2022 in spaceflight

NASA will continue the mission of the Juno spacecraft at Jupiter, with a fly-by of Europa planned for 29 September.[1][2]

In Mars exploration, the ESA has partnered with Roscosmos to launch the Rosalind Franklin rover using the Kazachok lander as part of ExoMars 2022.[3]

NASA plans to launch the Psyche spacecraft, an orbiter mission that will explore the origin of planetary cores by studying the metallic asteroid 16 Psyche. It will launch on a Falcon Heavy rocket along with Janus, a dual space probe that will visit two binary asteroids, (175706) 1996 FG3 and (35107) 1991 VH.

Artemis 1, the first flight of NASA's Space Launch System and the first lunar mission for Orion, is scheduled to fly no earlier than February.[4]

The United States will also launch a number of commercial lunar landers and rovers. As part of NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services program, the launch of Astrobotic Technology's Peregrine lander and Intuitive Machines' Nova-C lander is scheduled. Russia plans to resume its Luna-Glob exploration programme with the Luna 25 lander. Japan plans to launch the SLIM lunar lander. India will attempt once more to deliver a robotic lander to the lunar surface with Chandrayaan-3.

China will finish construction of the Tiangong space station with the addition of the Wentian and Mengtian lab modules.[5]

Boeing's CST-100 Starliner will conduct a second uncrewed test flight in the first half of 2022 in advance of a first crewed test flight later in 2022.[6][7]

Arianespace's Ariane 6 will make its long-delayed maiden flight,[8] targeting a per-satellite launch cost similar to a Falcon 9.[9] Blue Origin plans to launch its first orbital-class New Glenn rocket with a reusable first stage.[10] After suborbital tests in 2020 and 2021, SpaceX plans to conduct the first orbital test flight of the fully reusable Starship launch vehicle.[11] The maiden flight of Vulcan Centaur is planned for 2022. The rocket is designed by United Launch Alliance to gradually replace Atlas V and Delta IV Heavy at lower costs.[12] Mitsubishi Heavy Industries's H3 launch vehicle, scheduled to enter service in early 2022, will cost less than half that of its predecessor H-IIA.[13]