What's Launching This Week | Astronomy.com https://www.astronomy.com/whats-launching-this-week/ Astronomy news, photos, observing events, and space missions. Mon, 27 Oct 2025 18:52:28 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.8.3 https://www.astronomy.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/cropped-favicon-32x32.jpg What's Launching This Week | Astronomy.com https://www.astronomy.com/whats-launching-this-week/ 32 32 Shenzhou-21 crew headed to Tiangong Station this week https://www.astronomy.com/whats-launching-this-week/shenzhou-21-crew-headed-to-tiangong-station-this-week/ Mon, 27 Oct 2025 18:52:19 +0000 https://www.astronomy.com/?p=167064// Mission Highlight: China’s Shenzhou-21 crew launch This week’s highlight is the upcoming launch of China’s Shenzhou-21 crewed mission to the Tiangong space station. While Xinhua states the launch will occur “at an appropriate time in the near future,” external sources such as Next Spaceflight report the Long March-2F carrier rocket is scheduled to lift offContinue reading "Shenzhou-21 crew headed to Tiangong Station this week"

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]]> Spain’s new communications satellite to launch this week https://www.astronomy.com/whats-launching-this-week/spains-new-communications-satellite-to-launch-this-week/ Mon, 20 Oct 2025 21:15:26 +0000 https://www.astronomy.com/?p=166936// Mission highlight: SPAINSAT New Generation II This week’s highlighted mission is the launch of the SPAINSAT New Generation (NG) II satellite for the Spanish satellite operator hisdeSat. A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is scheduled to lift off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on Wednesday, Oct. 22, at 9:30 p.m. EDT. hisdeSat wasContinue reading "Spain’s new communications satellite to launch this week"

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]]> How to watch today’s Starship Test Flight 11 launch https://www.astronomy.com/whats-launching-this-week/how-to-watch-todays-starship-test-flight-11-launch/ Mon, 13 Oct 2025 17:59:34 +0000 https://www.astronomy.com/?p=166831// Mission highlight: SpaceX Starship Test Flight 11 This week’s highlighted mission is the eleventh integrated flight test of SpaceX’s Starship. Liftoff from Starbase in Texas is scheduled for Monday, Oct. 13, with the launch window opening at 7:15 p.m. EDT. A livestream will begin here about 30 minutes before liftoff. The upcoming flight will buildContinue reading "How to watch today’s Starship Test Flight 11 launch"

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]]> Blue Origin’s NS-36 to carry six passengers to space https://www.astronomy.com/whats-launching-this-week/blue-origins-ns-36-to-carry-six-passengers-to-space/ Mon, 06 Oct 2025 18:55:06 +0000 https://www.astronomy.com/?p=166660// Mission highlight: Blue Origin to launch 15th human flight This week’s highlighted mission is a crewed suborbital flight from Blue Origin. The company is planning to launch the NS-36 mission aboard its New Shepard rocket. Liftoff is scheduled for Wednesday, Oct. 8, at 9:00 a.m. EDT  from Launch Site One in West Texas. A liveContinue reading "Blue Origin’s NS-36 to carry six passengers to space"

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]]> Rocket Lab’s Justin mission headlines slow week of launches https://www.astronomy.com/whats-launching-this-week/hypersonic-research-takes-off-with-rocket-labs-launch/ Mon, 29 Sep 2025 18:02:04 +0000 https://www.astronomy.com/?p=166488// Mission highlight: Rocket Lab boosts US hypersonic research This week’s highlighted mission is a suborbital flight for a classified U.S. government customer. Rocket Lab is scheduled to launch the Justin mission aboard a variant of its Electron rocket, called Hypersonic Accelerator Suborbital Test Electron (HASTE). Liftoff is scheduled for Tuesday, Sept. 30, at 7:45 p.m.Continue reading "Rocket Lab’s Justin mission headlines slow week of launches"

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]]> NASA’s IMAP solar observatory mission leads week of launches https://www.astronomy.com/whats-launching-this-week/how-nasas-imap-mission-protects-earth-from-space-radiation/ Mon, 22 Sep 2025 17:00:22 +0000 https://www.astronomy.com/?p=166384// Mission highlight: NASA’s IMAP solar observatory  NASA is scheduled to launch its Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP) mission aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida on Tuesday at 7:32 a.m. EDT. The spacecraft will travel to the L1 Lagrange point — a point ofContinue reading "NASA’s IMAP solar observatory mission leads week of launches"

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]]> Shepard’s science flight leads week of launches https://www.astronomy.com/whats-launching-this-week/shepards-science-flight-leads-week-of-launches/ Mon, 15 Sep 2025 20:38:49 +0000 https://www.astronomy.com/?p=166271// Mission Highlight: New Shepard’s research-packed flight Blue Origin is set to launch its NS-35 New Shepard mission from West Texas on Thursday. The flight is dedicated entirely to science and research, providing several minutes of microgravity for more than 40 payloads. The manifest includes 24 student-led experiments from NASA’s TechRise Student Challenge, covering topics fromContinue reading "Shepard’s science flight leads week of launches"

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]]> SpaceX’s tenth Starship flight test now targeting Monday, August 25, after scrub https://www.astronomy.com/whats-launching-this-week/spacexs-tenth-starship-flight-test-now-targeting-monday-august-25-after-scrub/ Mon, 25 Aug 2025 19:00:04 +0000 https://www.astronomy.com/?p=165790// Mission highlight: A weekend of scrubs for Starship and New Shepard SpaceX was forced to scrub the highly anticipated tenth flight test of its Super Heavy Starship vehicle on Sunday, August 24, due to an undisclosed ground system issue. The call came just 30 minutes before liftoff from the company’s Starbase facility in Texas. TheContinue reading "SpaceX’s tenth Starship flight test now targeting Monday, August 25, after scrub"

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]]> SpaceX’s tenth Starship flight test lifts off Sunday, August 24 https://www.astronomy.com/whats-launching-this-week/spacexs-tenth-starship-flight-test-lifts-off-sunday-august-24/ Mon, 18 Aug 2025 20:59:48 +0000 https://www.astronomy.com/?p=165630// Mission highlight: Starship Flight 10 scheduled for Sunday  With the future of NASA’s Artemis moon missions riding on its success, SpaceX is targeting this Sunday, August 24, for the tenth flight test of its Super Heavy Starship vehicle. Liftoff from the company’s Starbase facility in Texas is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. EDT. This flight isContinue reading "SpaceX’s tenth Starship flight test lifts off Sunday, August 24"

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]]> Historic ULA Vulcan launch slated for Tuesday, August 12 https://www.astronomy.com/whats-launching-this-week/historic-ula-vulcan-launch-slated-for-tuesday-august-12/ Mon, 11 Aug 2025 21:12:43 +0000 https://www.astronomy.com/?p=165558// Mission highlight: USSF-106’s historic flight scheduled for Tuesday In last week’s edition, we mistakenly reported that the USSF-106 mission was scheduled for August 10. On August 5, United Launch Alliance announced the official launch date. The historic flight is now set to lift off on Tuesday, August 12, at 7:59 p.m. EDT from Cape Canaveral’sContinue reading "Historic ULA Vulcan launch slated for Tuesday, August 12"

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