2021 Space Calendar

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Space calendar 2021: New missions, launches, celestial events and more

Sky watchers, gather ’round. We’ve collected all the major celestial events in one place, for your convenience. From rocket launches and meteor showers to eclipses and notable space events, find it all here.

2021 Space Calendar

Image via Pexels

It’s time to sync your calendar with the solar system and beyond so as to never miss an eclipse, rocket launch, space news or notable astronomical event from now to December 2021.

This calendar was compiled using information from NASA, Space.com, SeaSky, TimeAndDate, Bashewa and others. These dates are subject to change. To avoid disappointment, do not make travel plans according to dates listed below.

Article updated 26 February 2021.

2021 Space Calendar – Upcoming events

Scroll down for a list of completed events and additional reading.

April 

12 April – New Moon. 

22 and 23 April – Lyrids Meteor Shower. Averaging about 20 meteors per hour at its peak, it’s produced by dust particles left behind by comet C/1861 G1 Thatcher, which was discovered in 1861.

27 April – Full Moon, first supermoon of 2021. April’s full moon is also known as the Pink Moon because it marked the appearance of the moss pink, or wild ground phlox, which is one of the first spring flowers.

May 

6 and 7 May – Eta Aquarids Meteor Shower. An above-average shower averaging around 60 meteors per hour at its peak. We’ll be in the prime seats for this one as most of its activity is seen from the Southern Hemisphere.

May 11 – New Moon.

26 May – Full Moon, second supermoon of 2021. May’s full moon is also known as the Flower Moon because this was the time of year when spring flowers appeared in abundance.

26 May – Total Lunar Eclipse. A total lunar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes completely through the Earth’s dark shadow or umbra. Visible from Japan, Australia, western North America and throughout the Pacific Ocean and parts of eastern Asia.

June 

10 June – New Moon. 

10 June – Annular Solar Eclipse. An annular solar eclipse occurs when the Moon is too far away from the Earth to completely cover the Sun. Visible in eastern Russia, the Arctic Ocean, western Greenland, and Canada. A partial eclipse will be visible in the northeastern United States, Europe, and most of Russia.

24 June – Full Moon, last supermoon of 2021. June’s full moon is also known as the Strawberry Moon because it signalled the time of year to gather ripening fruit. The Strawberry full moon is the last of three supermoons for 2021.

July 

10 July – New Moon. 

24 July – Full Moon. July’s full moon is also known as the Buck Moon because the male buck deer would begin to grow their new antlers at this time of year.

28 and 29 July – Delta Aquarids Meteor Shower. Could potentially produce up to 20 meteors per hour at its peak. Starts on 12 July and ends 23 August, with the peak period falling on 28 and 29 August.

August 

8 August – New Moon. 

12 and 13 August – Perseids Meteor Shower. One of the two biggest meteor showers of the year, averaging around 60 meteors per hour at its peak.

22 August – Full Moon, Blue Moon. August’s full moon is also known as the Sturgeon Moon because the large sturgeon fish of the Great Lakes and other major lakes were more easily caught at this time of year.

September

7 September – New Moon.

20 September – Full Moon. September’s full moon is also known as the Corn Moon because the corn is harvested around this time of year.

October

6 October – New Moon. 

7 October – Draconids Meteor Shower. Averaging about 10 meteors per hour. It is produced by dust grains left behind by comet 21P Giacobini-Zinner

20 October – Full Moon. October’s full moon is also known as the Hunters Moon because at this time of year the leaves are falling and the game is fat and ready to hunt.

21 and 22 October – Orionids Meteor Shower. Averaging around 20 meteors per hour at its peak, it is produced by dust grains left behind by comet Halley.

31 October – James Webb Space Telescope to launch on this day.

November

4 November – New Moon. 

4 and 5 November – Taurids Meteor Shower. A long-running minor meteor shower averaging only 5 to 10 meteors per hour. It’s produced by debris left behind by Comet 2P Encke.

17 and 18 November – Leonids Meteor Shower. Averaging around 15 meteors per hour at its peak and is produced by dust grains left behind by comet Tempel-Tuttle, which was discovered in 1865.

19 November – Full Moon. November’s full moon is also known as the Beaver Moon because this was the time of year to set the beaver traps before the swamps and rivers froze.

19 November – Partial Lunar Eclipse. This eclipse will be visible throughout most of eastern Russia, Japan, the Pacific Ocean, North America, Mexico, Central America, and parts of western South America.

December

4 December – New Moon. 

4 December – Total Solar Eclipse. A total solar eclipse will be visible only from Antarctica and the southern Atlantic Ocean. A partial eclipse will bee visible throughout much of South Africa.

13 and 14 December – Geminids Meteor Shower. One of the best meteor showers, averaging around 120 multicoloured meteors per hour at its peak. It is produced by debris left behind by an asteroid known as 3200 Phaethon, which was discovered in 1982.

19 December – Full Moon. December’s full moon is also known as the Cold Moon because this is the time of year when the cold winter air settles in and the nights become long and dark.

21 and 22 December – Ursids Meteor Shower. A minor meteor shower averaging around 5 to 10 meteors per hour. It is produced by dust grains left behind by comet Tuttle, which was first discovered in 1790.

Older events:

January 

  • 13 January – New Moon. Even though the Moon will be on the same side of the Earth as the Sun, it won’t be visible in the night sky.
  • 17 January – NASA to fire test for the Green Run for the Artemis Programme.
  • 28 January – Full Moon. January’s full moon is also known as the Wolf Moon because this was the time of year when hungry wolf packs howled outside their camps.
  • 30 January – A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch 60 satellites for SpaceX’s Starlink broadband network. This mission will be called Starlink 17.

SpaceX also this month launched its first Starlink mission of 2021, and it a broke a record, too! According to SpaceX, there were “133 commercial and government spacecraft, including CubeSats, microsats, and orbital transfer vehicles” on board this mission, as well as 10 Starlink satellites.

February 

  • 11 February – New Moon.
  • 18 February – Mars Perseverance rover, which left Earth in July 2020, will land on the Red Planet 
  • 25 February –  NASA and Boeing attempted a second hot fire test of the Space Launch System (SLS) megarocket at NASA’s Stennis Space Center in Mississippi
  • 27 February – Full Moon. February’s full moon is also known as the Snow Moon because the heaviest snows usually fell during this time of the year.
  • 27 February – India’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C51) will launch the Amazônia 1 Earth observation satellite for Brazil. 
  • 28 February  NASA astronauts Kate Rubins and Victor Glover will take a 6.5-hour spacewalk outside the International Space Station
  • 28 February  A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch approximately 60 satellites for SpaceX’s Starlink broadband network in a mission designated Starlink 17. 
  • 28 February – Russia will launch the first Arktika-M 1 remote sensing and communications satellite on a Soyuz rocket.

March 

  • 5 March NASA astronaut Kate Rubins and JAXA astronaut Soichi Noguchi will take a 6.5-hour spacewalk outside the International Space Station.
  • 7 March – A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch approximately 60 satellites for SpaceX’s Starlink broadband network in a mission designated Starlink 20.
  • 9 March – Conjunction of the moon and Saturn. 
  • 10 March – Conjunction of the moon and Jupiter. 
  • 13 March New Moon. 
  • 19 March Conjunction of the moon and Mars.
  • 28 March – Full Moon. March’s full moon is also known as the Worm Moon because this was the time of year when the ground would begin to soften and the earthworms would reappear.
  • 28 March – Venus reaches its greatest brightness in its 2021 evening apparition, shining brightly at magnitude -3.9. 

If you’ve made it all the way down here, you can now read about NASA’s plans for 2021.