Space Calendar April 2022: Schedule of Space Events
These dates are subject to change. Launch dates are taken from Space.com.
April 1: The new moon arrives at 2:24 a.m. EDT (0546 GMT).
April 1: A Rocket Lab Electron rocket will launch two small satellites for BlackSky Global's Earth observation fleet. It will lift off from the Mahia Peninsula in New Zealand. The launch is scheduled for 8:35 a.m. EDT (1235 GMT).
April 1: A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch a rideshare mission called Transporter 4. It will lift off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The launch is scheduled for 12:24 p.m. EDT (1624 GMT).
April 4: Saturn and Mars will make a close approach in the dawn sky, coming within less than one-third of a degree of one another. Look for the pair in the constellation Capricornus before sunrise.
April 6: Axiom Space will launch Ax-1, the first private astronaut mission to the International Space Station. Four crewmembers will fly to the space station in a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft and will remain in orbit for eight days. The mission will lift off from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.
April 16: The full moon of April, known as the Pink Moon, arrives at 2:55 p.m. EDT (1855 GMT).
April 19: NASA and SpaceX will launch the Crew-4 mission to the International Space Station. The Crew Dragon will be carrying NASA astronauts Kjell Lindgren, Robert Hines and Jessica Watkins, and the European Space Agency's Samantha Cristoforetti. The Falcon 9 rocket will lift off at 6:59 a.m EDT (1059 GMT) from Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
April 21-22: The Lyrid meteor shower peaks.
April 30: A partial solar eclipse will be visible from southern South America, parts of Antarctica, and over the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. This eclipse coincides with the second new moon of April, also known as a Black Moon.
April 30: A SpaceX Falcon 9 will launch the Nilesat 301 geostationary communications satellite from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.