2020s in spaceflight
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 NASA plans to reestablish a human presence on the Moon during the 2020s. | |
This article documents expected notable spaceflight events during the 2020s.
The global trend towards reuse and gradual cost reduction regarding access to orbit is expected to continue in this decade. Since 2023, SpaceX has been testing its fully reusable Starship with orbital-velocity missions. The Vulcan Centaur, intended by United Launch Alliance to replace its more expensive predecessors, launched for the first time in early 2024.[1] After delays, Ariane 6 replaced the more expensive Ariane 5 with its maiden flight in July. The following year, Blue Origin launched New Glenn twice in January and November respectively, and LandSpace launched Zhuque-3 for the first time in December.
Within the realm of planetary science, Mars remains a focus for missions to other planets conducted by space agencies, with three missions launched in 2020 (by China, the United Arab Emirates and the United States), ESCAPADE launched in 2025 and at least one mission planned for 2026 and 2028. Japan and China plan to retrieve samples from Mars and Phobos, respectively, by 2031, in missions launched during the 2020s.[2][3]
Under the Artemis program, NASA plans a return of humans to the Moon no earlier than 2028.[4] The first uncrewed launch of the Space Launch System happened in 2022,[5] and the first crewed launch occurred in April 2026.[6] A crewed exploration of Mars could follow in the mid-2030s. SpaceX, a private company, had previously announced plans to land humans on Mars in the 2020s, with the long-term goal of enabling the colonization of Mars; however, in early 2026, Elon Musk stated that SpaceX was currently focused on the Moon rather than Mars.[7]
India plans to launch its first crewed flight with a spacecraft called Gaganyaan on a home-grown GSLV Mark III rocket in 2027.[8] The mission would make India the fourth nation to launch a crewed spaceflight after Russia, the US and China. India also plans to launch its second Mars probe since the Mars Orbiter Mission, the Mars Lander Mission, sometime in the 2020s.
The James Webb Space Telescope was launched in late 2021 and became active in mid-2022.[9] NASA plans to launch the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, which will have a field of view 100 times larger than that of the Hubble Space Telescope, sometime between October 2026 and May 2027.[10][11][12]
NASA's NEO Surveyor, scheduled to launch no later than June 2028,[13] is expected to be capable of detecting at least 90% of near-Earth objects larger than 140 meters (460 ft), a goal mandated by the US Congress in 2005.[14]
The number of small satellites launched annually was expected to grow to around one thousand (2018 estimate), mainly communication satellites in large constellations[15] but launches quickly exceeded this estimate, mainly due to the rapid deployment of the Starlink and OneWeb constellations. From 2020 to 2022, around 3500 Starlink satellites[16] and 500 satellites by OneWeb[17] were launched.
The number of total satellites reached 10,000 for the first time in 2024.[18]
