Major space launches set to make headlines in 2025

As 2025 unfolds, an exciting array of space missions is set to captivate humanity, marking the year as a landmark in space exploration.

Over the next 12 months, several ambitious projects will take center stage. January and February will witness lunar landing attempts, alongside the highly anticipated launch of SpaceX's Starship megarocket and the collection of samples from a near-Earth asteroid, among other groundbreaking endeavors.

Here’s a look at some of the most thrilling space missions set for this year.

Two Lunar Landing Attempts Firefly Aerospace, based in Texas, is poised to launch the “Ghost Riders in the Sky” mission in mid-January, which will carry a moon lander equipped with 10 NASA payloads. The mission will target Mons Latreille, a volcanic feature formed over 3 billion years ago, and aims to operate for one lunar day—roughly 14 Earth days. The mission will gather data on the moon’s regolith and its interaction with solar wind and Earth's magnetic field. Additionally, it will capture images of the moon’s sunset and analyze surface changes during dusk.

Meanwhile, Texas-based Intuitive Machines plans to land its IM-2 spacecraft south of the moon in February. This mission aims to study the moon's volatile compounds using a drill and mass spectrometer, while carrying the Lunar Trailblazer satellite to map water deposits—helpful for NASA’s Artemis missions.

Juno’s Final Mission NASA’s Juno spacecraft has been studying Jupiter and its moons since 2016. Originally extended, the mission will conclude in September 2025 when Juno is set to plunge into Jupiter's atmosphere. Its orbit will gradually decay, pulling it into the gas giant’s dense clouds. This final maneuver, lasting 5.5 days, will ensure that any potential contamination of Jupiter’s ice-covered moon, Europa, is avoided. Europa is a key target in the search for extraterrestrial life in our solar system.

Sampling from a Near-Earth Asteroid In May 2025, China’s Tianwen-2 spacecraft will launch on a mission to collect samples from the near-Earth asteroid 469219 Kamo’oalewa. The spacecraft will conduct remote sensing to identify potential landing sites before retrieving samples, which will be brought back to Earth. Following this, the spacecraft will use Earth's gravity to slingshot itself on a seven-year journey toward the main-belt comet 311P/PANSTARRS in the 2030s.

These are just a few of the extraordinary missions that will shape 2025 as a year of tremendous space exploration and discovery.