Seven launches are scheduled for the week of August 21 to August 27, marking the 129th and 135th orbital launch attempts of 2023, following several launch delays.
Space Launch Complex (SLC) 4 East and SLC-40 will launch two consecutive Starlink missions during the week. Russia will then launch its Progress resupply mission, followed by Rocket Lab’s launch of “We Love the Nightlife.” SpaceX will carry out three Mission Control Missions starting from LC-39A with a Crew-7 mission.
Falcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink Group 7-1
The Starlink mission was launched by SpaceX on Tuesday, Aug. 22, at 02:37 AM PDT (09:36 UTC), marking the start of a new week. However, Hurricane Hilary’s development in the northeast Pacific Ocean has caused ten days of delay, with recovery efforts being hindered for several days.
Falcon 9 launched from SLC-4E at the VSFB on September 17th, carrying 21 Starlink v2 Mini satellites into a 286 by 296-kilometer orbit at 53.05 degrees, which is the first launch of Group 7.
B1061-15, the booster that has aided in two crewed missions, SXM-8, CRS-23, IXPE, two transporter missions (Globalstar FM15), EROS-C3, and five Starlink missions is now operational. The booster touched down on SpaceX’s autonomous spaceport drone ship (ASDS) Of Course I Still Love You, which was pulled by Scorpius over 600 kilometers downstream. As with Bob and Doug, GO Beyond will provide ASDS support and retrieve both fairing from the pacifying device recovery.
SpaceX completed its 49th launch from SLC-4E, 58th Launch of 2023, 218th landing, 14th consecutive landing (2014-15-16), 189th re-flight of a booster, and 248th Falcon 9 launch during this mission.
Starlink Group 6-11 | Falcon 9 Block 5
SpaceX has returned from a one-day delay with the second Starlink launch of the week, which will bring another 22 StarLink v2 Mini satellites to low-Earth orbit on the StarLINK Group 6-11 mission. The launch will launch from SLC-40 at the CCSFS, and the total number of Star link satellite launched is now 5,005, with 4,660 of them in active or non-active orbits (including 7,500, 6,596) in their original state.
The 250th Falcon 9 mission is scheduled to take off on Tuesday, Aug. 22, at 8:47 PM EDT (or 00:07 UTC), and will be accomplished by SpaceX’s spacecraft AMOS-6 booster launcher.
The first orbit is currently unknown, but it is projected to be around 300 kilometers in a circular orbit at varying angles of 43.00 degrees. The satellites will then travel up to the Group 6 orbit, which is characterized by 530 kilometers on the Earth’s surface.
Progress MS-24 | Soyuz 2.1a
The Soyuz 2.1a rocket will transport cargo and supplies to the International Space Station (ISS) on its way from Site 31/6 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Progress MS-24 will launch on Aug. 23, 2023, 01:08 UTC, and will eventually dock with the Station on August 25 at 03:49 UTN after taking off.
The spacecraft 85P, which is the 24th Progress-M space craft, weighs 7.3 tonnes and can transport up to 2.5 tonnes of cargo, including propellant, water, food, and equipment. It will be stationed at the Station for approximately six months, during which it will offer assistance in various areas such as attitude control, orbit correction, or refueling.
Once the spacecraft is back on Earth, it will undock from the ISS and perform a de-orbit burn. The Progress space craft does not have ice and will burn up in the atmosphere, unlike Soyuz and Dragon.
Electron is the type of music that we love for the Nightlife scene.
The Electron, which was scheduled to launch on Aug. 23, at 23:30 UTC, is part of Capella Space’s Acadia satellite constellation, after signing a contract with Rocket Lab in February this year. It had been cancelled due to low igniter pressure in its engine during an abortive launch attempt on July 30, and has since been delayed by several launch delays.
Due to out-of-family sensor data, we have rescheduled our launch attempt and will be reviewing the team before returning to the pad. Stay tuned for more information!
Capella Space has designed, manufactured, and operated Electron, the first of four rocket launches for the Acadia synthetic aperture radar (SAR) constellation. The mission will place one satellite in a circular mid-inclination orbit, covering 640 kilometers.
Falcon 9 Block 5 and SpaceX Crew-7 are both spacecraft, with the former being more advanced.
The first of three Crew-7 extension missions, launched by SpaceX after it completed its original Commercial Crew Transportation Capabilities contract, will begin on August 25th at 3:49 AM EDT (07:50 UTC) and will last for approximately one day before docking with the ISS on July 26th.
Crew Dragon C210-3 Endurance will have four space agencies, including Jasmin Moghbeli of NASA, pilot Andreas Mogensen of ESA, Satoshi Furukawa of JAXA, and Konstantin Borisov of Roscosmos, on board.
The crew will be joining the Expedition 69/70 crew on the ISS to conduct experiments and perform maintenance tasks. They will remain on Station for approximately 190 days until early 2024 when the Crew-8 crew arrives at the station. After that, they will return to Earth in Endurance and be recovered by Shannon or Megan.
In preparation for their third mission to the @space_station, Crew-7’s Dragon flew into Pad 39A in Florida. The astronauts have completed their first week of training in California with SpaceX (@SpaceX) on August 17, 2023.
The newest booster in SpaceX’s fleet, B1081-1, will perform three burns during its ascent, starting with the center E9 engine and engines outer E1 and E5 that ignited for a boost backburn. The center engine then ignite again for another reentry burn and landing on Spacex’S Landing Zone 1. This mission is the first to return to launch site on eUAses, the 220th booster landing since it launched from Houston, Texas last October; the same booster also performed soft braking process followed by two consecutive days after this summer.
H-IIA 202 | SLIM & XRISM
JAXA’s first mission of 2023 will be launched on Aug. 26, using the H-IIA 202 rocket to investigate the moon and conduct X-ray imaging and spectroscopy with high resolution, marking its launch from LA-Y1 at the Tanegashima Space Center in Japan.
The SLIM mission is Japan’s inaugural expedition to the moon, and it will present details on how to land with precision on the surface. It will use data from JAXA’S SELENE lunar orbiter to navigate down to targets within 100 meters. The spacecraft will explore the lunar surface near the Marius Hills Hole, a potential entrance to lava tube, before entering H-IIA to perform periscope imaging and enter the Moon into valence.
The mission XRISM, which is a joint NASA and ESA mission, aims to explore the structure of the universe, outflows of galaxy nuclei, and dark matter. Resolve, an easy-to-use soft x-ray spectrometer with an accuracy of 5-7 eV (within the arc distance of range from.3–12 keV), while extendix, our second instrument, functions as ‘a sift xiaonizor using four CCD detectors and an axevib
Low-Earth orbit will be the mode of operation for the satellite.
The Crew Dragon Endurance is featured in the lead image before the Crew-7 mission, which was developed by SpaceX.