From space tourist projects and the first private spaceships to visit the International Space Station to a new Mars landing and China's first manned space lab, here's a look at 12 missions to watch in 2012.
Twelve spaceflyers are scheduled to travel to the space station on four different launches in 2012. These men and women will spend around six months each living and working in space, performing experiments in a wide range of sciences inside humanity's only permanently staffed space laboratory.
NEXT: Planetary Mission Milestones
The Cassini orbiter, which has been orbiting Saturn since 2004, will make multiple flybys of the moons Titan and Enceladus, as well as distant flybys of many other moons, including Helene, Mimas, Janus, Polydeuces, Telesto, Pallene and Dione. NASA's Messenger mission at Mercury will continue its up-close study of the planet closest to the sun. And the agency's New Horizons mission, which launched in 2006, will come closer to Pluto than any other spacecraft yet. New Horizons is due to reach its target in 2015.
In the meantime, NASA's Opportunity rover on Mars continues to perform while the far-flung Voyager probes continue on their way out of our solar system.
Many other planetary probes will continue plugging along to advance scientists' understanding the solar system.
NEXT: Space Station Gets New Additions?
In May 2012, Russia will launch the Nauka Multipurpose Laboratory Module (MPLM), a new room to be added onto the space station's Zvezda nadir port, replacing the older Pirs docking compartment currently there. Nauka will house science experiments and cargo and will be used for docking, as well as work and rest areas for the crew. The same Russian Proton rocket that launches Nauka will carry the European Robotic Arm.
NEXT: Secret Air Force Space Plane Landing
Only the second of its kind, the X-37B was slated for a nine-month mission, but has already surpassed that goal. The hush-hush is vehicle is expected to land sometime in early 2012 and it is possible another X-37B vehicle could launch during the year.
NEXT: Dream Chaser Drop Tests
In 2012, Sierra Nevada officials plan a high-altitude drop test using the same WhiteKnightTwo mother ship used by Virgin Galactic to carry its SpaceShipTwo vehicles. Dream Chaser will be dropped so it can glide back down to the ground, to test its landing capabilities, officials said.
NEXT: Big Mars Rover Arrive at Red Planet
The landing is expected to be a nail-biter, as Curiosity is due to descend to the planet's surface as no vehicle has done before. NASA engineers devised a sky crane descent module that will parachute down to hover over Mars, then lower Curiosity on tethers to a gentle touchdown. The rover launched on Nov. 26, 2011.
NEXT: New Asteroid Stop
NASA launched the $466 million Dawn probe in 2007 on a mission to visit the most massive asteroids in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. While Dawn will arrive at Ceres in 2015, the probe will still be beaming back amazing views of Vesta for much of the year.
NEXT: LightSail-1: A New Solar Sail Mission
The Society has tried repeatedly to launch a solar sail into orbit, and the LightSail-1 vehicle is the one of three new tests planned by the group.
The spacecraft is made of three cube-shaped spacecraft and is due to launch sometime in 2012.
NEXT: NASA's Grail Moon Probes
The two Grail moon probes will arrive in lunar orbit on New Year's Day on a $496 million mission to map the moon's gravity. The mission will last at least three months.
The Tiangong-1 module, launched Sept. 29, is still in orbit following the unmanned Shenzhou 8 docking test flight. The next docking missions will be Shenzhou 9 and Shenzhou 10, with one of the trips carrying a crew, Chinese space officials have said.
NEXT: Virgin Galactic Lights Rocket Engine
So far, Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo spacecraft have only made unpowered glide tests. But experts anticipate seeing the SpaceShipTwo vehicle perform its first powered flight test in 2012.
NEXT: Dragons & Swans Visit Space Station
When it comes within range, the astronauts aboard the station will grab hold of it with the station's robotic arm and berth it to the outpost.
Another private spacecraft, the Cygnus capsule being developed by Orbital Sciences Corp., of Dulles, Va., is also set to make its debut in 2012. Cygnus is due to fly atop Orbital's Taurus 2 rocket in May.