As the world turns its gaze skyward in 2026, space agencies and private companies across the globe are gearing up for a year dense with groundbreaking missions and exploratory milestones that could reshape humanity’s presence beyond Earth. Following a busy 2025 that saw the Axiom-4 commercial mission dock with the International Space Station and astronauts return after extended stays in orbit, the focus now shifts to ambitious ventures to the Moon, Mars and deep open space that promise to test technological limits and deepen scientific understanding.
At the forefront of these efforts is NASA’s Artemis II, a landmark mission slated for launch by April 2026 that will mark the first crewed lunar flight in more than half a century. Four astronauts will travel around the Moon aboard NASA’s Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft in a roughly 10-day mission. The objective is not a lunar landing but to validate life support systems, navigation and deep-space operations, reinforcing capabilities needed for future lunar landings and eventual human missions to Mars. Artemis II represents the first crewed lunar orbit mission since Apollo 8 in 1968 and lays the groundwork for Artemis III, which aims to land humans on the Moon’s surface later in the decade.
Parallel to American efforts, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is advancing its Gaganyaan programme with critical test flights in early 2026. The series of missions are designed to prepare India’s first human spaceflight, with an uncrewed trial carrying a robotic crew analogue expected to launch aboard a human-rated LVM3 rocket. The success of these tests will be central to India’s plan to send astronauts into low Earth orbit and return them safely to Earth, potentially as soon as 2027, cementing its position among nations capable of crewed spaceflight.
In the private sector, SpaceX is pushing the boundaries with its Mission Mars, aiming to send the first Starship rockets toward the Red Planet in 2026. Although full crewed missions remain a longer-term goal, these early flights are intended to gather essential data on atmospheric entry, descent and landing — a crucial step toward eventual cargo runs and, ultimately, sustained human presence on Mars. SpaceX envisions a future where Starship routinely ferries people and materials between Earth, Mars and beyond, with the broader ambition of supporting a self-sufficient city on Mars in coming decades.
The United Arab Emirates is also targeting lunar exploration with its Rashid Rover 2, which will strive to touch down on the Moon’s far side aboard a Blue Ghost 2 lander. The mission builds on the UAE’s growing space capabilities after an earlier attempt ended in failure, and is intended to conduct geological, thermal and electrical studies of lunar regolith, providing valuable insights into the Moon’s environment.
Europe’s contribution comes in the form of the HENON CubeSat, a compact spacecraft destined for a distant retrograde orbit around the Moon. Scheduled for late 2026, HENON seeks to pioneer enhanced space-weather monitoring by capturing data on solar storms and energetic particles — information vital for forecasting hazardous conditions that could impact both robotic and crewed missions.
Beyond specific missions, broader trends in space exploration suggest a year rich with celestial phenomena and technological milestones. Astronomers and skywatchers can anticipate remarkable events such as supermoons, eclipses and planetary alignments that will complement the scientific achievements of spacecraft and landers. These developments highlight not just the ambition but also the rapidly evolving capability of nations and private actors to explore Earth’s cosmic neighborhood and lay foundations for further deep-space exploration.
Together, these initiatives mark 2026 as a year of intensified global activity in space, combining international collaboration, commercial innovation and scientific ambition to push humanity further into the final frontier.
