This article documents expected notable spaceflight events during the year 2028.
NASA plans to launch Dragonfly, a robotic rotorcraft probe which will explore Saturn's moon Titan. [1]
NASA plans to launch Artemis 4. The first to use SLS Block 1B.
Russia expects to launch the Luna 27 lunar lander 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. [2] India also plans to launch the Chandrayaan-4 lunar mission.
The Rosalind Franklin (rover) aims to launch to Mars. [3]
Date and time (UTC) | Rocket | Flight number | Launch site | LSP | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Payload (⚀ = CubeSat) | Operator | Orbit | Function | Decay (UTC) | Outcome | |||
Remarks | ||||||||
March | ||||||||
March (TBD) [4] | TBA | TBA | TBA | |||||
MBR Explorer | UAESA | Heliocentric | Asteroid flyby and landing | |||||
Emirates Mission to the Asteroid Belt (EMA). | ||||||||
June | ||||||||
Q2 (TBD) [5] | Vega-C | Kourou ELV | Arianespace | |||||
TBA | TBA | Low Earth | TBA | |||||
Small Satellites Mission Service (SSMS) #18 rideshare mission. | ||||||||
H1 2028 (TBD) [6] | TBA | TBA | TBA | |||||
NEO Surveyor | NASA | Sun–Earth L1 | Infrared astronomy Near-Earth object detection | |||||
Near-Earth Object Surveillance Mission (NEOSM). [7] Launch scheduled for no later than June 2028. | ||||||||
July | ||||||||
July (TBD) [1] | Commercial launch vehicle | TBA | TBA | |||||
Dragonfly | NASA | Heliocentric (to Saturn) | Exploration of Titan | |||||
Rotorcraft probe to fly in the atmosphere of Saturn's moon Titan. | ||||||||
July (TBD) [8] | Epsilon S | Uchinoura | JAXA | |||||
Solar-C EUVST | JAXA | Low Earth (SSO) | Heliophysics | |||||
Extreme Ultraviolet High-Throughput Spectroscopic Telescope Epsilon Mission. [9] [10] | ||||||||
August | ||||||||
August (TBD) [11] | TBA | TBA | TBA | |||||
SAOCOM-2A | CONAE | Low Earth (SSO) | Earth observation | |||||
September | ||||||||
September (TBD) [12] | SLS Block 1B | Kennedy LC-39B | NASA | |||||
Artemis 4 | NASA | Selenocentric (NRHO) | Crewed Gateway expedition Crewed lunar landing | |||||
International Habitation Module (I-HAB) | ESA | Selenocentric (NRHO) | Lunar Gateway component | |||||
Third crewed Orion flight, second Artemis lunar landing, and first lunar landing with 4 crew members. [13] First launch of the SLS Block 1B variant with the Exploration Upper Stage. Delivery of I-HAB to the Lunar Gateway. [14] | ||||||||
Q3 (TBD) [5] | Ariane 64 | Kourou ELA-4 | Arianespace | |||||
TBA | TBA | Geosynchronous | TBA | |||||
Multi-Launch Service (MLS) #3 rideshare mission. | ||||||||
December | ||||||||
Q4 (TBD) [15] [16] | Vega-C | Kourou ELV | Arianespace | |||||
CRISTAL (Sentinel-9) | ESA | Low Earth (Polar) | Earth observation | |||||
Part of the European Space Agency's Copernicus Programme. | ||||||||
Q4 (TBD) [5] | Vega-C | Kourou ELV | Arianespace | |||||
TBA | TBA | Low Earth | TBA | |||||
SSMS #19 rideshare mission. | ||||||||
To be determined | ||||||||
2028 (TBD) [17] | Amur (Soyuz-7) | Vostochny | Roscosmos | |||||
Sfera × ? [19] | Roscosmos | Low Earth | Communications | |||||
Maiden flight of Amur, a partially reusable methane-powered launch vehicle. | ||||||||
2028 (TBD) [20] | LVM3 | Satish Dhawan SLP | ISRO | |||||
Venus Orbiter Mission (Shukrayaan) | ISRO | Cytherocentric | Venus orbiter | |||||
2028 (TBD) [21] | Angara A5 | Vostochny Site 1A | Roscosmos | |||||
Luna 27 | Roscosmos | TLI to lunar surface | Lunar lander | |||||
Third mission of Luna-Glob Programme. | ||||||||
2028 (TBD) [22] [23] | Angara A5 | Vostochny Site 1A | Roscosmos | |||||
Orel | Roscosmos | Low Earth | Flight test | |||||
First uncrewed test flight of Russia's new crewed spacecraft, Orel. First launch of Angara A5 from Vostochny. | ||||||||
2028 (TBD) [22] [24] | Angara A5P | Vostochny Site 1A | Roscosmos | |||||
Orel | Roscosmos | Low Earth (ISS) | Flight test | |||||
First flight of the Angara A5P, a crew-rated variant of the Angara A5. [25] An uncrewed Orel capsule will be sent to the International Space Station to test docking procedures. | ||||||||
2028 (TBD) [22] [26] [25] | Angara A5P | Vostochny Site 1A | Roscosmos | |||||
Orel | Roscosmos | Low Earth (ISS) | Crewed flight test | |||||
Crewed flight test of the Orel capsule to the International Space Station. | ||||||||
2028 (TBD) [27] [28] | Ariane 62 or Vega-C [29] | Kourou ELA-4 or ELV | Arianespace | |||||
ROSE-L (Sentinel-12) | ESA | Low Earth (Polar) | Earth observation | |||||
Part of the European Space Agency's Copernicus Programme. | ||||||||
2028 (TBD) [30] [31] | Epsilon S | Uchinoura | JAXA | |||||
JASMINE | JAXA / NAOJ | Low Earth (SSO) | Astrometric observatory | |||||
2028 (TBD) [12] [32] | Falcon Heavy | Kennedy LC-39A | SpaceX | |||||
SpaceX GLS-1 | SpaceX / NASA | Selenocentric (NRHO) | Gateway logistics | |||||
First Lunar Gateway resupply mission, using the Dragon XL logistics module. | ||||||||
2028 (TBD) [33] | H3 | Tanegashima LA-Y2 | MHI | |||||
Himawari 10 | JMA | Geosynchronous | Meteorology | |||||
2028 (TBD) [34] | Long March 5 | Wenchang LC-1 | CASC | |||||
Chang'e 8 | CNSA | Selenocentric to lunar surface | Lunar lander ISRU demonstration | |||||
2028 (TBD) [2] | LVM 3 | Satish Dhawan SLP | ISRO | |||||
Bharatiya Antariksha Station Core Module | ISRO | Low Earth | Space station module | |||||
First module for ISRO's Bharatiya Antariksha space station. | ||||||||
2028 (TBD) [35] | Starship | TBA | SpaceX | |||||
Starlab | Starlab Space | Low Earth | Space station | |||||
Starlab Space is a joint venture between Voyager Space (Nanoracks) and Airbus. | ||||||||
2028 (TBD) [36] | TBA | TBA | TBA | |||||
Al Yah 5 | Yahsat | Geosynchronous | Communications | |||||
Replacement for Yahsat 1B (Al Yah 2). | ||||||||
2028 (TBD) [37] [38] | TBA | Baikonur or Vostochny | Roscosmos | |||||
Ekspress-40 | RSCC | Geosynchronous | Communications | |||||
Replacement for Ekspress-AM7 at 40° East. | ||||||||
2028 (TBD) [15] | Vega-C [39] | Kourou ELV | Arianespace | |||||
Sentinel-3D [41] | ESA | Low Earth (SSO) | Earth observation | |||||
Fourth Sentinel-3 satellite. | ||||||||
2028 (TBD) [42] | TBA | TBA | TBA | |||||
WSF-M 2 | U.S. Space Force | Low Earth (SSO) | Space weather | |||||
2028 (TBD) [43] | TBA | TBA | TBA | |||||
TBA | ESA | TMI to Martian surface | Mars lander | |||||
Rosalind Franklin | ESA | TMI to Martian surface | Mars rover | |||||
ExoMars mission. Delayed and retooled due to the suspension of ESA–Russia cooperation on ExoMars. [44] | ||||||||
2028 (TBD) [45] | Commercial launch vehicle | Cape Canaveral or Kennedy [46] | TBA | |||||
Sample Retrieval Lander | NASA / ESA | TMI to Martian surface | Mars sample-return | |||||
First lander component of the NASA–ESA Mars sample-return mission. It will carry NASA's Mars Ascent Vehicle and two sample recovery Ingenuity class helicopters. | ||||||||
2028 (TBD) [47] | Long March 4B | Taiyuan LC-9 | CASC | |||||
CBERS 6 | CASC / INPE | Low Earth (SSO) | Earth observation | |||||
Date and time (UTC) | Rocket | Flight number | Launch site | LSP | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Payload (⚀ = CubeSat) | Operator | Orbit | Function | Decay (UTC) | Outcome | ||
Remarks | |||||||
March (TBD) [48] | Improved Orion | Esrange | MORABA / SNSA | ||||
REXUS-39 | DLR / SNSA | Suborbital | Education | ||||
March (TBD) [48] | Improved Orion | Esrange | MORABA / SNSA | ||||
REXUS-40 | DLR / SNSA | Suborbital | Education | ||||
October (TBD) [48] | Red Kite/Red Kite | Esrange | MORABA | ||||
MAPHEUS-19 | DLR | Suborbital | Microgravity research | ||||
November (TBD) [48] | VSB-30 | Esrange | MORABA | ||||
TEXUS-65 | DLR / ESA | Suborbital | Microgravity research | ||||
November (TBD) [48] | VSB-30 | Esrange | MORABA | ||||
TEXUS-66 | DLR / ESA | Suborbital | Microgravity research | ||||
Date (UTC) | Spacecraft | Event | Remarks |
---|---|---|---|
Start Date/Time | Duration | End Time | Spacecraft | Crew | Remarks |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
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 |
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Family | Country | Launches | Successes | Failures | Partial failures | Remarks |
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Rocket | Country | Family | Launches | Successes | Failures | Partial failures | Remarks |
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Rocket | Country | Type | Launches | Successes | Failures | Partial failures | Remarks |
---|
Site | Country | Launches | Successes | Failures | Partial failures | Remarks |
---|
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 |
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