This new year will be full of milestones, including America’s 250th birthday, the world’s biggest sporting events and a mission to the Moon.
Take a look at some of the historic events coming this year.
milan cortina games
Grab your skis, snowboard and skates – it’s almost time for the Winter Olympics and Paralympics.
The Games will be held in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, from February 6 to 22, when the international stars of winter sports will compete for Olympic gold and glory.
opening ceremony, which will be It will be hosted by “Today” show anchor Savannah Guthrie and NBC Sports’ Terry GannonWill be held at the San Siro football stadium in Milan. The festivities will include a parade of delegations, lighting of the Olympic cauldron, etc. A performance by Mariah Carey and an act by Italian actor Pierfrancesco Favino,
Here are some of Team USA’s favorite cross-country skiers returning this year jessie digginspara snowboarder noah elliottfreestyle skier alex hall and snowboarder chloe kim – All gold medal winners.
The closing ceremony is scheduled for February 22. Both ceremonies will air on NBC and will be available to stream on Peacock.
The Paralympic Games will take place in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo from March 6 to 14, featuring six sports: para alpine skiing, para biathlon, para cross-country skiing, para ice hockey, para snowboard and wheelchair curling.
Artemis II launch
2026 is the year NASA finally returns to the Moon – sort of.
The Artemis II mission, the next phase of NASA’s return program to the Moon, is expected to launch sometime between February and April. This flight will be an important test of NASA’s Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft. The mission will send four astronauts on a roughly 10-day trip around the Moon to evaluate how the Orion spacecraft’s various systems and hardware function in the deep space environment.
This mission will be the first crewed flight of the Artemis program, and will take astronauts to the closest point to the Moon in more than 50 years since the end of the Apollo program.
This will be closely watched, especially since the Trump administration has repeatedly talked about the need for China to return to the Moon before it can land its astronauts on the lunar surface. Much of that outlook depends on the outcome of the Artemis II mission.
If successful, the flight will pave the way for the Artemis III mission, which is expected to land astronauts near the moon’s south pole. In a recent executive order, President Donald Trump directed NASA to return astronauts to the Moon by 2028, “to assert American leadership in space, lay the foundation for lunar economic development, prepare for travel to Mars, and inspire the next generation of American explorers.”
fifa world cup 2026
¡Viva el futbol!
The FIFA World Cup, the world’s premier international soccer competition, returns for its 23rd tournament this summer. This year, a record 48 teams will battle for glory for the first time across three host countries – the US, Canada and Mexico.
The extravaganza will begin with the opening match on June 11 Estadio Azteca In Mexico City. The finale will take place on July 19 at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
Throughout the month, 104 matches will unfold, pitting the best players from each country against each other.
The 16 host cities are Toronto and Vancouver in Canada; Guadalajara, Mexico City and Monterrey in Mexico; and in the US Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Houston, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Miami, New York-New Jersey, Philadelphia, San Francisco Bay Area and Seattle
This year features 16 more teams than the 2022 Qatar World Cup.
Returning this year are defending champions Argentina (three-time World Cup winners), football giants Brazil (record five-time winners), England (who won the Cup when they hosted it in 1966), Germany (four-time winners), France (two-time winners, including most recently in 2018), Spain (2010 champions), Uruguay (two-time winners) and the United States – which has yet to claim the coveted title.
the nation is making its own world cup debut Cape Verde, Curaçao, Jordan and Uzbekistan.
As of December, 42 teams have qualified, including Mexico, Canada, Australia, Colombia, Ecuador, Egypt, Ghana, Iran, Japan, South Korea, Morocco, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and South Africa.
The remaining six will be determined by March, with four teams coming from the European playoffs and two from another World Cup playoff tournament. according to fifa,
America 250
This year, America will celebrate its 250th birthday, commemorating the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776.
That day marked the foundation of the United States of America as a sovereign nation separated from British colonial rule and established America’s enduring principles of equality and “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”
Events and initiatives to commemorate the anniversary are already underway, with several events scheduled throughout the year.
On New Year’s Day, America250The nonpartisan effort, which Congress established in 2016 to plan the anniversary, will be included in the Rose Parade in Pasadena, California. Its theme is “Moving Forward Together for 250 Years.”
Trump released in January 2025 an executive order Planning events to celebrate the anniversary. He later announced Freedom 250, a non-partisan initiative launched at his direction to plan additional celebration events. These events began on New Year’s Eve when the Washington Monument was transformed into “the world’s tallest birthday candle” by projections displayed every night until January 5.
According to Freedom 250, a “Great American State Fair” will be held on the National Mall from June 25 to July 10, featuring pavilions from all 50 states.
“Frankly, you’ve never seen anything like it and you’ll never see anything like it again,” Trump said. video address On 18th December.
The festivities will be celebrated on Independence Day with an “integrated national celebration on the National Mall”, which will include a flyover by the military, an address by Trump and a fireworks display.
The group also announced the first “Patriot Games” – a four-day athletic competition featuring the top high school athletes, one young male and one young female, from each state and territory.
Additionally, there will be a Memorial Day parade and a UFC event at the White House on Flag Day on June 14, which is also Trump’s birthday.
Trump also said he planned to build a “triumphal arch” similar to Paris’s Arc de Triomphe in the nation’s capital.
midterm elections
The battle for control of Congress, as well as key governor’s races and downballot elections across the country, will dominate the 2026 political calendar.
Republicans are defending a narrow majority in the House – Democrats need to gain only three seats to take back control (a task that may be complicated by the ongoing redistricting wildfire that has engulfed state legislatures across the country). It will likely be easier for the GOP to defend its Senate majority, as Democrats need to gain four more seats there, and much of that battleground runs through states Trump won in 2024.
There will also be key governor’s races in key swing states such as Georgia, Nevada, Arizona, Michigan and Wisconsin; legislative races that could determine control of legislatures across the country; and mayoral races in cities like Los Angeles and Washington, D.C.
