We have several launches coming up this week, but the majority are from SpaceX. It will perform two Starlink launches before sending up Iridium and OneWeb satellites. Additionally, China's CAS Space will launch the Kinetica 1 rocket on its second launch carrying two satellites into orbit.
Sunday, May 14
The first launch in the coming week takes place at 5:03 a.m. UTC on Sunday morning. SpaceX will launch a Falcon 9 rocket carrying 56 second-generation Starlink satellites into a low Earth orbit. They’re equipped with anti-reflective coatings to help astronomers. This mission, which launches from Cape Canaveral in Florida, has been delayed from April, May 8 and May 12. Hopefully, it gets a break and manages to launch successfully on Sunday. To watch the launch, just head over to SpaceX’s website where you should find a live stream around the time of the event.
Monday, May 15
On Monday, we’ll have the launch of CAS Space’s Kinetica 1 rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre. It’s the second time the rocket has flown and will be carrying the Fucheng 1 and Luojia 2-01 satellites into orbit. The Kinetica 1 rocket is allegedly based on the DF-31 missile but was adapted by CAS Space to launch satellites.
Thursday, May 18
The third mission of the week is another one from SpaceX. From Cape Canaveral again, SpaceX will launch a Falcon 9 carrying even more Starlink satellites, but only 21 this time. This mission takes off at 4:26 a.m. UTC and should be streamed on SpaceX’s website as well at the time.
Friday, May 19
The final launch will see a SpaceX Falcon 9 carry several satellites for Iridium and OneWeb. Five satellites for the Iridium NEXT mobile communications constellation will be launched alongside 15 first-generation and one second-generation OneWeb satellites. This mission will take off from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California at an unspecified time. It should be available to watch on the SpaceX website.
Recap
The first launch this week was the Long March-7 Y7 carrying the Tianzhou-6 cargo spacecraft which headed to China’s Heavenly Palace space station.
Later that day, Tianzhou-6 successfully docked with the Heavenly Palace.
Finally, SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket on the same day carrying 51 Starlink satellites.
That’s all for this week, be sure to check in next time.
