Pokémon Go ‘World Space Week 2026’ event guide

As a bit of a surprise, Pokémon Go now has a “World Space Week 2026” event that runs from Oct. 4-10. This event is small and features no other bonuses, outside a Timed Research set and opportunities to find a Pikachu in an adorable astronaut suit to catch.

Below, we explain where to find astronaut Pikachu in Pokémon Go, and list out the steps and rewards for the ‘World Space Week 2026’ Timed Research.

How to find astronaut Pikachu in Pokémon Go

There are only two ways to get astronaut Pikachu during this event:

• Defeat astronaut Pikachu in one-star raids and catch it after winning the raid.
• Finish the event Timed Research (detailed below) to get an encounter with astronaut Pikachu.

That’s it. It’s unknown if this special suited-up Pikachu will come back in the future, so you should try to get in as many of these raids as you can, if you want to collect it. After all, astronaut Pikachu can be shiny.

Graphic: Julia Lee/Polygon | Source images: Scopely Explore

Pokémon Go ‘World Space Week 2026’ Timed Research

There are just a few steps to this research that involve doing raids:

• Win 1 raid (2,500 XP)
• Win 2 raids (2,500 Stardust)
• Win 3 raids (2,500 XP)
• Win 4 raids (2,500 Stardust)
• Win 5 raids (2,500 XP)

Rewards: Pikachu (astronaut) encounter, 2,500 XP, 2,500 Stardust