Last year was a busy one for space missions, and 2025 looks set to be no different.
The continued development of new rockets will feature heavily over the next 12 months. Heading into the new year, SpaceX, for example, is aiming to really ramp up the launch rate of its next-generation Starship rocket.
Since its first test flight in 2023, the 120-meter-tall Starship, comprising the first-stage Super Heavy booster and upper-stage Starship spacecraft, has flown six times. SpaceX now has clearance from the Federal Aviation Administration to launch the Starship on its seventh test flight from the company’s Starbase site in Boca Chica, Texas.
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The date of the launch has yet to be confirmed, but reports toward the end of last year suggested SpaceX is targeting Saturday, January 11, for the seventh test flight of the Starship.
The Starship launches are a spectacular sight, with the Super Heavy booster creating a record-breaking 17 million pounds of thrust at launch. There’s also the added attraction of witnessing the return of the booster after it deploys the Starship spacecraft to orbit.
Unlike SpaceX’s workhorse Falcon 9 booster, which lands on the ground when it returns, SpaceX is using giant mechanical arms on the launch tower to “catch” the returning Super Heavy booster, securing it before it touches the ground. It achieved the astonishing feat on its first attempt in the fifth test flight in October, but an anomaly during the sixth flight in November forced the booster to land in the Gulf of Mexico, from where it was later recovered.
NASA wants to use SpaceX’s Starship vehicle for crew and cargo flights to the moon, Mars, and possibly beyond. With increased testing, this year is likely to see some big steps toward the Starship gaining certification, paving the way for its first operational flight.
Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket
Another rocket launch to look out for this month is Blue Origin’s inaugural flight of its first orbital rocket, the New Glenn.
Up to now, the Jeff Bezos-led spaceflight company has only launched its sub-orbital New Shepard rocket, on tourist flights to the edge of space.
The New Glenn, powered by BE-4 engines, is a two-stage, heavy-lift orbital rocket with 3.85 million pounds of thrust at launch, more than double that of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket, which produces 1.7 million pounds of thrust as it climbs skyward. The greater thrust capability of the New Glenn reflects its design for larger payloads and more demanding missions compared to the Falcon 9.
In the final days of 2024, the New Glenn rocket successfully completed an integrated launch vehicle hotfire test, a major milestone on the road to its first flight.
The maiden launch is expected to get underway any day now from Launch Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral, Florida, and will carry Blue Origin’s Blue Ring Pathfinder payload designed to test key technologies for the new rocket. It will also serve as a demonstration mission for the U.S. Space Force’s National Security Space Launch program.
Just to be clear, launch dates for the Starship and New Glenn have yet to be officially announced, but both missions are expected to get underway this month.