Rocket launches this week
According to tracking from Next SpaceFlight, Chinese aerospace firm Landspace’s ZhuQue-2E Block 2 is scheduled to lift off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in China at 4:20 a.m. EST on Tuesday, June 9. The ZhuQue-2E is a medium-lift rocket powered by liquid oxygen and methane — the first methane-fueled vehicle to reach orbit. The payload for this flight has not been publicly disclosed.
On Wednesday, June 10, SpaceX will launch the Starlink Group 17-44 mission from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California between 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. EST. The booster supporting this mission is flying for the 34th time, having previously launched a string of government and commercial payloads. Following separation, it will land on the droneship Of Course I Still Love You. Watch here.
On Thursday, June 12, a launch window opens from midnight to 5:15 a.m. EST for Rocket Lab’s “Curveball” mission from Launch Complex 2 at Wallops Flight Facility, a NASA-operated launch range on Virginia’s Eastern Shore, with nightly backup windows continuing through June 17. Rocket Lab hasn’t listed the mission publicly, but aggregators like Next Spaceflight have it on the manifest. Launch tracker EasternShoreSpaceflight spotted the vehicle vertical on the pad June 6, calling it most likely a HASTE (Hypersonic Accelerator Suborbital Test Electron) hypersonic test flight.
Also on Thursday, June 12 at 3:30 a.m. EST, China’s state-owned aerospace conglomerate China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) will launch a Long March 5 from the Wenchang Space Launch Site on Hainan Island according to tracking from Next Spaceflight. The Long March 5 is China’s heaviest operational rocket, capable of lifting up to 55,000 lbs (25,000 kg) to low Earth orbit. The payload for this flight has not been publicly disclosed.
On Friday, June 13 at 8:27 a.m. EST, SpaceX will launch Starlink Group 10-54 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The booster is expected to land on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas in the Atlantic Ocean. Watch here.
On Sunday, June 14, SpaceX closes out the week with Starlink Group 17-54 from Vandenberg at 10:00 a.m. EST, with the booster targeting Of Course I Still Love You. Watch here. Later that night at 11:40 p.m. EST, commercial Chinese firm CAS (Chinese Academy of Sciences) Space will fly a Kinetica 1 solid-propellant rocket from Jiuquan according to tracking from Next Spaceflight. The payload has not been publicly disclosed.
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Last week’s launch recap
The week opened with the maiden flight of CASC’s Long March 12B on June 1 from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, carrying satellites for China’s Qianfan broadband megaconstellation. No booster recovery was attempted on the debut flight.
On Wednesday, June 3, SpaceX launched Starlink Group 17-47 from Vandenberg. Thursday brought a double-header: SpaceX flew Starlink Group 10-43 from Cape Canaveral while CASC lofted SpaceSail Polar Group 11, as part of the Qianfan constellation, on a Long March 6A from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in north-central China’s Shanxi Province. Qianfan, or Thousand Sails, is a Shanghai-backed broadband megaconstellation that aims to rival Starlink with a planned fleet of more than 15,000 satellites by 2030.
A Long March 8 followed Friday, June 5, carrying SpaceSail Polar Group 12 from Wenchang — pushing Qianfan’s total deployed satellite count to 200.
SpaceX closed the week with Starlink Group 17-43 from Vandenberg in the early hours of Sunday, June 7.
Looking ahead
On Monday, June 16, CASC is targeting two launches: a Long March 3B/E from Xichang at 5:45 a.m. EST, and a Long March 12 from Wenchang at 10:00 p.m. EST as reported by Next Spaceflight. Both payloads are unknown.On Tuesday, June 17, Arianespace will attempt the launch of Amazon’s Leo LE-03 satellite aboard an Ariane 64 from the Guiana Space Centre in French Guiana. Also on June 17, Rocket Lab will fly the “Ten Owl of Ten” mission from the Māhia Peninsula in New Zealand at 4:40 p.m. EST — the tenth dedicated Electron launch for Japanese synthetic aperture radar (SAR) constellation operator Synspective, with 17 more missions booked through 2030.
Brooks Mendenhall is a staff writer for Astronomy magazine and is based in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
