From NASA's lunar launch to ISRO's Gaganyaan, major space missions awaiting us in 2022

The year that just passed saw a lot happening in the space sector. NASA sent its Perseverance rover to Mars, Russia sent the first crew for a movie shoot aboard the International Space Station (ISS) and the Parker probe became the first-ever spacecraft to touch the sun. Although as historic as 2021 was, 2022 is expected to be even more happening as a number of missions including SpaceX's Starship launch and ISRO's Gaganyaan will see the light of the day. Here are the upcoming science missions that you might want to look out for.

NASA's launch of Axiom Space's private astronauts to the ISS

The Axiom-1 (Ax-1) mission, which is a collaboration between NASA and Axiom Space under which the former will launch four private astronauts to the International Space Station on February 28. The announcement was made by NASA’s associate administrator Kathy Lueders in December 2021 and the astronauts flying to the ISS for a week-long are former NASA astronaut Michael López-Alegría and entrepreneurs Larry Connor, Mark Pathy and Eytan Stibbe.

ISRO's Gaganyaan mission

ISRO's most ambitious mission, wherein it will look to send the first Indian astronauts into space with homegrown technology, will also get kickstarted from the second half of 2022. ISRO has plans for two uncrewed flights before it launches actual humans in space as early as 2023. Interestingly, the second uncrewed flight under Gaganyaan will include a spacefaring robot named "Vyommitra", developed by ISRO.

SpaceX's giant Starship orbital launch

SpaceX's much-awaited and the future Martian vehicle Starship will undergo its first-ever orbital flight this year. The launch was supposed to be conducted in December 2021 but unfortunately, environmental assessments by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) resulted in a delay. Even SpaceX CEO Elon Musk had stated that there is a high possibility of the launch taking place in 2022. 

NASA's lunar launch of the Nova-C lunar lander

Humans will take another shot at the Moon with the Nova-C lunar lander, built by Intuitive Machines which will hopefully be launched this year. The launch, which will be conducted using SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral, was originally slated for October 2021. According to NASA, the cylindrical lander carrying 100 kilograms of the payload will land at the Vallis Schroteri site in the Moon's Oceanus Procellarum region has been designed to operate for about 14 Earth days.

ESA's 'Rosalind Franklin' vehicle launch to Mars

The European Space Agency (ESA) is likely to launch its 'Rosalind Franklin' rover to Mars in 2022, after a year-long delay. According to ESA, the launch was originally slated for 2020 but scientists will look for a launch window from 20 September to 1 October 2022 on a Proton rocket from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. if everything goes to plan, the rover will land on the red planet in 2023 to make new discoveries. 

Image: Twitter/@NASA