Overview
- NASA targets early February for Artemis II, sending Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen on a lunar flyby to test Orion systems for future landings.
- China plans the Chang’e 7 mission for late 2026 to the lunar south pole with an orbiter, relay satellite, lander, rover and a small hopper to search for water ice and other resources.
- Blue Origin aims to launch its Blue Moon MK1 cargo lander in early 2026, targeting the Shackleton region with a NASA experiment to study landing dust, with a crew-capable MK2 planned later.
- Vast’s Haven-1 is slated for a second-quarter Falcon 9 launch as a four-person commercial outpost offering about 45 square meters of volume for two-week visits in roughly a 425-kilometer orbit.
- Robotic science milestones include JAXA’s MMX mission to Phobos with the Idefix rover and ESA’s BepiColombo arriving at Mercury in November 2026, while SpaceX plans continued Starship tests under NASA’s eye for future lunar missions.