The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is an independent agency of the executive branch of the United States federal government responsible for the civilian space program, as well as aeronautics and aerospace research. NASA have many launch facilities but most are inactive. The most commonly used pad will be LC-39B at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Minute

Press conference at the MAX POWER aerospace expo that will provide an update on the upcoming Moon Base near the lunar South Pole.

Participants in this news conference, taking place at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, include:

- NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman
- Carlos García-Galán, manager, Moon Base Program
- Nicky Fox, associate administrator for Science, NASA Headquarters
- Dayna Ise, acting director, Utility and Infrastructure Office, Moon Base Program

NASA Moon Base: November 2026 Update (Nov. 7, 2026)

Press Event

Join us live from the MAX POWER aerospace expo as we provide an update on our upcoming Moon Base near the lunar South Pole.

Participants in this news conference, taking place at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, include:

- NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman
- Carlos García-Galán, manager, Moon Base Program
- Nicky Fox, associate administrator for Science, NASA Headquarters
- Dayna Ise, acting director, Utility and Infrastructure Office, Moon Base Program

Learn more about this weekend's MAX POWER events: https://go.nasa.gov/4knRFWI
Learn more about Moon Base: https://www.nasa.gov/moonbase/

English

Official Webcast

The European Space Agency is an intergovernmental organisation of 22 member states. Established in 1975 and headquartered in Paris, France, ESA has a worldwide staff of about 2,000 employees.

ESA's space flight programme includes human spaceflight (mainly through participation in the International Space Station program); the launch and operation of unmanned exploration missions to other planets and the Moon; Earth observation, science and telecommunication; designing launch vehicles; and maintaining a major spaceport, the Guiana Space Centre at Kourou, French Guiana.

European Space Agency

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) is Japan's national aero-space agency. Through the merger of three previously independent organizations, JAXA was formed on 1 October 2003. JAXA is responsible for research, technology development and the launch of satellites into orbit, and is involved in many more advanced missions, such as asteroid exploration and possible manned exploration of the Moon. JAXA launch their Epsilon vehicle from the Uchinoura Space Center and their H-II vehicles from the Tanegashima Space Center.

Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency

Month

Orbital insertion around Mercury of the ESA-JAXA BepiColombo mission.

Fact Sheet 
 
 
 
 
 
   
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  &nbsp;Fast Facts  
 
 
  BepiColombo  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
   Launch date:   
 20 October 2018, 01:45:28 UTC 
 
 
   Mission end:   
...

ESA Science & Technology - Fact Sheet

Arianespace

BepiColombo is a joint mission of the ESA and the JAXA to the planet Mercury. The mission comprises two satellites to be launched together: the Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO) and the Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter (MMO). The mission will perform a comprehensive study of Mercury, including its magnetic field, magnetosphere, interior structure and surface.

BepiColombo

Heliocentric N/A

Ariane 5 ECA | BepiColombo

ELA-3, is a launch pad and associated facilities at the Centre Spatial Guyanais in French Guiana. ELA-3 was operated by Arianespace as part of the expendable launch system for Ariane 5 launch vehicles.

The Guiana Space Centre is a European spaceport to the northwest of Kourou in French Guiana, a region of France in South America. Kourou is located at a latitude of 5°. In operation since 1968, it is a suitable location for a spaceport because of its equatorial location and open sea to the east.

Guiana Space Centre, French Guiana

Ariane Launch Area 3

Ariane 5 ECA

The launch vehicle successfully inserted its payload(s) into the target orbit(s).

Launch Successful

BepiColombo Mercury Orbit Insertion

Orbital Insertion

Solar Orbiter, a partnership between ESA and NASA, will perform a gravity assist maneuver with Venus on December 24, 2026. Throughout its mission it also makes repeated gravity assist flybys of Venus to get closer to the Sun, and to change its orbital inclination, boosting it out of the ecliptic plane, to get the best – and first – views of the Sun’s poles.

Solar Orbiter: journey around the Sun

United Launch Alliance

Solar Orbiter is a joint ESA/NASA mission dedicated to solar and heliospheric physics. It will be used to examine how the Sun creates and controls the heliosphere, the vast bubble of charged particles blown by the solar wind into the interstellar medium. The spacecraft will combine in situ and remote sensing observations to gain new information about the solar wind, the heliospheric magnetic field, solar energetic particles, transient interplanetary disturbances and the Sun's magnetic field.

Instruments include:
* Solar Wind Analyser (SWA)
* Energetic Particle Detector (EPD)
* Magnetometer (MAG)
* Radio and Plasma Wave analyser (RPW)
* Polarimetric and Helioseismic Imager (PHI)
* Extreme Ultraviolet Imager (EUI)
* Spectral Imaging of the Coronal Environment (SPICE)
* Spectrometer Telescope for Imaging X-rays (STIX)
* Coronagraph (Metis)

While mission is not intended to get as close to the Sun as Parker Solar Probe, it's designed to coordinate observations and has different set of instruments. Main mission starts after one and only Earth flyby in November 2021, and lasts until Dec 2026 when it enters extended phase. During the mission, Solar Orbiter will get through numerous Venus gravity assists, and its trajectory will be highly inclined allowing direct observations of Sun's poles.

Solar Orbiter

Atlas V 411 | Solar Orbiter

Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCSFS) is an installation of the United States Space Force's Space Launch Delta 45, located on Cape Canaveral in Brevard County, Florida.

Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA

Space Launch Complex 41

Atlas V 411

Solar Orbiter Venus Flyby

Flyby

Expedition 75

The International Space Station (ISS) is a space station, or a habitable artificial satellite, in low Earth orbit. Its first component was launched into orbit in 1998, with the first long-term residents arriving in November 2000. It has been inhabited continuously since that date. The last pressurised module was fitted in 2011, and an experimental inflatable space habitat was added in 2016. The station is expected to operate until 2030. Development and assembly of the station continues, with several new elements scheduled for launch in 2019. The ISS is the largest human-made body in low Earth orbit and can often be seen with the naked eye from Earth. The ISS consists of pressurised habitation modules, structural trusses, solar arrays, radiators, docking ports, experiment bays and robotic arms. ISS components have been launched by Russian Proton and Soyuz rockets, and American Space Shuttles.

International Space Station

Canadian Space Agency

Russian Federal Space Agency (ROSCOSMOS)

Active

Government

Shenzhou 23

The Tiangong space station is a space station placed in Low Earth orbit between 340 and 450 km above the surface. It will be roughly one-fifth the mass of the International Space Station and about the size of the Mir space station.

Imagem do Dia

Descubra o Cosmos!

Eventos

NASA Moon Base: November 2026 Update (Nov. 7, 2026)

BepiColombo Mercury Orbit Insertion

Solar Orbiter Venus Flyby

Estações Espaciais

International Space Station

Tiangong space station