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2025 in spaceflight
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2025 in spaceflight
Spaceflight in 2025 promises to follow the 2020s trend of record-breaking orbital launches (with at least 300 expected) and increased developments in lunar, Mars, and low-earth orbit exploration. Spaceflight in 2025 will include more private companies' launches, and reusable launch vehicles will be used. Private robotic landers, part of NASA's CLPS Program have touched down with more to land as part of the Artemis program.
AstroForge's Brokkr-2 was launched on 27 February 2025 to perform a flyby of a near-Earth asteroid and determine if the asteroid is metallic. The mission failed because of communication issues.
China launched the Tianwen-2 (ZhengHe) asteroid sample-return and comet probe on 28 May 2025. It will rendezvous with near-Earth asteroid 469219 Kamo'oalewa in mid-2026, attempt to collect samples, and return samples back to Earth in late 2027. Then it will travel to main-belt comet 311P/PANSTARRS for a decade-long mission to further explore the mysterious comet-like object.
On 15 January, Blue Ghost Mission 1 by Firefly Aerospace and Hakuto-R Mission 2 by ispace launched together on a Falcon 9.
Firefly Aerospace's lunar lander carried NASA-sponsored experiments and commercial payloads as a part of Commercial Lunar Payload Services program to Mare Crisium. Landing was completed successfully on 2 March 2025. The mission exceeded expectations by transmitting over 110 GB of scientific and imaging data, including high‐definition views of the lunar horizon glow and an eclipse, far surpassing previous CLPS mission data yields.
Epic Aerospace's Chimera-1 Space tug was planned to transition from TLI to Geosynchronous but failed due to a possible communication failure.[citation needed]
On 5 June, Hakuto-R Mission 2, carrying the RESILIENCE lunar lander and the TENACIOUS micro rover, attempted a landing in Mare Frigoris but crashed into the lunar surface.
Intuitive Machines's lunar lander IM-2, carrying NASA-sponsored experiments and commercial rovers (Yaoki, AstroAnt, Micro-Nova and MAPP LV1) and payloads as a part of Commercial Lunar Payload Services program to Mons Mouton, was launched on 27 February 2025 on a Falcon 9 launch vehicle with Brokkr-2 and Lunar Trailblazer. IM-2 landed on 6 March 2025. The spacecraft was intact after touchdown but resting on its side, thereby complicating its planned science and technology demonstration mission; this outcome is similar to what occurred with the company's IM-1 Odysseus spacecraft in 2024. On March 13, Intuitive Machines shared that, like on the IM-1 mission, the Athena's altimeter had failed during landing, leaving its onboard computer without an accurate altitude reading. As a result, the spacecraft struck a plateau, tipped over, and skidded across the lunar surface, rolling once or twice before settling inside the crater. The company's CEO compared it to a baseball player sliding into a base. During the slide, the spacecraft rolled once or twice, before coming to rest inside the crater. The impact also kicked up regolith that coated the solar panels in dust, further degrading their performance.
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2025 in spaceflight
Spaceflight in 2025 promises to follow the 2020s trend of record-breaking orbital launches (with at least 300 expected) and increased developments in lunar, Mars, and low-earth orbit exploration. Spaceflight in 2025 will include more private companies' launches, and reusable launch vehicles will be used. Private robotic landers, part of NASA's CLPS Program have touched down with more to land as part of the Artemis program.
AstroForge's Brokkr-2 was launched on 27 February 2025 to perform a flyby of a near-Earth asteroid and determine if the asteroid is metallic. The mission failed because of communication issues.
China launched the Tianwen-2 (ZhengHe) asteroid sample-return and comet probe on 28 May 2025. It will rendezvous with near-Earth asteroid 469219 Kamo'oalewa in mid-2026, attempt to collect samples, and return samples back to Earth in late 2027. Then it will travel to main-belt comet 311P/PANSTARRS for a decade-long mission to further explore the mysterious comet-like object.
On 15 January, Blue Ghost Mission 1 by Firefly Aerospace and Hakuto-R Mission 2 by ispace launched together on a Falcon 9.
Firefly Aerospace's lunar lander carried NASA-sponsored experiments and commercial payloads as a part of Commercial Lunar Payload Services program to Mare Crisium. Landing was completed successfully on 2 March 2025. The mission exceeded expectations by transmitting over 110 GB of scientific and imaging data, including high‐definition views of the lunar horizon glow and an eclipse, far surpassing previous CLPS mission data yields.
Epic Aerospace's Chimera-1 Space tug was planned to transition from TLI to Geosynchronous but failed due to a possible communication failure.[citation needed]
On 5 June, Hakuto-R Mission 2, carrying the RESILIENCE lunar lander and the TENACIOUS micro rover, attempted a landing in Mare Frigoris but crashed into the lunar surface.
Intuitive Machines's lunar lander IM-2, carrying NASA-sponsored experiments and commercial rovers (Yaoki, AstroAnt, Micro-Nova and MAPP LV1) and payloads as a part of Commercial Lunar Payload Services program to Mons Mouton, was launched on 27 February 2025 on a Falcon 9 launch vehicle with Brokkr-2 and Lunar Trailblazer. IM-2 landed on 6 March 2025. The spacecraft was intact after touchdown but resting on its side, thereby complicating its planned science and technology demonstration mission; this outcome is similar to what occurred with the company's IM-1 Odysseus spacecraft in 2024. On March 13, Intuitive Machines shared that, like on the IM-1 mission, the Athena's altimeter had failed during landing, leaving its onboard computer without an accurate altitude reading. As a result, the spacecraft struck a plateau, tipped over, and skidded across the lunar surface, rolling once or twice before settling inside the crater. The company's CEO compared it to a baseball player sliding into a base. During the slide, the spacecraft rolled once or twice, before coming to rest inside the crater. The impact also kicked up regolith that coated the solar panels in dust, further degrading their performance.
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