This article documents expected notable spaceflight events during the year 2028.
NASA plans to launch
Dragonfly
A dragonfly is a flying insect belonging to the infraorder Anisoptera below the order Odonata. About 3,000 extant species of dragonflies are known. Most are tropical, with fewer species in temperate regions. Loss of wetland habitat threat ...
, a robotic
rotorcraft
A rotary-wing aircraft, rotorwing aircraft or rotorcraft is a heavier-than-air aircraft with rotor wing, rotary wings that spin around a vertical mast to generate lift (force), lift. Part 1 (Definitions and Abbreviations) of Subchapter A of Chapt ...
probe which will explore
Saturn
Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second largest in the Solar System, after Jupiter. It is a gas giant, with an average radius of about 9 times that of Earth. It has an eighth the average density of Earth, but is over 95 tim ...
's moon
Titan
Titan most often refers to:
* Titan (moon), the largest moon of Saturn
* Titans, a race of deities in Greek mythology
Titan or Titans may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment
Fictional entities
Fictional locations
* Titan in fiction, fictiona ...
.
NASA plans to launch
Artemis 4
Artemis IV is a planned mission of the NASA-led Artemis program. The mission is proposed to include the fourth use of a Space Launch System (SLS) launch vehicle, sending an Orion (spacecraft), Orion spacecraft with four astronauts to the Lunar ...
. The first to use
SLS Block 1B
The Space Launch System (SLS) is an American super heavy-lift expendable launch vehicle used by NASA. As the primary launch vehicle of the Artemis Moon landing program, SLS is designed to launch the crewed Orion spacecraft on a trans-lunar t ...
.
Russia expects to launch the
Luna 27
Luna 27 (Luna-Resurs 1 lander or Luna-Resource-1 lander)Chang'e 8, the last mission before China’s moon base begins construction, is planned to launch.
The first uncrewed flight of
Orel
Orel (meaning ''eagle'' in some Slavic languages; also a common first name in Israel meaning ''Light of God'' in Hebrew) may refer to:
People
*Orel Hershiser (born 1958), American baseball pitcher
* Orel Mangala (born 1998), Belgian footballer
...
, Russia's replacement for the crewed
Soyuz
Soyuz is a transliteration of the Cyrillic text Союз (Russian language, Russian and Ukrainian language, Ukrainian, 'Union'). It can refer to any union, such as a trade union (''profsoyuz'') or the Soviet Union, Union of Soviet Socialist Republi ...
spacecraft, is scheduled for 2028.
India plans to launch the first module for the
Bharatiya Antariksha Station
Bharatiya Antariksh Station (BAS) (lit=Indian Space Station), (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is a planned modular space station to be constructed by India and operated by the ISRO, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). The space station would weigh 5 ...
in 2028. India also plans to launch the
Chandrayaan-4
Chandrayaan-4 (; from Sanskrit: , "Moon" and , "craft, vehicle") is a planned lunar sample return mission of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and the fourth iteration in its Chandrayaan lunar exploration programme. As of January 202 ...
ESA
The European Space Agency (ESA) is a 23-member international organization devoted to space exploration. With its headquarters in Paris and a staff of around 2,547 people globally as of 2023, ESA was founded in 1975 in the context of European ...
For the purposes of this section, the yearly tally of orbital launches by country assigns each flight to the country of origin of the rocket, not to the launch services provider or the spaceport. For example, Soyuz launches by Arianespace in Kourou are counted under Russia because
Soyuz-2
Soyuz2 (; GRAU index: 14A14) is a Russian expendable medium-lift launch vehicle and the seventh major iteration of the Soyuz rocket family. Compared to its predecessors, Soyuz-2 features significant upgrades, including improved engines and ...