After a busy start to summer, the space industry is likely to hit a lull in July. Only two missions have confirmed launch dates so far, though several more could take flight if tentative timelines hold. SpaceX, coming off a packed June that included multiple Falcon 9 launches and continued Starlink expansion, is slated for just one confirmed mission this month—its first under a contract with the U.S. Space Force.
Despite rising geopolitical tensions between the U.S. and India over trade and tariffs, the two nations’ space agencies—NASA and the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO)—are moving forward with a major joint satellite launch. Below are the key missions to watch in July:
July 3: Roscosmos launches Progress MS-31 to the ISS. Russia’s Roscosmos will launch a Soyuz 2.1a rocket carrying the Progress MS-31 (92P) cargo spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The mission, the 92nd of its kind, will deliver fresh supplies and equipment to the International Space Station. As with previous Progress vehicles, the spacecraft will remain docked for several months, though no return date has been set.
July 5 (tentative): NASA and India launch a joint satellite. ISRO is expected to launch the NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) satellite aboard a GSLV Mk II rocket from the Satish Dhawan Space Center in India. Developed collaboratively by NASA and ISRO, NISAR will use dual-frequency radar to track changes in Earth’s surface, from landslides and volcanoes to sea level rise and forest loss. It marks a major milestone in U.S.-India space cooperation.
July 24: Roscosmos launches Ionosfera-M 3 & 4. Roscosmos is scheduled to launch the final two satellites in its four-satellite Ionosfera-M constellation aboard a Soyuz 2.1b with Fregat-M upper stage from Vostochny Cosmodrome in the Russian Far East. The mission aims to study the ionosphere and magnetosphere, two critical layers of Earth’s upper atmosphere, with nine scientific instruments onboard.
TBD: ULA prepares for Vulcan Centaur mission USSF-106. United Launch Alliance is aiming to fly its Vulcan Centaur rocket for the first time under the U.S. Space Force’s National Security Space Launch program. Designated USSF-106, the mission will carry classified payloads and is the first of more than two dozen expected under this contract. Although initially slated for this summer, the complex processing needs of the payloads may delay the timeline.
TBD: SpaceX readies Crew-11 for NASA. SpaceX may close out the month with its 11th crewed mission to the ISS as part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. Launching from Cape Canaveral, the mission will carry four astronauts: NASA Commander Zena Cardman, Pilot Mike Fincke, JAXA astronaut Kimiya Yui and Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Platonov.
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