2028 in spaceflight

This article documents expected notable spaceflight events during the year 2028.

2028 in spaceflight
The rotorcraft Dragonfly probe to Titan is planned to be launched in 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]

Orbital launches
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 

Suborbital flights
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 

Deep-space rendezvous
Date (UTC) Spacecraft Event Remarks

Extravehicular activities (EVAs)
Start Date/Time Duration End Time Spacecraft Crew Remarks

Orbital launch statistics

By country

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

By rocket

By family

Family Country Launches Successes Failures Partial failures Remarks

By type

Rocket Country Family Launches Successes Failures Partial failures Remarks

By configuration

Rocket Country Type Launches Successes Failures Partial failures Remarks

By spaceport

Site Country Launches Successes Failures Partial failures Remarks

By orbit

Orbital regime Launches Achieved Not achieved Accidentally
achieved		 Remarks
Transatmospheric0000
Low Earth0000
Geosynchronous / transfer0000
Medium Earth0000
High Earth0000
Heliocentric orbit0000Including planetary transfer orbits

    References
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    2. "First module of Indian space station to launch by 2028: ISRO chief". The Indian Express. 23 December 2023. Retrieved 27 December 2023.
    3. Kuhr, Jack (10 April 2024). "Thales Alenia Space Signs $567M ExoMars 2028 Contract". Payload. Retrieved 13 April 2024.
    4. Foust, Jeff (3 June 2023). "UAE outlines plans for asteroid mission". SpaceNews. Retrieved 17 September 2023.
    5. "All flights opportunities". Arianespace. Retrieved 17 August 2023.
    6. Foust, Jeff (7 December 2022). "NASA confirms NEO Surveyor for 2028 launch". SpaceNews. Retrieved 8 December 2022.
    7. Smith, Marcia (19 January 2020). "NASA's New NEO Mission Will Substantially Reduce Time to Find Hazardous Asteroids". Space Policy Online. Retrieved 9 June 2020.
    8. Shimizu, Toshifumi (15 December 2023). SH54A-03 The SOLAR-C EUVST mission: Coronal physics advanced by novel EUV spectroscopy. AGU23. Retrieved 26 December 2023.
    9. "NASA Approves Heliophysics Missions to Explore Sun, Earth's Aurora". NASA (Press release). 29 December 2020. Retrieved 30 December 2020.
    10. "Instruments | Next-generation solar-observing satellite Solar-C_EUVST". NAOJ. Retrieved 30 December 2020.
    11. "CEOS EO HANDBOOK – MISSION SUMMARY - SAOCOM-2A". CEOS. Retrieved 10 November 2022.
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    13. Foust, Jeff (30 October 2022). "Lunar landing restored for Artemis 4 mission". SpaceNews. Retrieved 31 October 2022.
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    15. "Planned launches". EUMETSAT. 8 October 2022. Retrieved 14 December 2023.
    16. Parsonson, Andrew (23 September 2020). "Airbus signs $350 million contract to build CRISTAL ice-monitoring satellite for EU". SpaceNews. Retrieved 23 September 2020.
    17. "Первый пуск метановой ракеты "Амур" планируется в 2028-2030 годах" [The first launch of the Amur methane rocket is planned for 2028-2030]. TASS (in Russian). 27 July 2023. Retrieved 28 November 2023.
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    19. "Russia's new Amur rocket to carry Sfera next-generation satellites as first payload". TASS. 20 April 2021. Retrieved 25 April 2021.
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    22. Katya Pavlushchenko [@katlinengrey] (15 August 2023). "Both the first uncrewed test flight and the first crewed test flight of the planned #Oryol spacecraft are scheduled for 2028, said the chief designer of ROS (it's not a misprint, now they call it ROS instead of ROSS), deputy director of RSC Energia Vladimir Kozhevnikov" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
    23. "Первый старт пилотируемого корабля РФ "Орел" перенесен с 2023 г. на более поздний срок" [The first launch of the Orel manned spacecraft of the Russian Federation has been postponed from 2023 to a later date]. Interfax (in Russian). 17 November 2022. Retrieved 19 November 2022.
    24. "В космическом корабле "Орел" применят лучшие техрешения "Союзов"" [The spacecraft "Orel" will use the best technical solutions from "Soyuz"]. TASS (in Russian). 26 September 2022. Retrieved 26 September 2022.
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    Generic references:
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