Explore
Start with a destination, follow a capability, or meet the programs and companies building the way out.
Destination
Where almost everything in space happens today — communications, navigation, observation, and the only places people live.
398
launches headed here on the schedule we track
Next listed: Bandwagon 5 (Dedicated Mid-Inclination Rideshare) — 20 Oct 2026, 10:30 UTC
See the satellites
Destination
Three days away, and where the major space programs plan their first long-term outposts beyond Earth orbit.
18
launches headed here on the schedule we track
Next listed: Lunar Polar Exploration Mission (LUPEX) — 2026
Can we build a base?
Destination
Robotic explorers lead the way — to Mars and its moons, to asteroids, and to observatories far beyond the Moon.
14
launches headed here on the schedule we track
Next listed: Mars Lander — 2026
Every launch leaving the Earth–Moon system
Counts are upcoming launches by their listed orbit in the Launch Library 2 schedule captured 13:01 UTC, 19 Oct 2026. Launches with an unknown or suborbital destination aren’t counted.
Mars and beyond
Every upcoming launch on the schedule headed past the Moon: to Mars and its moons, asteroids, the planets and deep-space observatories.
Mars Lander
2026
Mars Orbit · Relativity Space
PLATO
March 2027
Sun-Earth L2 · Arianespace
NZSA Venus Mission
2027
Heliocentric N/A · Rocket Lab
MBR Explorer
Q1 2028
Asteroid · Mitsubishi Heavy Industries
DESTINY+ & RAMSES
20 Apr 2028
Asteroid · Mitsubishi Heavy Industries
NEO Surveyor
June 2028
Heliocentric L1 · SpaceX
Dragonfly
5 Jul 2028
Heliocentric N/A · SpaceX
Comet Interceptor
August 2028
Heliocentric N/A · Arianespace
ExoMars 2028 Rosalind Franklin Rover
October 2028
Heliocentric N/A · SpaceX
Mars Telecommunications Orbiter
Q4 2028
Mars Orbit · Blue Origin
Mars Orbiter
2028
Mars Orbit · Relativity Space
EnVision
December 2031
Venus Orbit · Arianespace
ARIEL
H2 2031
Sun-Earth L2 · Arianespace
Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA)
2035
Heliocentric N/A · Arianespace
What it takes
The chain behind a permanent presence beyond Earth, explored through the question of a base on the Moon.
01
Getting people and cargo to the surface — and home again — reliably.
02
Keeping everything running through a two-week night.
03
Moving people and equipment across rough, dusty ground.
04
Keeping crews healthy, far from any hospital.
05
Pressurised, shielded places to live and work.
06
Air, water and food, recycled as close to a closed loop as possible.
07
A constant link to Earth, and between people and machines on the surface.
08
Machines that build, maintain and explore — often before people arrive.
09
Making water, oxygen and propellant from what is already there.
10
Building with local materials instead of shipping everything.
Programs
What each program is for — and where it stands, from the launch schedule we capture every day.
The Moon
NASA-led effort to return astronauts to the Moon and build toward a lasting presence there.
Orbit and beyond
SpaceX’s fully reusable super-heavy launch system, designed to cut the cost of reaching orbit and beyond.
Low Earth orbit
The orbiting laboratory where people have lived continuously since November 2000.
Low Earth orbit
China’s crewed space station in low Earth orbit.
Low Earth orbit
India’s program to fly its own astronauts on its own spacecraft.
Low Earth orbit
Amazon’s constellation of internet satellites in low Earth orbit.
Who’s building it
Each has a hub connecting what we track about it: launches, filings, signals, contracts and the reporting about it.