While our spaceflight missions come to fruition in the heavens, they all have to start here on Earth. The next year in space will see a lot of changes, as new technologies get tested and exciting missions get going. National space agencies and, increasingly, private companies are preparing for their next adventures in space. There will also be great celestial phenomena to enjoy and, very likely, a number of unexpected surprises cropping up. To help prepare for it all, we take a look at what next year holds for spaceflight. NASA's Challenges Last year wasn’t a particularly great one for the agency. Yes, it accomplished many great things, including scientific exploration of Mars, Saturn, other planets, and even the outer reaches of the solar system. But the agency has also been struggling for a while to find a sense of direction and is looking to make do with budgets that have flat-lined. The effects of the sequester and a government shutdown have further eroded its ability to execute all the impressive missions on its plate. Last month, the NASA Office of the Inspector General, which checks on and audits funding for the agency, released a report on the top nine challenges facing NASA this year. These included deciding whether or not to extend the lifetime of the International Space Station – which is scheduled for retirement in 2020 – for eight additional years. Many researchers would like to continue using the ISS but NASA might like to use that money to start supporting different projects. Other major challenges include securing a method to transport its astronauts to the ISS. NASA currently relies on Russian launch vehicles, which are expensive and subject to the increasingly frosty international relationship between the U.S. and Russia. The agency is looking forward to the debut test flight of Orion, its new manned spacecraft (seen above), in September but human crews wouldn’t board the vehicle until after 2020. A domestic rocket company, such as SpaceX, might be a cheaper and better alternative. The OIG also wants NASA to make sure it has the costs and scheduling of the James Webb Space Telescope under control, a project that has run billions over budget and is set to launch in 2018. In 2013, NASA released a plan to capture an asteroid and bring it back to Earth, perhaps sending astronauts to explore its surface at some future date. But the mission hasn’t been fully embraced by the spaceflight community, who wonder (and sometimes snicker) about the value of such an expedition. NASA will likely release more information in 2014 about exactly how it wants to go about accomplishing this venture. Image: NASA

Rosetta and Philae After a 10-year journey, the European Space Agency’s Rosetta spacecraft will finally be reaching its target, comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko, in August. The mission will be the first to orbit a comet’s nucleus, staying with the icy ball for months to see how it changes as it approaches the sun and heats up. Rosetta is carrying a tiny lander named Philae, which will be the first man-made object to softly land on a comet’s surface and, hopefully, beam back some amazing pictures from the surface. Image: ESA–C. Carreau/ATG medialab

Cubesats Galore Smaller is better, especially in space. Over the last decade, miniaturized electronic components have found their way onto mini-sized satellites known as cubesats. Measuring 10 centimeters a side, cubesats have the advantage of being cheap to build and easy to launch – they just piggyback on an existing rocket carrying larger satellites. In 2014, NASA plans to send the first cubesat beyond Earth orbit with a mission called the Interplanetary NanoSpacecraft Pathfinder In a Relevant Environment (INSPIRE). Composed of twin cubesat spacecraft, as illustrated above, INSPIRE will launch to the moon to prove that engineers can communicate with and control these little guys out in deep space and take some simple data. If successful, INSPIRE could, well, inspire, a whole bunch of other small satellite payloads for planetary exploration. Cubesats may also get a boost from a rocket being developed called the Spaceborne Payload Assist Rocket Kauai or SPARK. A rail-launched vehicle, SPARK could send one or two small satellites as well as a whole swarm of cubesats into Earth orbit. Its debut test flight is scheduled for some time in 2014. Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Reaching Mars The Red Planet should be getting two new visitors in 2014. NASA’s Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) mission should enter orbit in September while India’s Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) will follow close on its heels, starting to orbit the planet in November. The NASA probe will investigate how the Red Planet lost is atmosphere and water. MOM, informally known as Mangalyaan, represents a major milestone for India’s burgeoning space capabilities. It is the country’s first mission to another planet and, if successful, will demonstrate that India can perform deep space maneuvers, communication, and data transmission. Historically, though, more than half of Mars missions have failed so keep your fingers crossed. Image: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center

Solar and Lunar Eclipses When the paths of the sun and moon overlap in the sky, we get to enjoy spectacular solar and lunar eclipses. The first eclipse this year will be a full lunar eclipse on April 15, when the moon will be covered by the Earth’s shadow and turn a deep red color. This eclipse will be visible most prominently by people living in North and South America. A couple weeks later, on April 29, an extremely strange annular solar eclipse will happen when the moon blocks out only part of the sun’s light, leaving a glowing ring around it. The strangest part is that this annular eclipse will start over Antarctica, a very rare event, and will only be visible on land from that continent and the eastern tip of Australia. We will then have to wait until Oct. 8 for another full lunar eclipse, which will be best viewed by people living in the Pacific region. Finally, a partial solar eclipse will be visible on Oct. 23 to folks living on the eastern half of the U.S. and Canada. Image: Thephatphilmz/Wikimedia

SpaceX Might Get Heavy There is no doubt that the most successful new private space company is SpaceX. The company has already completed several missions to resupply the International Space Station and has other aerospace businesses lining up to launch their stuff. Sometime this year, SpaceX might unveil their next generation of rocket, Falcon Heavy, which should be capable of lifting more than three times their current launch vehicle capacity into space. No specific date is given for Falcon Heavy’s first mission but it is on the company’s launch manifest for 2014. If SpaceX is able to develop a fully reusable rocket, they may very well drive down the cost of getting to space. This would help NASA and other private companies looking to pull off their own ambitious plans. Image: SpaceX