2022 has been another great year in space

I closed 2021 in space from NASA, ESA, and Reuters with "Here's to 2022 being another great year in space for all participants!" It was. Watch NASA 2022: A Year of Success.

Throughout America's story, there are defining days. Days when minds change, hearts fill and imagination soar.

NASA’s mission is to explore the unknown in air and space, innovate for the benefit of humanity, and inspire the world through discovery.

In addition to the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), the video featured DART and Artemis, the three subjects of NOVA PBS's Three Major Space Stories of 2022.

From rocket launches, to dazzling new images, and even planetary defense, 2022 was a big year for space discovery.

These are also my choices for the three top space stories, which appeared again in An Astronomical and Historic 2022 – What We Did This Year @ NASA.

In 2022, we launched our mega Moon rocket for the first time – sending the uncrewed Orion spacecraft around the Moon, we kicked off a new era in astronomy with record-breaking new imagery from the Webb Space Telescope, we moved an asteroid in humanity’s first ever planetary defense demonstration and much more. Here’s a look back at those and other things we did, this year @NASA!

This video shows that some of NASA's most important, if less spectacular, work takes place on Earth, not up in space.

Follow over the jump for videos from ESA, Reuters, and SciShow Space.

The other space agency responsible for JWST and Artemis is the European Space Agency (ESA), which included both and more in ESA Highlights 2022.

2022 was a year of many ‘firsts’ for space in Europe, seeing the first European female ISS commander, the launch of the first Vega-C rocket, Solar Orbiter’s first close encounter with our home star, the launch of the first Artemis mission working to bring humans back to the Moon, and first images from the James Webb Space Telescope.

Let’s take a look at the highlights and accomplishments of the European Space Agency during 2022.

Artemis and JWST are such big projects they require more than one country to pull off.

There are other space-faring nations besides the U.S. and the members of the ESA and Reuters mentioned one of their accomplishments in Everything you need to know about space exploration in 2022.

From the long-awaited Artemis 1 launch on the colossal SLS moon rocket to the world's first test of a planetary defense system, 2022 was a year of some big milestones in space exploration.

The Chinese space station managed to join the three top stories and I think it deserves the recognition.

I close with some astronomical news from SciShow Space in This Year in Space News (That Isn't JWST).

If you’ve been distracted looking at the amazing photos The James Webb Space Telescope has taken, not to worry. Here are three other stellar stories from the last year of space science!

Some of these also appeared in James Webb Space Telescope is the top science story of 2022, but they deserve repeating just as much as JWST.

Here's to 2023 being another great year in space!

Stay tuned as the retrospectives continue through New Year's Eve.