What's Happening in Space: May 2026

A summary of space events through the month

Join Dhara Patel, our resident Space Expert, for her expert guide to star gazing opportunities and the latest space happenings in May!

Throughout May - Spot the International Space Station

From Leicester, there may be sightings throughout May to spot the International Space Station (ISS) moving across the sky. Download NASA’s Spot the Station app using the App Store or Google Play to find out when and where to spot the largest artificial satellite overhead from your location. It’ll look like a bright star moving relatively quickly across the sky (generally from west to east) and will be visible to the naked eye.

Throughout May – Stargazing challenges

Each month, we'll be sharing some stargazing challenges for everyone to have a go at. From spotting the Moon and familiar star patterns, to catching meteor showers and eclipses. Check out our Stargazing Challenges – May 2026 blog for more details.

1^st May – Full moon (18:23)

Known as the Flower moon (according to the old Farmers’ Almanac), this full moon is named to mark the point in the year that flowers bloomed again. Check out the Full Moon: Full Facts blog written by Mike Darch in the NSC Education team to find out more.

5th/6th May – peak of the Eta Aquariid meteor shower

5^th/6^th May – peak of the Eta Aquariid meteor shower

A moderate shower, with ~ 50 meteors per hour at its peak, produced by dust left behind by Halley’s Comet, the meteors from the Eta Aquariids will radiate from the constellation Aquarius (appearing in the east in the early hours of the morning), but will be visible all over the sky. Peaking between midnight and the early hours of the 6th, the waning gibbous moon will rise around 01:00 so moonlight will dampen views after midnight but the radiant will continue to rise higher into the sky during the early morning of the 6^th creeping above the eastern horizon around 3:00, so best viewing will be from a dark location in the early morning hours. If you miss the peak, the shower is active between 19th April and 28th May. You can find out more in NSC's blog about the Eta Aquariid meteor shower.

16^th May – New moon (21:01)

The new moon will occur in the constellation of Taurus. The lack of moonlight interference provides a great time to try and view deep sky objects (especially with the aid of binoculars and telescopes). We have a blog on Moon phases written by Mike Darch in our Education team.

18^th May – Moon and Venus close in the sky

The Moon will be in conjunction (sharing the same right ascension – coordinate) with Venus on the morning of 19 May and they’ll appear relatively close together. But this will occur in the early hours after midnight when they are both below the horizon so you won’t be able to spot them at this time. Instead look towards the west as the Sun begins to set on the evening of 18 May to spot Venus sitting beside (to the left of) the very thin waxing crescent moon. Being one of Earth’s closest neighbours and due to its thick reflective atmosphere, Venus will appear like a bright shining star. The duo will be close to the horizon when they become visible so be sure to have a clear view of the western horizon to have a better chance of spotting them. By 23:00 the pair will set so be sure to catch them before then. They should be visible to the naked eye, but you’ll need to find the sweet spot of it being dark enough to spot their light vs. it being early enough that they’re still high enough above the horizon to easily see. Find out more about close approaches and conjunctions in our Astronomical phenomena blog written by David Southworth in our Education team.

20^th May – Moon and Jupiter close in the sky

The waxing crescent moon will be observable near Jupiter in the west during the evening of 20 May – appearing as the Sun begins to set. The Moon will be in conjunction (sharing the same right ascension – coordinate) with Jupiter earlier that afternoon so the pair won’t be visible together in the daylight at that time. Though they’ll slowly drift further apart as the day unfolds, begin looking for them around 21:00 when they’ll easily be visible high enough in the west, but be sure to catch them before midnight as they’ll set below the horizon then. Jupiter will appear diagonally to the bottom right of our lunar neighbour and both will be observable with the naked eye. Check out the astronomical phenomena blog linked above to find out more about close approaches and conjunctions and other astronomical phenomena.

31^st May – Full moon (09:45)

There’s a second full moon this month. When two full moons occur in the same calendar month, the second is known as a Blue Moon. A blue moon is a relatively rare phenomenon, and its name originates from a 16th-century phrase for something unusual "once in a blue moon", rather than it actually changing colour.

No earlier than May - Isar Spectrum Flight Two

In 2025, a first attempt was made by Isar Aerospace, from Andøya Spaceport in Norway to launch an orbital-class rocket from European soil. In this test flight the rocket crashed roughly 20–30 seconds after launch and did not reach orbit. Both Spectrum Flight Two (again by Isar Aerospace, launching from Andøya Spaceport in Norway) and Rocket Factory Augsburg's (RFA) rocket launching from the SaxaVord Spaceport in Scotland on the RFA ONE demo flight, are on the verge of becoming the first successful orbital flight from European soil. Delayed multiple times from earlier this year (postponed due to a defective valve and then due to a boat entering the exclusion zone around the launch site during the launch window), Spectrum Flight Two now has a scheduled launch date of no earlier than this month and is expected to carry 5 CubeSats and 1 non-separable experiment into a Sun-Synchronous Orbit.

Please note: As this summary is created at the end of the month before, dates (especially launch dates) can often change or be updated, so this content may become outdated - we always recommend checking on the relevant organisation's pages.