Since 2017, The New York Times has proudly presented this space and astronomy calendar to its readers. It features a hand-picked selection of significant events in spaceflight and celestial observation, all carefully chosen by our team of journalists.

This calendar is constantly updated. We regularly adjust dates and refine information to ensure accuracy. New events are added as they’re confirmed, and older entries are removed once they’ve passed or been postponed indefinitely.

To make the most of this resource, simply bookmark or add this page to your web browser’s favorites and check back often. Below, you’ll find easy-to-follow instructions for popular web browsers, alongside answers to other frequently asked questions.

Answers to common questions we’ve received

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Sometime between late October and early November, Blue Origin plans to launch two NASA satellites, named Blue and Gold, towards Mars. This mission, called ESCAPADE, is a small but ambitious project managed by the Berkeley Space Sciences Laboratory. These orbiters will meticulously study the enigmatic magnetic bubble surrounding the Red Planet.

Despite their compact size, these satellites will ride aboard the enormous New Glenn rocket, Blue Origin’s impressive vehicle. This launch marks only the second flight for New Glenn, following its initial debut in January. We eagerly await a more precise launch date announcement from NASA or Blue Origin.

Active from Oct. 2 to Nov. 7. Peak night: Oct. 21 to 22.

The Orionids are a favorite among meteor shower enthusiasts, known for their bright, swift trails that appear near Orion’s Belt. Like the Eta Aquarids in May, these meteors are Earth’s encounter with debris left behind by Halley’s Comet.

This spectacular shower is observable from both hemispheres. This year, viewing conditions are expected to be excellent as the moon will be only about 2 percent full, minimizing light interference.

Active from Nov. 3 to Dec. 2. Peak night: Nov. 16 to 17.

The Leonids are famous for producing some of the fastest meteors observed annually, streaking across the sky at an incredible 44 miles per second and leaving behind long, bright tails.

These meteors can be spotted radiating from the constellation Leo and are visible from both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. This year, with the moon only 9 percent full, conditions are highly favorable for a spectacular Leonid viewing.

Active from Dec. 1 to Dec. 21. Peak night: Dec. 12 to 13.

Originating from asteroid debris, the Geminids are consistently one of the most powerful and anticipated meteor showers each year. While best observed from the Northern Hemisphere, skywatchers south of the Equator can also enjoy this celestial display.

The Geminids will reach their peak when the moon is approximately 40 percent full, offering reasonable viewing conditions.

December 21st marks the scientific beginning of winter in the Northern Hemisphere, as this part of our planet tilts farthest away from the sun. Discover more fascinating facts about the solstice.

Active from Dec. 16 to Dec. 26. Peak night: Dec. 21 to 22.

Coinciding with the winter solstice, the Ursids meteor shower will present a celestial light show, with meteors appearing near the Little Dipper constellation, part of Ursa Minor.

This shower is primarily visible to skywatchers in the Northern Hemisphere. With the moon only 3 percent full, viewing conditions should be excellent for observing the Ursids.

Our universe is brimming with cosmic wonders, but only a few astronomical phenomena are visible to the naked eye. Meteor showers, those natural fireworks that streak brightly across the night sky, are a prime example.

Where meteor showers come from

While you might catch a glimpse of a meteor on any given night, your best chance is during a shower. Meteor showers occur when Earth passes through the trail of debris left by a comet or asteroid orbiting the sun. This debris, which can be as tiny as a grain of sand, burns up as it enters Earth’s atmosphere, creating a luminous streak of light.

These showers are predictable, happening around the same time each year and lasting for days or weeks. However, there’s a specific narrow window when each shower is at its peak, which is when Earth encounters the densest part of the cosmic debris. The peak offers the best opportunity for viewing. From our perspective on Earth, these meteors appear to originate from a single point in the sky.

For instance, the Perseid meteor shower peaks in mid-August, seemingly emanating from the constellation Perseus. Similarly, the Geminids, an annual December event, appear to radiate from the constellation Gemini.

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Our species referred to our latest 366-day journey around the sun as “2024,” a year filled with astronomical and spaceflight excitement.

North America witnessed a captivating solar eclipse. Two robotic landers successfully reached the lunar surface, mostly intact. The most powerful rocket booster ever constructed was expertly caught by mechanical arms nicknamed “chopsticks.” A new mission began its voyage to Jupiter’s icy ocean moon Europa. And private astronauts completed a truly daring spacewalk.

Can “2025,” our next revolution around the sun, possibly compare? We invite you to judge the upcoming events on launchpads and in the night sky for yourself.

For continuous updates on these and other celestial happenings, we encourage regular visits to The Times Space and Astronomy calendar.

Jeff Bezos enters the arena

In recent years, Elon Musk, through SpaceX, has largely dominated global spaceflight. However, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’s ambitions in space could soon challenge Mr. Musk’s supremacy.

Blue Origin, Mr. Bezos’s space company, possesses a powerful rocket named New Glenn, which is finally expected to launch in 2025. Similar to SpaceX’s Falcon 9, New Glenn’s booster stage is designed for full reusability, aiming to significantly reduce launch costs. This rocket is slated to carry national security satellites for the U.S. military and various NASA spacecraft, including Mars orbiters and lunar landers.

New Glenn will also transport satellites for Amazon’s Project Kuiper, an initiative to establish a vast constellation of internet-beaming satellites from space. This project directly competes with SpaceX’s Starlink constellation. Interestingly, Amazon also plans to utilize rockets from several of Blue Origin’s rivals, including United Launch Alliance, France’s Arianespace, and even SpaceX itself, for its Kuiper satellite launches.

Rubin’s first light

Astronomers on a Chilean mountaintop are nearing completion of the Vera C. Rubin Observatory, which might capture its inaugural views of the night sky as early as July 4 this year.

Originally known as the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope, the observatory was renamed in 2020 to honor Vera Rubin, who passed away at 88 in 2016. Dr. Rubin’s groundbreaking research provided compelling evidence for the existence of dark matter, a mysterious substance that constitutes a vast majority of the universe’s mass, yet remains unexplained.

The observatory’s new name is particularly fitting. Equipped with the world’s largest digital camera, the Rubin Observatory will create a dynamic time-lapse motion picture of the Southern sky. These images will be crucial for helping researchers unravel the nature of both dark matter and dark energy—the enigmatic force accelerating the expansion of the cosmos. The immense dataset will also shed light on the origins of our galaxy and compile a comprehensive catalog of asteroids and comets in our solar system, including any that could pose a future impact threat to Earth.

The moon, and Trump, come back around

During Donald J. Trump’s first administration, American space policy shifted its focus towards lunar exploration. President Biden’s administration continued this trajectory. However, with Mr. Trump’s return to the White House in January, the nation’s existing space plans could face significant changes. There’s a possibility of canceling NASA’s decade-long development of an expensive rocket. Alternatively, Mr. Trump might even more dramatically redirect NASA’s priorities towards sending humans to Mars. Reaching the Red Planet is the primary objective of Mr. Musk, who has been advising the president-elect.

Despite this potential uncertainty, a series of robotic lunar missions are scheduled for early in the year. The first two, involving landers from the American company Firefly Aerospace and Japan’s Ispace, are set to launch on the same SpaceX rocket as early as mid-January. Firefly’s mission will be the maiden voyage of its Blue Ghost lander, carrying NASA-funded cargo. For Ispace, this lunar trip marks its second attempt after its initial lander crashed onto the moon’s surface in 2023.

Later in the first quarter, Intuitive Machines may attempt another robotic moon landing. This follows their Odysseus lander’s successful, though tilted, arrival on the lunar surface last February. The company’s second lander, named Athena, will also carry NASA-funded instruments, including a drill designed to search for ice samples. Athena will share its SpaceX launcher with Lunar Trailblazer, a NASA orbiter tasked with studying water on the moon.

Vigils for Voyagers 1 and 2

Voyagers 1 and 2, the iconic twin spacecraft that sparked cosmic curiosity in a generation, were launched in 1977. After decades of exploring the far reaches of our solar system and venturing into the uncharted territory of interstellar space, both spacecraft are now showing their age.

Early in their incredible journey, the duo flew past Jupiter and Saturn, with Voyager 2 later making historic visits to Uranus and Neptune. Perhaps their most enduring legacy is the “Pale Blue Dot” photograph of Earth, a tiny pixel suspended in the vastness of space, a term famously coined by astronomer Carl Sagan.

In recent years, these robotic explorers have experienced intermittent contact with NASA. Communication with Voyager 2 was intentionally halted for months in 2020 and then accidentally lost for a few weeks in 2023 before being successfully restored. Voyager 1, however, caused a significant scare this year when it ceased transmitting data back to Earth. To prolong their operational lives, instruments on both spacecraft have been gradually shut down to conserve dwindling power.

Despite these challenges, NASA remains committed to its Voyagers. When these intrepid spacecraft finally fall silent, their resting place in the space between the stars will be a fitting tribute to their pioneering journey into the cosmos.

India’s orbital objective

India’s space program has achieved impressive feats, including landing a robot on the moon and placing a spacecraft in orbit around Mars. However, the nation’s most immediate priorities, while closer to Earth, are no less ambitious.

India is now heavily focused on human spaceflight. One of the country’s astronauts, Shubhanshu Shukla, is slated to spend up to 14 days this spring aboard the International Space Station as part of a commercial mission with Axiom Space.

Mr. Shukla and his fellow Indian astronauts aspire to be the first to launch into low Earth orbit aboard India’s domestically developed rockets. In December, India announced that an orbital vehicle from its Gaganyaan program was being prepared for an uncrewed test launch. A successful test flight could pave the way for a crewed Indian astronaut launch as early as 2026.

New milestones and new spacecraft

SpaceX captivated the world in November during Flight 5 of Starship, the most powerful rocket ever built. Expect the company to attempt to replicate the stunning “chopsticks” catch of its massive Super Heavy booster. SpaceX might also try to catch the upper-stage Starship vehicle after it completes an Earth orbit and returns to its South Texas launch site for the first time. SpaceX has announced a target of 25 Starship launches in 2025 as it prepares the spacecraft to land astronauts on the moon under its contract with NASA.

Several other innovative rockets and spacecraft are expected to make their debut flights in 2025.

Among them is Neutron, a reusable rocket under development by New Zealand-founded Rocket Lab. The company routinely launches satellites with its smaller Electron rocket and could conduct the inaugural flight of its new, larger vehicle from a launch site in Virginia.

Another anticipated debut is Dream Chaser, a space plane designed by Sierra Space. After experiencing delays in 2024, the company hopes this vehicle will transport cargo to the International Space Station for the first time this year.