Space calendar 2021: Rocket launches, sky events, missions & more! By Hanneke Weitering – Editor, SPACE.COM LAST UPDATED August 1: These dates are subject to change, and will be updated throughout the year as firmer dates arise. Please DO NOT schedule travel based on a date you see here. Launch dates collected from NASA, ESA, Roscosmos, Spaceflight Now and others. Watch NASA webcasts and other live launch coverage on our "Watch Live" page, and see our night sky webcasts here. Find out what's up in the night sky this month with our visible planets guide and skywatching forecast. Wondering what happened today in space history? Check out our "On This Day in Space" video show here! August Aug. 1: A Northrop Grumman Antares rocket will launch the Cygnus NG-16 cargo resupply mission to the International Space Station. It will lift off from Pad 0A at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Wallops Island, Virginia. Watch it live Aug. 2: Arianespace will use a Soyuz rocket to launch 34 satellites into orbit for the OneWeb internet constellation. The mission, called OneWeb 9, will lift off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Watch it live Aug. 2: Saturn at opposition. The ringed planet will be directly opposite the sun in Earth's sky around the same time that it makes its closest approach to Earth all year. This means it will appear at its biggest and brightest of the year. Saturn will reach its highest point in the night sky around midnight. Aug. 8: The new moon arrives at 9:50 a.m. EDT (1350 GMT) Aug. 11: Conjunction of the moon and Venus. The waxing crescent moon will pass about 4 degrees to the north of Venus. Look for the pair above the western horizon after sunset. Aug. 11-12: The annual Perseid meteor shower, which is active from mid-July to the end of August, peaks overnight. Aug. 18: A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch a Dragon cargo resupply mission (CRS-23) to the International Space Station. It will lift off from Launch Complex 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Watch it live Aug. 19: Jupiter at opposition. The gas giant will be directly opposite the sun in Earth's sky around the same time that it makes its closest approach to Earth of the year. The planet will shine at its biggest and brightest tonight and will be visible all night long. Aug. 20: Conjunction of the moon and Saturn. The waxing gibbous moon will swing about 3 degrees to the south of Saturn in the evening sky. Aug. 22: The full moon of August, known as the Full Sturgeon Moon, occurs at 8:02 a.m. EDT (1202 GMT). This will also be a so-called "Blue Moon" because it is the third full moon in a season that has four full moons. Aug. 22: Conjunction of the moon and Jupiter. The Blue Sturgeon moon will swing about 4 degrees to the south of Jupiter in the night sky. Aug. 26: Arianespace will use a Soyuz rocket to launch 34 satellites into orbit for the OneWeb internet constellation. The mission, called OneWeb 10, will lift off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Watch it live Also scheduled to launch in August (from Spaceflight Now): • An Arianespace Vega rocket, designated VV19, will launch the Pléiades Neo 4 Earth observation satellite for Airbus. The mission will lift off from the Guiana Spaceport near Kourou, French Guiana. Watch it live September Sept. 3: Mercury reaches its highest point in the evening sky. Shining at magnitude 0.1, the innermost planet will be barely visible above the western horizon at sunset. Sept. 6: The new moon arrives at 8:52 p.m. EDT (0052 Sept. 7 GMT). Sept. 9: Conjunction of the moon and Venus. The waxing crescent moon will pass about 4 degrees to the north of Venus. Look for the pair above the western horizon after sunset. Sept. 13: Mercury at greatest elongation east. The innermost planet will reach its greatest eastern separation from the sun, shining brightly at magnitude 0.1. Catch the elusive planet above the western horizon shortly after sunset. Sept. 14: Neptune at opposition. The gas giant will appear at its biggest and brightest of the year, shining at magnitude 7.8. (You'll need a telescope to see it.) Sept. 15: SpaceX will use a Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon spacecraft to launch the first all- civilian orbital mission, known as Inspiration4. It will lift off from Launch Complex 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Watch it live Sept. 16: A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket will launch the NASA/USGS Landsat 9 satellite from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. Sept. 16: Conjunction of the moon and Saturn. The waxing gibbous moon will swing about 3 degrees to the south of Saturn in the evening sky. Sept. 18: Conjunction of the moon and Jupiter. The waxing gibbous moon will swing about 4 degrees to the south of Jupiter in the evening sky. Sept. 18: Arianespace will use a Soyuz rocket to launch 34 satellites into orbit for the OneWeb internet constellation. The mission, called OneWeb 11, will lift off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Watch it live Sept. 20: The full moon of September, known as the Full Harvest Moon, occurs at 7:55 p.m. EDT (2355 GMT). Sept. 22: The equinox arrives at 3:21 p.m. EDT (1921 GMT), marking the first day of autumn in the Northern Hemisphere and the first day of spring in the Southern Hemisphere. Sept. 24: The waning gibbous moon and Uranus will make a close approach, passing within 1.3 degrees of each other. Shining at magnitude 5.7, Uranus may be bright enough to spot with the naked eye under dark skies. Also scheduled to launch in September (from Spaceflight Now): • China will launch the Tianzhou 3 cargo resupply ship to the Chinese space station. It will lift off on a Long March 7 rocket from the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site in Hainan, China. • A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket will launch the USSF-8 mission for the Space Force's Geosynchronous Space Situational Awareness Program (GSSAP). It will lift off from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Watch it live • A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch the first two WorldView Legion Earth observation satellites from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Watch it live • Arianespace will use an Ariane 5 ECA rocket to launch the SES-17 and Syracuse 4A communications satellites from the Guiana Space Center near Kourou, French Guiana. October Oct. 5: A Russian Soyuz rocket will launch the Soyuz MS-19 crew capsule to the International Space Station with Russian cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov and two space tourists: Russian film director Klim Shipenko and a (not-yet-named) Russian actress, who plan to film a movie while spending one week in space. (The two filmmakers are scheduled to return to Earth on the Soyuz MS-18 crew capsule.) Watch it live Oct. 6: The new moon arrives at 7:05 a.m. EDT (1105 GMT) Oct. 8: The Draconid meteor shower, which is active Oct. 6-10, will peak overnight. Oct. 9: Conjunction of the moon and Venus. The waxing crescent moon will pass about 3 degrees to the north of Venus. Look for the pair above the western horizon after sunset. Oct. 14: Conjunction of the moon and Saturn. The waxing gibbous moon will swing about 4 degrees to the south of Saturn in the evening sky. Oct. 15: Conjunction of the moon and Jupiter. The waxing gibbous moon will swing about 4 degrees to the south of Jupiter in the evening sky. Oct. 16: NASA will launch its Lucy mission to study the Trojan asteroids. It will lift off from Kennedy Space Center in Florida on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket. Watch it live Oct. 20: A Rocket Lab Electron rocket will launch NASA's Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment (CAPSTONE) mission to the moon from Wallops Island, Virginia. Oct. 20: The full moon of October, known as the Full Hunter's Moon, occurs at 10:57 a.m. EDT (1457 GMT). Oct. 21: The waning gibbous moon and Uranus will make a close approach, passing within 1.3 degrees of each other. Shining at magnitude 5.7, Uranus may be bright enough to spot with the naked eye under dark skies. Oct. 21-22: The annual Orionid meteor shower, which is active all month long, peaks overnight. Oct. 23: A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch a Crew Dragon spacecraft on the Crew- 3 mission, the third operational astronaut flight to the International Space Station. On board will be NASA astronauts Raja Chari and Thomas Marshburn, and European Space Agency astronaut Matthias Maurer. (The fourth crewmember has not yet been announced). It will lift off from Launch Complex 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Watch it live Oct. 24: Mercury at greatest elongation west. The innermost planet will reach its greatest western separation from the sun, shining brightly at magnitude -0.6. Catch the elusive planet above the eastern horizon shortly before sunrise. The following day (Oct. 25) Mercury will reach its highest point in the morning sky. Oct. 28: A Russian Soyuz rocket will launch the Progress 79 cargo resupply spacecraft to the International Space Station. It will lift off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Watch it live Oct.