2020s in spaceflight
This article documents expected notable spaceflight events during the 2020s. Overview. The trend towards cost reduction in access to orbit is expected to continue. In 2022, SpaceX plans to launch its new fully reusable Starship to orbit and Vulcan is planned to replace its more expensive predecessors. Ariane 6 is expected to replace the more expensive Ariane 5 in late 2022, and Blue Origin plans the maiden flight of New Glenn with a reusable first stage in late 2022. Mars stays a focus for missions to other planets, with three missions launched in 2020 (by China, the  United Arab Emirates and the United States) and at least two missions planned for 2022 (ESA and Japan) and 2024 (India and Japan), respectively. In 2028, as part of a Mars sample-return mission, NASA plans to launch two Sample Retrieval Landers. In 2027, ESA plans to launch the Earth Return Orbiter, which will transport the retrieved samples from Mars to Earth by 2033. NASA plans a return of humans to the Moon by 2025. A first uncrewed launch of the Space Launch System is planned for 2022, followed by a first crewed launch in 2024. In addition NASA plans  to assemble the Lunar Gateway in lunar orbit. A crewed exploration of Mars could follow in the mid 2030s. An uncrewed and then a crewed trip to Jupiter and Europa have been commonly contemplated, but no space agencies or companies have yet announced definite plans to launch a crewed mission further than Mars. SpaceX, a private company, has also announced plans to land humans on Mars in the mid-2020s, with the long-term goal of enabling the colonization of Mars. India plans its first crewed flight with a spacecraft called "Gaganyaan" on a home-grown GSLV Mark III rocket in  2023. The mission would make India the fourth nation to launch a crewed spaceflight after Russia, US and China. India also plans to launch its second Mars probe, Mars Orbiter Mission 2 ("Mangalyaan 2"), in 2024. The James Webb Space Telescope launched in 2021. In 2027, NASA plans to launch the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, which will have a field of view 100 times larger than that of the Hubble Space Telescope. The number of small satellites launched annually was expected to grow to around one thousand (2018 estimate), although SpaceX alone plans to launch more than that for  its Starlink constellation (12,000 satellites from 2019 to 2027). The majority of the satellites are expected to be communication satellites in large constellations. In 2020, over 800 Starlink satellites were launched to orbit.