2020, The Year In Space

I can't resist doing one more year-in-review post, this one about space exploration. It was a busy year with some significant milestones. 

Despite a worldwide pandemic which affected agencies around the world, 2020 featured many significant achievements in spaceflight. In total, 114 orbital launches were attempted, including deep space missions like Solar Orbiter, three missions to Mars, and the Chinese Chang’e 5 lunar sample return mission. Also this year, the United States regained domestic crew launch capability with SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft, and SpaceX launched hundreds of new satellites for the growing Starlink constellation.

Next year promises to be even busier and more exciting, with the arrival of three missions to Mars, the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope, and the possible orbital launch of a SpaceX Starship.