There are many space missions slated to launch in the year 2022.
There were many exciting things to look forward to in the year 2021, including NASA's new Perseverance rover and Ingenuity helicopter landing on Mars, the long-awaited launch of NASA's James Webb Space Telescope and numerous other science missions.
NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) megarocket, United Launch Alliance's (ULA) Vulcan Centaur rocket and Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket are just a few of the new launch vehicles. There will be a lot of missions that were delayed.
We're looking forward to the year 2022.
The first orbital launch by the company.
The first space flight of the Starship spaceship is planned for early next year. The company is aiming for its first orbital launch in March, with as many as a dozen test flights after that.
The launch pad and tower at the company's South Texas launch site were expected to be completed by the end of the year, and the Starship vehicle and its Super Heavy booster are now complete. If all goes according to plan, the inaugural flight will place the spaceship in the air for a short time before it reenters the atmosphere and splashes down in the Pacific Ocean.
Two elements are designed to be fully and rapidly replaceable. The operational missions could begin in 2023 if the company is able to recover and reuse the spaceship. The company is planning to use Starship for crewed missions to Mars.
Private astronauts are on the International Space Station.
The first private crewed mission to the International Space Station is scheduled to launch in February of 2022. From left to right are pilot Larry Connor, mission commander and retired NASA astronauts Michael Lpez-Alegra and Mark Pathy, and mission specialist Eytan Stibbe. The image is from Axiom Space.
The company plans to send astronauts to the International Space Station with the help of a Houston-based company.
The private crewed mission is expected to launch on Feb. 28, 2022. The four astronauts on the Ax-1 crew are Michael Lpez-Alegra, Larry Connor, Mark Pathy and Eytan Stibbe. There will be eight days at the station and two days of travel. This will be the first-ever fully private trip to the space station for tourists. The crew is planning 25 microgravity experiments that will focus on science, education and outreach.
NASA gave the go-ahead for a second crewed mission to the space station. The flight is scheduled to launch from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida in the fall of 2022. Four crewed missions to the International Space Station will be launched using Crew Dragon and Falcon 9 rockets.
Houston's Intuitive Machines made a moon landing.
The Nova-C lunar landers will be launched on a NASA sponsored flight in early 2022. The Nova-C launch was delayed.
The British company Spacebit will be the first U.K. mission to the lunar surface with a small rover. "Our partnership with Intuitive Machines is a great example of two private companies working together with NASA to advance space exploration," Shotwell said in a statement.
The Nova-C will attempt to land on the moon and send data to the surface. The lander can operate for 14 Earth days.
The 1st moon mission is being launched by NASA.
An artist's illustration of NASA's Space Launch System megarocket. The image is from NASA.
The launch of NASA's Space Launch System, a 332-foot-tall (101-meter) rocket that will be used for upcoming moon missions, has yet again been delayed. The rocket and the capsule are currently undergoing testing at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida to make sure they are communicating with the ground.
The first SLS mission, called Artemis 1, will launch in March. There are possible launch windows between March 12 and April 8.
After testing is complete, the rocket will undergo a wet dress rehearsal, during which propellant will be added to the rocket's fuel tanks. NASA will provide an exact launch date for the uncrewed Artemis 1 mission to the moon and back if all goes well, which is a major milestone in the agency's plans to land humans on the moon by 2025.
Starliners second uncrewed test mission.
The Orbital Flight Test 2 mission to the International Space Station is scheduled to launch from the United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket, which sits atop the Boeing's Starliners. The launch was supposed to take place in August of 2021, but issues with Starliner's service module have pushed it into the first half of 2022. The image is from Boeing.
The second uncrewed Orbital Flight Test-2 (OFT-2) of the company's Starliner spacecraft is expected to take place in May 2022.
The first Starliner Orbital Test Flight-1 (OFT-1), which launched into space in 2019, experienced a number of issues and didn't reach the International Space Station as planned due to software issues. The OFT-2 mission was recertified in January of 2021.
The OFT-2 mission was supposed to launch to the space station in March 2021, but was delayed several times due to issues found during pre-launch checks. There was a valve issue on the Starliners during the last launch window.
Boeing plans to launch its Starliner spacecraft atop a ULA Atlas V rocket in May 2022, depending on the readiness of the vehicle and the schedule of other vehicles visiting the space station at that time. The OFT-2 mission will use the service module that was originally planned for the Crew Flight Test.
The first crew test flight was by Starliner.
NASA astronauts Nicole Mann and Mike Fincke and Boeing astronauts Chris Ferguson pose for a picture as they rehearse landing on the Starliner. The image is from Boeing.
The Crew Flight Test mission has been pushed further into the future due to the delay of OFT-2. Boeing plans to send three astronauts to the International Space Station for an extended test flight if Starliner passes its uncrewed flight test. The service module planned for Starliner 1 will be used for the CFT mission.
NASA reassigns 2 astronauts from Starliner to Crew Dragon.
Europe is about to launch a new product.
The image is from the European Space Agency.
The Jupiter Icy moons Explorer mission is scheduled to launch in May of 2022, and arrive at the gas giant in 2029. Three of Jupiter's largest moons, including Ganymede, will be studied for at least three years.
James will be online.
The launch of the James Webb Space Telescope took place on December 25. It will take about six months to get all of the systems and instruments up to speed, with 50 major deployment and 178 release mechanisms scheduled for the telescope to fully take shape.
The James Webb Space Telescope is expected to begin regular science operations in the summer of 2022. The telescope will study the universe's first stars and galaxies, atmospheres of nearby alien planets, and more over the next five to 10 years.
NASA's James Webb Space Telescope mission has live updates.
ULA's first rocket launch.
The United Launch Alliance's next-generation launch vehicle, the Vulcan Centaur rocket, is expected to launch on its first test flight in 2022. The image is from the United Launch Alliance.
ULA is planning to launch a new rocket in 2022. ULA's Atlas V and Delta IV rockets were replaced by the Vulcan Centaur. The Russian-made engines that powered the Atlas line will be phased out by the new booster.
The debut of the rocket was delayed due to supply chain issues for the lander. Japan's first moon rover, called Yaoki, was made by a Japanese company. The mission is funded by NASA. The cremated remains of Arthur C. Clarke will be deposited on the moon if the mission goes to plan.
Russia is on a lunar landing mission.
The Luna 25 is seen during assembly and testing. The image is from the Roscosmos.
Russia's plan to launch a mission to the moon has been delayed. The first mission to land on the moon's south pole in 45 years will be part of the Luna 25 mission.
Luna 25 was supposed to launch in October of 2021. The mission was delayed due to issues with the landing system. More time is needed to complete successful trials of Luna 25's soft landing system. Nine instruments will be on board when the mission launches.
The moon's south pole is where Luna 25 will research the lunar regolith and exosphere. NASA and other space agencies are considering this region for future moon missions. The Soviet Union sent several uncrewed missions to the moon between the 1950s and 1970s, including the first spacecraft to hit the surface in 1959 and the first robotic lunar rover in 1966.
The Psyche mission was launched by the Falcon Heavy.
NASA's Psyche mission to a metal asteroid will be launched in July 2022. The mission will launch from the Launch Complex 39A at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.
Psyche is a metallic asteroid that is between Mars and Jupiter. One of the building blocks of our solar system is believed to be the exposed nickel-iron core of an early planet. Studying this new asteroid will give us new clues about how planets form.
The Psyche mission is expected to launch in three years. The rocket has at least three U.S. Space Force missions and commercial satellites on the docket for launch in the next year.
India has uncrewed test flights.
Four Indian astronauts recently traveled to Russia to train for upcoming crewed missions, which could launch in 2022, or 2023. The image is from the Roscosmos.
The first test vehicle flight for India's Gaganyaan space mission is slated for the second half of 2022, followed by a second uncrewed mission at the end of that year. The second mission will carry a spacefaring human-robot named Vyommitra, which was developed by the Indian Space Research Organization. The first crewed Gaganyaan mission is planned to launch in 2023.
Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket was launched.
The New Glenn rocket is in flight. The image is from Blue Origin.
Blue Origin will send its first rocket aloft in late 2022. New Glenn is a rocket that can send up to 50 tons to low Earth orbit. Blue Origin lost out on a Space Force contract, which delayed the launch of the New Glenn rocket.
NASA will add the rocket to its fleet. Blue Origin's suborbital rocket New Shepard was used by NASA.
Juno is flying by.
For the first time, the north pole region of Europa was captured by the Juno spacecraft. NASA officials said that it's the first view of the region they've seen and that future flybys will give a clearer look. The image is from NASA/SwRI/MSSS.
Since arriving in Jupiter, NASA's Juno has been exploring the planet. The gas giant and its moons have been visited by the probe, but it is expected to come very close to the moon in late 2022.
In February of 2022, Juno will travel by car to reach a distance of about 29,000 miles. In September of 2022, NASA's Juno will fly above the moon's surface, offering a close look at it.
NASA extended the mission of the probe in order to keep it active through September 2025. The mission can collect more stunning images and new data.
Didymos will be impacted by DART in September.
An artist's depiction of the DART craft, which was followed by LICIA, heading toward Dimorphos with Didymos in the background. Steve Gribben is a NASA/JohnsHopkins APL employee.
The Double Asteroid Redirection Test mission is scheduled to arrive at its target in September of 2022. The purpose of the mission is to test a new method called the "kinetic impactor" technique.
The DART mission was launched from the Space Launch Complex 4 at the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. The moonlet Dimorphos will be altered by DART at speeds of 4.1 miles per second (6.6 km/s), which is intended to change the moonlet's trajectory around Didymos. The mission will be the first to test asteroid defense methods.
In September, a rover named Rosalind Franklin will launch.
Europe plans to place a rover on the Martian surface in March of 2021. The image is from the ATG medialab.
The European Space Agency and the Russian space agency are working on a mission to explore the Red Planet. The mission was supposed to lift off in July 2020 but was delayed due to multiple unsuccessful parachute drop tests.
The Red Planet is being studied from above and on the surface. The program is in the works. The second phase of the program is called the rover. The components of the first phase arrived at Mars in October of 2016 TGO is in excellent health despite Schiaparelli crash-landing on Mars. The communications relay for the rover will be performed by the orbiter.
The ExoMars rover will land on the Martian surface in June of 2023. The rover has a set of instruments that are designed to search for organic molecules and dig farther below the surface than its predecessors.
The PRIME-1 mission is launching in December.
The PRIME-1 ice-mining experiment will be delivered to the moon's south pole in December of 2022. The image is from Intuitive Machines.
The south pole of the moon will be the site of an ice-mining drill in December 2022. The first-ever mission designed to harvest water ice from inside the moon is called the polar Resources Ice Mining Experiment-1 (PRIME-1) and is being led by NASA.
The Mass Spectrometer observing lunar operations is one of the primary components of the PRIME-1 Mission. The 88-lb. machine will fly. NASA's commercial lunar payload services program has a 40 kilogram PRIME-1 payload on its NOVA-C lander.
Dream Chaser cargo missions.
The Sierra Nevada Corporation has a space plane. The image is from the Sierra Nevada Corporation.
The International Space Station will get cargo flights in 2022. The same runway used for the final space shuttle flight, Atlantis' STS-135 flight, will be used for the space plane's landing.
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