Initially launched in late 2010/early 2011 for a run of four months, The Downlink was unpublished for more than nine years, after which a second volume was published from October 2020 to October 2021. This second volume was very different from the first volume, both in style and structure. A December issue was planned (for some reason, the second volume became volume 1 in April 2021), but was never finished. Like with volume 2, this volume 3 was intended to come with changes, though primarily to style.

Volume 3 will not feature any significant changes to style or structure. This both provides continuity with the previous volume and allows the contributors to construct each issue relatively easily. However, following volumes may see changes to style, format, and upload schedule. As it is still very early in the year, a discussion on this is not yet necessary, but suggestions of all kinds are always welcome at the talk page.

• Blue Ghost Mission 1 and Hakuto-R Mission 2 were launched from Kennedy Space Center on 15 January. They are planned to land in March and April, respectively.
• On 30 January, Sunita Williams broke Peggy Whitson's record for most time spent on spacewalks by a woman, at 62 hours and 6 minutes total.
• ISRO successfully docked two SpaDeX satellites on 16 January, making India the fourth country (including the EU) to dock two vehicles in space.
• Blue Origin's New Glenn launch vehicle completed its maiden flight on 16 January. The payload was successfully placed in orbit, while the first staged failed to land on the recovery ship.

• The image Jupiter clouds was promoted to Featured Media status on 4 January. It was nominated by MER-C.

Gene Cernan was the eleventh and (as of 2025) last person to ever step foot on the moon. In addition to being an astronaut, he was an aviator in the US Navy and engineer. Apollo 17 was his second Apollo mission, as he served as Apollo 10's lunar module pilot. He died in Houston on 16 January, 2017. He was the first astronaut to be buried at Texas State Cemetery.

New members:

• Joost van Assenbergh (9 January)
• TheCosmicNebula (25 January)

Launches
All times stated here are in UTC. For a complete list, see here: List_of_spaceflight_launches_in_January–June_2025#January.

1. New Glenn — DarkSky-1 (16 Jan. at 07:03) (success)
2. SpaceX Starship — 10 Starlink simulators (16 Jan. at 22:37) (launch failure)

Since December 2024, five new high-importance, eight new mid-importance, forty new low-importance, and 1,522 new NA-importance articles have been created. Fifteen unknown-importance articles have been removed, for a total of 1,560 more articles. One article has been promoted to Good Article status. There are also three more B-class articles, eleven more C-class articles, 23 more Start-class articles, four more Stub-class articles, 4 more lists, and 34 more files.

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Newsletter contributor: Ships&Space

• On 17 February, as part of a Commercial Lunar Payload Services mission, Intuitive Machines' lunar lander IM-2 was launched on board a Falcon 9. It was also launched with Lunar Trailblazer and Brokkr-2.
• The European Space Agency's space telescope INTEGRAL was retired on 28 February after 22 years, five months, and one day. It is expected to re-enter Earth's atmosphere in 2029.

Launched on 7 February 2001, STS-98 delivered to the Destiny laboratory module of the International Space Station. Flown by Atlantis, it was the first human spaceflight mission of the 21st century. The shuttle landed at Edwards Air Force Base on 20 February after being docked with the ISS for almost seven days. The crew consisted of Kenneth Cockrell, commander, Mark L. Polansky, pilot, Robert Curbeam, mission specialist 1, Marsha Ivins, mission specialist 2 and flight engineer, and Thomas David Jones, mission specialist 3.

New Members: No new members.

February Launches
All times stated here are in UTC. See a current list: here.

1. Soyuz 2.1v and Volga — Kosmos-2581/-2582/-2583 (5 Feb. at 03:59) (success)
2. Long March 8A — 9 Hulianwang Digui (11 Feb. at 09:30) (success)
3. Falcon 9 Block 5 — 23 Starlink (18 Feb. at 23:21) (success)
4. Falcon 9 Block 5 — multiple (27 Feb. at 00:02) (launch success)

Since January 2025, one new high-importance, sixteen new low-importance, nineteen new NA-importance, and twelve new unknown-importance articles have been created, for a total of 58 new articles. One article has been demoted from Good Article status. There are also one more A-class article, one more B-class article, nine fewer C-class articles, thirteen more Start-class articles, three more Stub-class articles, and one more list.

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Newsletter contributors: Ships&Space, Geni

• Firefly Aerospace became the first commercial company to successfully achieve a soft landing on the moon on 2 March with the landing of Blue Ghost Mission 1 near Mons Latreille. It lasted the intended length of one lunar day before losing power on 16 March. It was launched with the Hakuto-R Mission 2 lander Resilience and rover Tenacious, which are planned to land in the Mare Frigoris.
• On 6 March, the IM-2 mission's lunar lander Athena landed on Mons Mouton. Although intact, it landed sideways, preventing it from generating enough power to operate as designed. The mission was declared over the following day.
• SpaceX Crew-9 splashed down near Tallahassee, Florida on 18 March. Initially planned to launch with a full complement, the extension of Barry Wilmore and Sunita Williams' stay on the ISS resulted in it being launched with only two crew members.

The InSight (Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport) lander was selected from among three options in August 2012. Initially planned to launch in March 2016, an instrument issue delayed the launch to May 2018, the next Earth-Mars launch window. It was successfully launched on 5 May, and landed on Elysium Planitia on 26 November 2018. Taking seismographic and thermographic readings, InSight operated for a total of 4 years and 19 days instead of its planned 2 year mission. The mission was declared over on 21 December, 2022 after contact was lost on 15 December. A re-analysis of some of its data indicates that there may be significant amounts of groundwater in Mars' crust.

New Members:

• Desertroseflora (6 March)
• Nowhed (13 March)
• 4-RAZOR 01 (15 March)
• Orion.Project (28 March)

March Launches
All times stated here are in UTC. See a current list: here.

1. Ariane 62 — CSO-3 (6 Mar. at 16:24 UTC) (success)
2. SpaceX Starship — four Starlink simulators (6 Mar. at 23:30 UTC) (launch failure)
3. Rocket Lab Electron — QPS-SAR 9/SUSANOO-1 (15 Mar. at 00:00 UTC) (success)
4. Spectrum — no payload (30 Mar. at 10:30 UTC) (launch failure)

Since February 2025, six new low-importance and one new unknown-importance articles have been created. One NA-importance article has been removed, for a total of six new articles. There are also five more C-class articles, three more Start-class articles, two more Stub-class articles, and one more list.

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Newsletter contributors: Ships&Space

• On 1 April, Fram2 became the first crewed mission to enter into a retrograde orbit around Earth's poles.

Starting development in 2014, the Falcon 9 Full Thrust is a variant of the Falcon 9 that is the first orbital rocket to have a first stage successfully land vertically after launch. The stage shown here is from the April 2016 SpaceX CRS-8 mission, after landing on the autonomous spaceport drone ship Of Course I Still Love You.

New Members:

• Willbill6272 (14 April)
• Elleh3113 (16 April)

April Launches
All times stated here are in UTC. See a current list: here.

1. Falcon 9 Block 5 — Fram2 (1 Apr. at 00:46 UTC) (success)
2. Long March 2F/G — Shenzhou 20 (24 Apr. at 09:17 UTC) (success)
3. Atlas V 551 — 27 KuiperSats (28 Apr. at 23:01) (success)
4. Firefly Alpha — LM-400 Demo (29 Apr. at 13:37) (launch failure)

Since March 2025, four new high-importance, two new mid-importance, twenty new low-importance, and two new NA-importance articles have been created. Four unknown-importance articles have been removed, for a total of 24 new articles. One article has been promoted to Featured Article status. There are also five more B-class articles, eighteen more C-class articles, eleven more Start-class articles, six fewer Stub-class articles, and six more lists.

Special thanks to Neopeius for significantly working on some of the Timeline of spaceflight articles (specifically 1953, 54, 55, and most recently 56). Thanks also to Sotakarhu for table work in the latter.

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Newsletter contributors: Ships&Space

• On 6 May, Hakuto-R Mission 2 successfully entered lunar orbit.
• The Soviet probe Kosmos 482 crashed into the Indian Ocean after 53 years in orbit on 10 May. According to Roscosmos, this happened at 06:24 UTC.

Starting with Zarya in November 1998, the assembly of the International Space Station continued on a regular basis until the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster, which resulted in a nearly three-year pause from November 2002 to July 2005. This image shows the ISS following the installation of the second External stowage platform. ESP-2 was launched on 26 July 2005 on board Discovery as part of STS-114.

New Members:

• Animalculum (1 May)
• Luckytent (21 May)

May Launches
All times stated here are in UTC. See a current list: here.

1. Starship — 8 Starlink Simulators (27 May at 23:36:28 UTC) (partial failure)
2. Long March 4B — Tianwen-2 (28 May at 04:00 UTC) (success)

Since April 2025, three new mid-importance, nine new low-importance, and three new unknown-importance articles have been created, for a total of 15 new articles. There is also one less B-class article, 14 more C-class articles, six more Start-class articles, four less Stub-class articles, and three more lists.

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Newsletter contributors: Ships&Space

• On 5 June, Hakuto-R Mission 2 crashed attempting to land in Mare Frigoris.
• The Parker Solar Probe achieved its 24th perihelion on 19 June.

Rocket engines typically use one of two types of propellant: Solid or liquid. Hybrid-propellant rockets use a combination of these two forms of fuel, and lack some of the disadvantages of both. Their specific impulse is usually between solid-propellant and liquid-propellant rockets. The image shown here is of a 3D-printed grain, designed for a small hybrid rocket engine which would be used to demonstrate rocket combustion. On the left are two helical fuel ports, on the right a de Laval nozzle.

New Members:

• SpaceNerd13 (2 June)
• Canadien1867 (2 June)

June Launches
All times stated here are in UTC. See a current list: here.

1. Falcon 9 Block 5 — 26 Starlink (13 Jun. at 01:30) (success)
2. Angara A5 — 2 Kosmos (19 Jun. at 03:00) (success)
3. Falcon 9 Block 5 — Axiom Mission 4 (25 Jun. at 06:31) (success)
4. H-IIA — GOSAT-GW (28 Jun. at 16:33:03) (success)

Since May 2025, one new high-importance, two new mid-importance, ten new low-importance, four new NA-importance, and twelve new unknown-importance articles have been created, for a total of 29 new articles. There is also one fewer A-class article, one more GA-class article, six more B-class articles, 13 more C-class articles, ten more Start-class articles, seven fewer Stub-class articles, and five more lists.

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Newsletter contributors: Ships&Space

• The first launch attempt of an Australian-made rocket, Gilmour Space Technologies' Eris-1, was made on 29/30 July. The launch vehicle crashed 14 seconds after launch due to insufficient thrust.
• The NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar satellite launched on 30 July. The first radar imaging that uses dual frequencies, it is a joint project between NASA and ISRO, and believed to cost ~US$1.5 billion, making it one of the most expensive Earth-imaging satellites.

• The image LVM3 M4 carrying Chaandrayan-3 during lift-off was promoted to Featured Media status on 16 July. It was nominated by UnpetitproleX

In July of 1969, Apollo 11 successfully fulfilled John F. Kennedy's goal of a person landing on, and returning from, the moon before the 1970s. Taking off on 16 July, the lunar lander, Eagle, touched down on the evening of the 20th (UTC). Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin exited the lander six hours later, becoming the first men on the moon. The pair stayed on the lunar surface for about 21 hours. This image is actually the second of a pair of images, taken by Aldrin so that the lunar surface's ability to bear weight could be measured.

New Members:

• Abdullah1099 (9 July)
• Manav2311 (25 July)
• Space.tracker.nerd (29 July)

June Launches
All times stated here are in UTC. See a current list: here.

1. Long March 4C — Shiyan 28B-01 (3 Jul. at 09:35) (success)
2. Soyuz-2.1a — Progress MS-31 (3 Jul. at 19:31) (success)
3. Falcon 9 Block 5 — Dror-1 (PR-8000) (13 Jul. at 05:04) (success)
4. Hyperbola-1 — Kunpeng-03 (Enshi Xidou Shanquan/HS-9) (29 Jul. at 04:10) (success)
5. Eris Block 1 — Jar of Vegemite (29 Jul. at 21:30) (launch failure)
6. Long March 8A — 9 Guowang (30 Jul. at 07:49) (success)
7. GSLV Mark II — NISAR (30 Jul. at 12:10) (success)

Since June 2025, there are seven fewer high-importance, six new mid-importance, three new low-importance, three new NA-importance, and 29 new unknown-importance articles, for a total of 34 more articles. There is also one GA-class article, three more B-class articles, three more C-class articles, 18 more Start-class articles, two fewer Stub-class articles, and one fewer lists.

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Newsletter contributors: Ships&Space

• The VC4S configuration of United Launch Alliance's Vulcan Centaur launch vehicle had a successful maiden flight on 13 August.

Launched on 26 July, 1971, Apollo 15 was the fourth Apollo mission to successfully land on the moon, and the first of the longer, more science-focused J Missions. Landing at Hadley–Apennine on the 30, Commander David Scott and Lunar Module Pilot James Irwin (Irwin on left) stayed on the moon's surface until 2 August, while Command Module Pilot Alfred Worden stayed in orbit, collecting a variety of data on the moon. Apollo 15 was the first mission to use the Lunar Roving Vehicle (on right), which allowed Scott and Irwin to travel farther from the Lunar Lander (center) than previously possible.

On 4 August, the lunar orbiter departed from orbit at the end of Apollo 15's 74th lunar orbit. On the 5, Worden performed an EVA which lasted 39 minutes. This was the first of three deep-space EVAs, all performed during J Missions. The command module landed in the North Pacific Ocean on the 7, with the command module and crew being recovered by USS Okinawa. Apollo 15 was the longest Apollo mission, lasting for a total of 12 days and 7 hours, until Apollo 17, which lasted 12 days, 13 hours, and 52 minutes.

New Members: No new members

August Launches
All times stated here are in UTC. See a current list here.

1. Ariane 62 — MetOp-SG A1 (13 Aug. at 00:37) (success)
2. Vulcan Centaur VC4S — NTS-3 (13 Aug. at 00:56) (success)
3. Soyuz-2.1b — Bion-M No.2 (20 Aug. at 17:13) (success)
4. SpaceX Starship — 8 Starlink simulators (26 Aug. at 23:30) (success)

Since July 2025, there is one new top-importance, one fewer high-importance, two new mid-importance, 13 new low-importance, 47 new NA-importance, and seven new unknown-importance articles, for a total of 69 more articles. There is also one more GA-class article, two more B-class articles, 18 more C-class articles, 12 more Start-class articles, and 16 fewer Stub-class articles.

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Newsletter contributors: User:Ships&Space

• OSIRIS-REx performed a gravity assist around Earth at an altitude of 3,442 kilometres (2,139 mi) on 23 September.

The Space Shuttle Enterprise (OV-101) was the first orbiter built in the Space Shuttle program. Designed for atmospheric test flights, it lacked both engines and a heat shield, making it unable to go to space. Rolled out on 17 September 1976, it was initially named Constitution, but was renamed following a large letter-writing campaign from Trekkies. Unlike its eponym, the USS Enterprise from the original Star Trek series, OV-101 never achieved spaceflight; originally intended to be refitted to become the second space-rated orbiter after Columbia, changes to the design of the Space Shuttle made it both simpler and cheaper to instead construct a new shuttle, Challenger, around a test article. It was later considered for refitting following the Challenger disaster, but it was instead decided to build a replacement, Endeavour, out of spare parts from the construction of Discovery and Atlantis.

Enterprise flew a total of five times, from 12 August to 26 October, 1977. It was then flown to Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama, where it was placed into the Saturn V dynamic test stand for the Mated Vertical Ground Vibration Testing, in order to test the Space Shuttle's launch stack. It was then used for a variety of fit checks at Kennedy Space Center and Vandenberg Air Force Base, between which it toured Europe and North America, including a showing at the 1984 Louisiana World Exposition. It was then moved to the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum on 18 November 1985. It was then moved to its present location aboard the USS Intrepid museum ship on 12 December 2011.

New Members:

• BalaM314 (7 September)
• Squawkconspicuity (29 September)

September Launches
All times stated here are in UTC. See a current list here.

1. Falcon 9 Block 5 — 28 Starlink (5 Sept. at 13:56) (success)
2. Falcon 9 Block 5 — 24 Starlink (6 Sept. at 18:06) (success)
3. Falcon 9 Block 5 — Nusantara Lima (12 Sept. at 00:56) (success)
4. Long March 2D — Shiyan 30A/B (29 Sept. at 03:00) (success)

Since August 2025, there are seven fewer high-importance, seven more mid-importance, 28 more low-importance, three more NA-importance, and twelve more unknown-importance articles, for a total of 43 more articles. There is also one more GA-class article, 11 fewer B-class articles, 28 fewer C-class articles, 65 more Start-class articles, 42 fewer Stub-class articles, and two more lists.

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Newsletter contributors: Ships&Space

• On 13 November, the ESCAPADE spacecraft SIMPLEx-4A (Blue) and SIMPLEx-4B (Gold) were launched on board a New Glenn rocket. They will orbit Earth at its L₂ point until the Mars transfer window opens in late 2026.
• On the second flight of New Glenn, the first stage, "Never Tell Me the Odds," landed on the drone ship Jacklyn on 13 November. This made New Glenn the first orbital-class booster capable of landing propulsively not manufactured by SpaceX.
• As a result of damage caused by space debris, China's Shenzhou 20 was rendered unusable for returning its crew back to Earth. The crew instead returned on board the Shenzhou 21 craft on 14 November, with Shenzhou 22 being launched uncrewed on 25 November to serve as a return vessel for the crew of Shenzhou 21.
• On 27 November, Baikonur Cosmodrome Site 31, the only launch site used by Russia to reach the ISS, was significantly damaged during the launch of Soyuz MS-28.

• The image "NASA's Ingenuity helicopter on Mars" was promoted to Featured Media status on 23 October. It was nominated by WhatADrag07.

On 28 October, 2014, Cygnus Orb-3 was launched at 22:22:38 UTC. 15 seconds after liftoff, one of the launch vehicle's AJ26 (modified NK-33s) ruptured, resulting in the craft falling. The mission was scrubbed eight seconds later at 22:23:01 UTC. The subsequent investigation found that the liquid oxygen turbopump exploded, severing nearby propellant lines. This resulted in a fire that damaged various engine components. The cause of the LOX turbopump's failure remains unknown.

New Members:

• Hal Nordmann (1 October)
• R-Beepy (3 November)

October–November Launches
All times stated here are in UTC. See a current list here.

1. Long March 8A — 9 Guowang (16 Oct. at 01:33:00) (success)
2. H3-24W — HTV-X1, various cubeSats (26 Oct. at 00:00:15) (success)
3. Long March 2F/G — Shenzhou 21 (31 Oct. at 15:44:00) (success)
4. LVM3 — GSAT-7R (2 Nov. at 11:56:00) (success)
5. New Glenn — ESCAPADE Blue and Gold (13 Nov. at 20:55:01) (success)
6. Atlas V 551 — Viasat 3 EMEA (14 Nov. at 03:04:00) (success)
7. Soyuz-2.1a — Soyuz MS-28 (27 Nov. at 09:27:57) (successful launch; spaceport damaged)

Since September 2025, there are one more high-importance, three more mid-importance, 56 more low-importance, eleven more eight NA-importance, and 42 more unknown-importance articles, for a total of 113 more articles. There are also eight more B-class articles, 43 more C-class articles, 28 more Start-class articles, 25 more Stub-class articles, and three more lists.

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Newsletter contributors: Ships&Space

• The International Space Station's eight compartments were fully occupied for the first time on 1 December, with the rebirthing of Cygnus NG-23 to Unity.
• On 3 December, China's Zhuque-3 made the first non-American attempt at landing a booster. The booster failed to land following a landing-burn anomaly. A second attempt on the 23rd, this time using the new Long March 2A launch vehicle, also failed.
• On 6 December, contact with NASA's MAVEN Mars orbiter was lost. The last received telemetry was from the 4th, with the fragmented transmission of the 6th suggesting that the craft was rotating in an unintended way, and possibly having changed orbit. As of 16 January 2026, the mission has not yet been officially ended, although reestablishing communications with MAVEN is considered highly improbable.

• The article "Gordon Cooper" was promoted to Featured Article status on 9 December. It was nominated by Hawkeye7.

STS-116 was the 33rd mission of the Space Shuttle Discovery. Launched in the late evening of 6 December, the main aims of the mission were the installation of one of the International Space Station's Integrated Truss Structure segments, rewiring of the power system, and personnel exchange. Also known as ISS-12A.1, STS-116 was the first mission to include a Swedish astronaut, Christer Fuglesang. It returned to Earth in the evening of 22 December.

This image, of the first of three EVA sessions, was taken on the fourth day of the mission. Flight engineer Robert Curbeam is on the left, opposite mission specialist 3 Christer Fuglesang. The image was taken over New Zealand; the South Island is visible on the left, while the southern portion of the North Island, mostly consisting of the Wairarapa region, is visible in the top-right.

New Members: none

December Launches
All times stated here are in UTC. See the complete list here.

1. Zhuque-3 — no payload (3 Dec. at 04:00) (success)
2. HANBIT-NANO — various (22 Dec. at 12:45) (launch failure)
3. Long March 12A — mass simulator (23 Dec. at 02:00:00) (success)
4. LVM3 — BlueBird-6 (24 Dec. at 03:25:30) (success)
5. Soyuz-2.1b (1st stage), Fregat-M (2nd stage) — various (28 Dec. at 13:18:05) (success)

Since November 2025, there are one more mid-importance, 29 more low-importance, two more NA-importance, and 20 more unknown-importance class articles, for a total of 52 more articles. There are also one more FA-class articles, one less GA-class articles, ten more C-class articles, 20 more Start-class articles, eleven more Stub-class articles, and four more lists.

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Newsletter contributors: Ships&Space