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.

Last year wasnt 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 wouldnt 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 hasnt 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

After a 10-year journey, the European Space Agencys Rosetta spacecraft will finally be reaching its target, comet 67P/ChuryumovGerasimenko, in August. The mission will be the first to orbit a comets 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 comets surface and, hopefully, beam back some amazing pictures from the surface.

Image: ESAC. Carreau/ATG medialab

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.

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Space Missions and Events We're Looking Forward to in 2014