will occur on Falcon 9, Ariane 6, Vulcan Centaur and New Glenn launch vehicles.^[17]

Orbital launches

Main articles: List of spaceflight launches in January–March 2025, List of spaceflight launches in April–June 2025, List of spaceflight launches in July–September 2025, and List of spaceflight launches in October–December 2025

Numbers of orbital launches

Month	Total	Successes	Failures	Partial failures
January	22	21	1	0
February	20	20	0	0
March	27	24	3	0
April	26	25	1	0
May	27	25	1	1
June	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD
July	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD
August	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD
September	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD
October	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD
November	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD
December	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD
Total	122	115	6	1

Deep-space rendezvous

Date (UTC)	Spacecraft	Event	Remarks
8 January	BepiColombo	Sixth gravity assist at Mercury	Success
13 February	Blue Ghost Mission 1	Lunar orbit insertion	Success [18]
14 February	Hakuto-R Mission 2	Lunar flyby	This flyby placed the lander into a low-energy ballistic transfer orbit for capture into lunar orbit in mid-May.[19]
18 February	Solar Orbiter	Fourth gravity assist at Venus	This flyby of Venus will increase the inclination of the spacecraft's orbit from about 7.7 to around 17 degrees.[20]
1 March	Europa Clipper	Gravity assist at Mars	Success
2 March	Blue Ghost Mission 1	Lunar landing	Success Landing site is in Mare Crisium near Mons Latreille, coordinates 18.56°N 61.81°E / 18.56; 61.81
3 March	IM-2 Athena	Lunar orbit insertion
6 March	IM-2 Athena	Lunar landing	Partial success; Lander tipped over after touchdown. Landing site is on Mons Mouton, coordinates 84.7906°S 29.1957°E / -84.7906; 29.1957)
12 March	Hera	Gravity assist at Mars	Success Conducted observations and a flyby of the Martian moon Deimos
22 March	Parker Solar Probe	23rd perihelion
20 April	Lucy	Flyby of asteroid 52246 Donaldjohanson	Target altitude 922 km
6 May	Hakuto-R Mission 2	Lunar orbit insertion	Success [21]
10 May	Kosmos 482	Earth entry and impact	The Molniya rocket failed to deliver the spacecraft to a Venus transfer orbit, stranding it in orbit for 53 years. The lander's successful entry was monitored by Roscosmos, with the vehicle impacting the Indian Ocean west of Jakarta.
5 June	Hakuto-R Mission 2	Lunar landing	Landing targeted for Mare Frigoris
19 June	Parker Solar Probe	24th perihelion
31 August	JUICE	Gravity assist at Venus
15 September	Parker Solar Probe	25th perihelion
12 December	Parker Solar Probe	26th perihelion
24 December	Solar Orbiter	Fifth gravity assist at Venus	This flyby of Venus will increase the inclination of the spacecraft's orbit further to 24 degrees, and will mark the start of the ‘high-latitude’ mission.

Extravehicular activities (EVAs)

See also: List of spacewalks since 2025

Start Date/Time	Duration	End Time	Spacecraft	Crew	Remarks
16 January 13:01	6 hours	19:01	Expedition 72 ISS Quest	Nick Hague Sunita Williams	Hague and Williams ventured outside and replaced the Rate Gyro Assembly Gyroscope 2 on the S0 Truss, replaced the retro reflectors on IDA 3, installed shields on NICER to patch holes in the light shades, relocated the C2V2 cables out of the way so the astronauts and Canadarm 2 could access the worksite, tested a tool on the AMS jumpers, and photographed the AMS jumpers so they can be de-mated on a future spacewalk. As part of a get-ahead task, they inspected an ammonia vent line on Unity and inspected a foot restraint located near the Z1 Radio Antenna. This spacewalk was originally supposed to be performed by Andreas Mogensen and Loral O'Hara during Expedition 70, but it was delayed indefinitely due to a radiator leak on Nauka.[22]
20 January 08:55	8 hours, 17 minutes	17:12	Shenzhou 19 TSS Wentian	Cai Xuzhe Song Lingdong	Tasks included installation of space debris protection devices and inspections of the exterior of the TSS.[23]
30 January 12:43	5 hours, 26 minutes	18:09	Expedition 72 ISS Quest	Sunita Williams Barry Wilmore	Wilmore and Williams successfully removed a faulty radio communications unit, although the time needed for this meant that other tasks that were scheduled for the spacewalk weren't accomplished. Williams broke the record for the woman to have spent the most on EVA, with a total of 62 hours and 6 minutes.[11]
1 May 13:05	5 hours, 44 minutes	18:49	Expedition 73 ISS Quest	Anne McClain Nichole Ayers	McClain and Ayers relocated a communications antenna, installed a mounting bracket for a future Roll Out Solar Array, installed a jumper cable to provide power from the P6 truss to the Russian Orbital Segment and removed bolts from a micrometeoroid cover.[24]

Space debris events

See also: List of space debris producing events

Date/Time (UTC)	Source object	Event type	Pieces tracked	Remarks
9 February	New Glenn upper stage+Blue Ring	Breakup	~67	Energetic fragmentation event; Cause Unknown; but may be related to upper stage passivization or insulation.

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, Electron rockets launched from the Māhia Peninsula in New Zealand are counted under the United States because Electron is an American rocket. For a launch attempt to be considered orbital it must be trying to achieve a positive perigee. Launches from the Moon are not included in the statistics.

Country		Launches	Successes	Failures	Partial failures
	China	33	32	1	0
	France	1	1	0	0
	Germany	1	0	1	0
	India	2	1	1	0
	Italy	1	1	0	0
	Japan	1	1	0	0
	Russia	6	6	0	0
	United States	77[a]	73	3	1
World		122	115	6	1

By rocket

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

Ariane

Atlas

Ceres

Electron

Falcon

Firefly

H-series

ILV

Jielong

Kuaizhou

Long March

New Glenn

R-7

Starship

Vega

Vulcan

Others

•   Ariane 6
•   Atlas V
•   Ceres-1
•   Electron
•   Falcon 9 new
•   Falcon 9 reused
•   Falcon Heavy
•   Firefly Alpha
•   H-IIA
•   H3
•   GSLV
•   LVM3
•   PSLV
•   SSLV
•   Jielong 3
•   Kuaizhou 1A
•   Kuaizhou 11
•   Long March 2
•   Long March 3
•   Long March 4
•   Long March 5
•   Long March 6
•   Long March 7
•   Long March 8
•   New Glenn
•   Soyuz-2
•   Soyuz 2.1v
•   Starship
•   Vega C
•   Vulcan Centaur
•   Others

By family

Family	Country	Launches	Successes	Failures	Partial failures	Remarks
Angara	Russia	1	1	0	0
Ariane	France	1	1	0	0
Atlas	United States	1	1	0	0
Ceres	China	4	4	0	0
Electron	United States	6	6	0	0
Falcon	United States	64	64	0	0
Firefly	United States	1	0	1	0
H-series	Japan	1	1	0	0
ILV	India	2	1	1	0
Jielong	China	1	1	0	0
Kinetica	China	1	1	0	0
Kuaizhou	China	1	0	1	0
Long March	China	25	25	0	0
Minotaur	United States	1	1	0	0
New Glenn	United States	1	1	0	0	Maiden flight
R-7	Russia	5	5	0	0
Spectrum	Germany	1	0	1	0	Maiden flight
Starship	United States	3	0	2	1
Vega	Italy	1	1	0	0
Zhuque	China	1	1	0	0

By type

Rocket	Country	Family	Launches	Successes	Failures	Partial failures	Remarks
Angara-1.2	Russia	Angara	1	1	0	0
Ariane 6	France	Ariane	1	1	0	0
Atlas V	United States	Atlas	1	1	0	0
Ceres-1	China	Ceres	4	4	0	0
Electron	United States	Electron	6	6	0	0
Falcon 9	United States	Falcon	64	64	0	0
Firefly Alpha	United States	Firefly	1	0	1	0
GSLV	India	ILV	1	1	0	0
H3	Japan	H-series	1	1	0	0
Jielong 3	China	Jielong	1	1	0	0
Kinetica 1	China	Kinetica	1	1	0	0
Kuaizhou 1	China	Kuaizhou	1	0	1	0
Long March 2	China	Long March	6	6	0	0
Long March 3	China	Long March	9	9	0	0
Long March 4	China	Long March	1	1	0	0
Long March 5	China	Long March	1	1	0	0
Long March 6	China	Long March	4	4	0	0
Long March 7	China	Long March	2	2	0	0
Long March 8	China	Long March	2	2	0	0
Minotaur IV	United States	Minotaur	1	1	0	0
New Glenn	United States	New Glenn	1	1	0	0	Maiden flight
PSLV	India	ILV	1	0	1	0
Soyuz-2	Russia	R-7	5	5	0	0
Spectrum	Germany	Spectrum	1	0	1	0	Maiden flight
Starship	United States	Starship	3	0	2	1
Vega C	Italy	Vega	1	1	0	0
Zhuque-2	China	Zhuque	1	1	0	0

By configuration

Rocket	Country	Type	Launches	Successes	Failures	Partial failures	Remarks
Angara-1.2	Russia	Angara-1.2	1	1	0	0
Ariane 62	France	Ariane 6	1	1	0	0
Atlas V 551	United States	Atlas V	1	1	0	0
Ceres-1	China	Ceres-1	3	3	0	0
Ceres-1S	China	Ceres-1	1	1	0	0
Electron	United States	Electron	6	6	0	0
Falcon 9 Block 5	United States	Falcon 9	64	64	0	0
Firefly Alpha	United States	Firefly Alpha	1	0	1	0
GSLV Mk II	India	GSLV	1	1	0	0
H3-22S	Japan	H3	1	1	0	0
Jielong 3	China	Jielong 3	1	1	0	0
Kinetica 1	China	Kinetica 1	1	1	0	0
Kuaizhou 1A	China	Kuaizhou 1	1	0	1	0
Long March 2C	China	Long March 2	1	1	0	0
Long March 2D	China	Long March 2	4	4	0	0
Long March 2F/G	China	Long March 2	1	1	0	0
Long March 3B/E	China	Long March 3	8	8	0	0
Long March 3C/E	China	Long March 3	1	1	0	0
Long March 4B	China	Long March 4	1	1	0	0
Long March 5B / YZ-2	China	Long March 5	1	1	0	0
Long March 6	China	Long March 6	1	1	0	0
Long March 6A	China	Long March 6	3	3	0	0
Long March 7A	China	Long March 7	2	2	0	0
Long March 8	China	Long March 8	1	1	0	0
Long March 8A	China	Long March 8	1	1	0	0	Maiden flight
Minotaur IV	United States	Minotaur IV	1	1	0	0
New Glenn	United States	New Glenn	1	1	0	0	Maiden flight
PSLV-XL	India	PSLV	1	0	1	0
Soyuz-2.1a	Russia	Soyuz-2	2	2	0	0
Soyuz-2.1b / Fregat-M	Russia	Soyuz-2	2	2	0	0
Soyuz 2.1v / Volga	Russia	Soyuz-2	1	1	0	0	Final flight
Spectrum	Germany	Spectrum	1	0	1	0	Maiden flight
Starship Block 2	United States	Starship	3	0	2	1	Maiden flight
Vega C	Italy	Vega C	1	1	0	0
Zhuque-2E	China	Zhuque-2	1	1	0	0

By spaceport

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

Australia

China

France

India

Iran

Japan

Kazakhstan

New Zealand

North Korea

Norway

Russia

United States

•   Bowen
•   Jiuquan
•   South China Sea
•   Taiyuan
•   Wenchang
•   Xichang
•   Yellow Sea
•   Kourou
•   Satish Dhawan
•   Chabahar
•   Semnan
•   Shahroud
•   Kii
•   Tanegashima
•   Baikonur
•   Māhia
•   Sohae
•   Andøya
•   Plesetsk
•   Vostochny
•   Cape Canaveral
•   Kennedy
•   MARS
•   Starbase
•   Vandenberg

Site	Country	Launches	Successes	Failures	Partial failures	Remarks
Andøya	Norway	1	0	1	0	First orbital launch
Baikonur	Kazakhstan	2	2	0	0
Cape Canaveral	United States	31	31	0	0
Jiuquan	China	13	12	1	0
Kennedy	United States	14	14	0	0
Kourou	France	2	2	0	0
Māhia	New Zealand	6	6	0	0
Plesetsk	Russia	4	4	0	0
Satish Dhawan	India	2	1	1	0
Starbase	United States	3	0	2	1
Taiyuan	China	4	4	0	0
Tanegashima	Japan	1	1	0	0
Vandenberg	United States	23	22	1	0
Wenchang	China	5	5	0	0
Xichang	China	9	9	0	0
Yellow Sea	China	2	2	0	0
Total		122	115	6	1

By orbit

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

Transatmospheric

Low Earth

Medium Earth / Molniya

Geosynchronous / Tundra / transfer

High Earth / Lunar transfer

Heliocentric

•   Transatmospheric
•   Low Earth
•   Low Earth (ISS)
•   Low Earth (CSS)
•   Low Earth (SSO)
•   Low Earth (polar)
•   Medium Earth
•   Molniya
•   Geosynchronous
•   High Earth
•   Lunar transfer
•   Heliocentric

Orbital regime	Launches	Achieved	Not achieved	Accidentally achieved	Remarks
Transatmospheric	3	0	3	0
Low Earth / Sun-synchronous	99	95	4	0	Including flights to ISS and Tiangong (CSS)
Geosynchronous / Tundra / GTO	15	15	0	0
Medium Earth / Molniya	2	2	0	0
High Earth / Lunar transfer	2	2	0	0
Heliocentric orbit / Planetary transfer	1	1	0	0
Total	122	115	7	0

Suborbital launch statistics

By country

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 80 km (50 mi) are omitted.

Country		Launches	Successes	Failures	Partial failures
	Canada	2	2	0	0
	North Korea	1	1	0	0
	United States	10	10	0	0
	Yemen	5	5	0	0
World		18	18	0	0

Maiden flights

Rocket	Origin	Organization	Launch	Outcome	Ref.
New Glenn	USA	Blue Origin	16 January	Success	[25]
Starship Block 2	USA	SpaceX	16 January	Failure	[26]
Long March 8A	China	China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology	11 February	Success	[27][28]
Spectrum	Germany	Isar Aerospace	30 March	Failure	[29]
Ceres-2	China	Galactic Energy	June	TBD	[30]
Pallas-1	China	Galactic Energy	June	TBD	[31]
HLVM3	India	ISRO	Q2	TBD	[32]
Neutron	USA	Rocket Lab	July	TBD	[33]
HANBIT-Nano	South Korea	Innospace	July	TBD	[34]
Tianlong-3	China	Space Pioneer	July	TBD	[35]
Kinetica 2	China	CAS Space	September	TBD	[36]
RFA One	Germany	Rocket Factory Augsburg	Q3	TBD	[37]
Zhuque-3	China	LandSpace	Q3	TBD	[38]
Irtysh	Russia	TsSKB Progress	December	TBD	[39]
Hyperbola-3	China	i-Space	December	TBD	[40][41]
Antares 330	USA	Northrop Grumman	Q4	TBD	[42]
Ariane 64	France	ArianeGroup	Q4	TBD	[43]
Eris Block 1	Australia	Gilmour Space Technologies	Planned	TBD	[44][45]
Cyclone-4M	Ukraine	Yuzhnoye	Planned	TBD	[46]
Hera-II	UK	Astraius	Planned	TBD
Nova	USA	Stoke Space	Planned	TBD	[47]
Prime	UK	Orbex	Planned	TBD	[48]
Starship Block 3	USA	SpaceX	Planned	TBD	[49]
Skyrora XL	UK	Skyrora	Planned	TBD	[50]
H3-30S	Japan	JAXA and MHI	Planned	TBD	[51]
Solid fuel SLV (All stages variant)	South Korea	Agency for Defense Development	Planned	TBD	[52]
Miura 5	Spain	PLD Space	Planned	TBD	[53]
Zéphyr	France	Latitude	Planned	TBD	[54]
Nebula-1	China	Deep Blue Aerospace	Planned	TBD	[55]
Yuanxingzhe-1	China	Space Epoch	Planned	TBD	[56]
4-meter-class Reusable Launcher	China	Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology	Planned	TBD	[57][58]
Agnibaan	India	AgniKul Cosmos	Planned	TBD	[59]
Vikram-1	India	Skyroot Aerospace	Planned	TBD	[60]

Notes

SpaceX's Fram2 mission launched on March 31st, 2025 at 9:46 PM EDT.

1. Includes Electron launches from Māhia