From monitoring Mercury to embarking on a new journey to an icy moon of Jupiter, spacecraft and astronauts achieved significant milestones in 2024. Here are some of the key highlights from this year in space.

The moon continued to be a focal point for space agencies and private companies in 2024. In January, Japan's SLIM spacecraft successfully executed a precision landing on the rim of a lunar crater, marking the country's first soft landing on the moon. The solar-powered Smart Lander for Investigating the Moon was designed to collect data for one lunar day, equivalent to about two weeks on Earth, before the night made it too dark and cold to survive. However, SLIM surprised everyone by transmitting signals to Earth for three months.

In February, Odysseus, a spacecraft built by Houston-based Intuitive Machines, made an unintended sideways landing near the lunar south pole. During its six-day mission, the probe sent back data that could be valuable for NASA's Artemis mission, which aims to land humans on the moon in 2026. In June, China's Chang'e 6 spacecraft successfully collected the first samples from the farside of the moon. Analysis of these samples revealed soil that is fluffier than that from the nearside, suggesting volcanic activity on the farside some 2.8 billion years ago.

Meanwhile, the Chang'e 6 orbiter arrived at the L2 Lagrange point, a region of space also occupied by the James Webb Space Telescope. It remains unclear what the Chinese space agency plans to do with the orbiter in this location.

2024 also saw the end of an era for a beloved Mars explorer. NASA's Ingenuity, nicknamed Ginny, was the first helicopter to operate on the Red Planet. Initially designed for a few flights over 30 days, Ingenuity managed 72 flights over nearly three years before being grounded in January due to rotor blade damage. Ingenuity's companion, the Perseverance rover, made a significant discovery in July: a rock containing hints of ancient microbes. However, the future of NASA's Mars Sample Return mission is uncertain, potentially jeopardizing the return of this intriguing sample to Earth.

SpaceX continued to make strides, supporting the first all-civilian spacewalk as part of the Polaris Dawn mission in September. The mission tested new SpaceX spacesuits and collected data on radiation and astronaut physiology. Notably, crew member Sarah Gillis became the first person to play the violin in space.

Boeing's Starliner spacecraft faced challenges in June when it launched astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore to the space station. Issues with the spacecraft's thrusters delayed their return, and Starliner eventually returned to Earth without its crew. Williams and Wilmore remained on the space station until February, when a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft brought them home.

In August, NASA bid farewell to the NEOWISE telescope, which had spent over a decade scanning the sky for potentially threatening asteroids. NEOWISE's observations provided scientists with a more precise understanding of the dangers posed by these space rocks. Fortunately, another asteroid hunter, NEO Surveyor, is scheduled to launch no earlier than 2027.

The BepiColombo spacecraft made a close flyby of Mercury on September 4, capturing its first views of the planet's south pole. The joint European and Japanese probe, launched in October 2018, still has about two years to go before reaching Mercury. BepiColombo's next flyby is scheduled for January 8.

NASA's Europa Clipper spacecraft launched on October 14, heading for Jupiter's icy moon Europa, which is considered a prime candidate for extraterrestrial life due to its subsurface ocean. Once Clipper arrives at Jupiter in 2030, it will conduct nearly 50 flybys of Europa to study its ocean, avoiding prolonged exposure to Jupiter's intense magnetic field.

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