Upcoming Planetary Events and Missions

2017 September 15 - Cassini - NASA spacecraft makes planned entry into Saturn's atmosphere, ending mission
2017 - Chang'e 5 - Launch of Chinese lunar sample return mission
2017 - 2018 - Chandrayaan 2 - Launch of ISRO (India) lunar orbiter, lander, and rover

2018 April - BepiColombo - Launch of ESA and ISAS orbiter and lander missions to Mercury
2018 May 5 - InSight - Launch of Mars lander
2018 June - Hayabusa 2 - JAXA mission reaches asteroid Ryugu
2018 October - OSIRIS-Rex - Begins survey of asteroid Bennu
2018 - Chang'e 4 - Launch of Chinese lander to lunar farside

2019 January 1 - New Horizons - Flies by Kuiper Belt Object 2014 MU69
2019 September - OSIRIS-Rex - Sample collection from asteroid Bennu

2020 - ExoMars 2020 - Launch of ESA Mars rover and Russian surface platform
2020 July/August - Mars 2020 - Launch of NASA Mars rover

2023 September - OSIRIS-Rex - Returns to Earth with sample of asteroid Bennu

2029 April 13 - Asteroid Apophis passes Earth within an altitude of 32,000 km

2231 April 5 - Pluto - is passed by Neptune in distance from the Sun for the next 20 years

4,000,000 - Pioneer 11 - NASA flyby of star Lambda Aquila

NSSDCA Planetary Home Page

NASA Official: Dr. David R. Williams, david.r.williams@nasa.gov
Last Updated: 12 May 2017, DRW