Six launches are scheduled worldwide throughout the subsequent week, with the twelfth flight of SpaceX’s Starship serving because the headline. Exterior of Starship, SpaceX is scheduled to launch three Starlink missions on Falcon 9 from the corporate’s launch services in California and Florida.
Internationally, Avio launched the joint European and Chinese language SMILE mission atop a Vega C early Tuesday morning. Rocket Lab is scheduled to launch an Earth commentary satellite tv for pc atop an Electron for Japanese satellite tv for pc firm Synspective on Friday.
Avio, the contractor liable for the Vega C launch automobile, has taken accountability for Vega C launches from Arianespace. Avio’s first launch as a supplier occurred efficiently on Tuesday, Might 19, at 03:52 UTC from the ELV pad on the Guiana House Centre in Kourou, French Guiana.
The rocket took a northward trajectory appropriate for a extremely elliptical polar orbit, and deployed the Photo voltaic Wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Hyperlink Explorer (SMILE) spacecraft to a 5,000 km by 121,000 km orbit. From that orbit, SMILE will research the interplay of the photo voltaic wind with Earth’s magnetosphere.
Technicians engaged on the SXI instrument for SMILE earlier than its integration. (Credit score: House Park Leicester)
SMILE is a joint collaboration between the European House Company (ESA) and the Chinese language Academy of Sciences (CAS). The two,250 kg spacecraft will use 4 science devices to review the magnetosphere throughout a three-year main mission. These devices are a comfortable X-ray imager, an ultraviolet imager, a light-weight ion analyzer, and a magnetometer.
This flight was not solely the primary launch with Avio because the supplier, but additionally the primary Vega C mission of 2026 and the twenty ninth Vega mission total. The unique Vega and the Vega C have a checkered mission success file, with three failures between them. The unique Vega is retired, and the final 5 Vega C flights, together with VV29, have been profitable.
Falcon 9 | Starlink Group 17-42
The primary Starlink mission in two weeks is scheduled for Tuesday, Might 19, at 7:11 PM PDT (02:11 UTC on Wednesday, Might 20) from House Launch Complicated-4E (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg House Power Base (VSFB) in California. The launch window lasts till 11:11 PM PDT on Might 19 (06:11 UTC on Might 20).
Booster B1103, flying on its second mission, will take a southerly trajectory as is common with Group 17 launches. The booster will land on Of Course I Nonetheless Love You within the Pacific, and the second stage will end the job of inserting 24 Starlink v2 Mini satellites into orbit. The booster began its profession with Starlink Group 17-35 on April 6.
There are actually over 10,000 Starlink satellites in orbit, and the launch cadence of Starlink missions has slowed noticeably in latest weeks. That is as a result of firm being in “replenish” mode fairly than quickly constructing its constellation, in addition to the necessity to deal with the CRS-34 and Starship Flight 12 missions.
Falcon 9’s launch cadence will even gradual barely this yr as the corporate repurposes property, together with the droneship Simply Learn the Directions, to help upcoming Starship operations in Florida. This flight is the 57th Falcon 9 launch of 2026, whereas SpaceX remains to be on monitor to fly near its record-setting 165 launches set final yr.
Ship 39 and Booster 19 on the pad at Starbase forward of Flight 12. (Credit score: Max Evans for NSF)
After seven months on the bottom, the Starship program is about to renew flights with the brand new Block 3 automobile. Flight 12 is at the moment scheduled for Thursday, Might 21, at 5:30 PM CDT (22:30 UTC) from Pad 2 at Starbase, Texas. The launch window lasts till 7:00 PM CDT on Might 21 (00:00 UTC on Friday, Might 22).
Starship will fly to the southeast in a brand new trajectory between the Yucatán Peninsula and Cuba, and can goal a velocity slightly below that wanted to realize a full orbit of Earth, much like the earlier 11 Starship flights. Booster 19, the primary Block 3 Tremendous Heavy, will try a comfortable touchdown within the water off Starbase, whereas Ship 39, the primary Block 3 ship, will go over Africa earlier than ending its flight within the Indian Ocean off Australia.
Flight 12 would be the first launch utilizing the Raptor 3 engine, a closely redesigned growth of the Raptor 2 that has flown earlier Starship missions. This mission will even fly 22 payloads: 20 dummy Starlink satellites and two satellites with operational parts. These satellites will take the identical suborbital trajectory as Ship 39.
After a tough yr in 2025 and with the HLS competitors for a human lunar lander reopened, the Starship program is below strain to proceed advancing towards an operational automobile. Flight 12 is the primary Starship mission of the yr, and the primary from the brand new and redesigned Pad 2.
Falcon 9 | Starlink Group 10-31
The primary Starlink launch from Cape Canaveral House Power Station (CCSFS) in 20 days is about to fly from House Launch Complicated 40 (SLC-40) on Thursday, Might 21, at 5:26 AM EDT (09:26 UTC). The launch window lasts till 9:26 AM EDT (13:26 UTC).
B1077, flying on its twenty eighth mission, will take a northeast trajectory with 29 Starlink v2 Mini satellites on board, and the booster will land on A Shortfall of Gravitas within the Atlantic. The booster started its profession with the Crew-5 mission to the Worldwide House Station and in addition flew GPS III SV06, Inmarsat I-6 F2, CRS-28, Galaxy 37, CRS NG-20, Optus-X, and 20 Starlink missions.
The latest pause in Starlink launches from CCSFS was attributable to the necessity to fly CRS-34 from SLC-40. This flight is the 58th Falcon 9 launch of 2026.
Liftoff of the seventieth Electron flight. (Credit score: Rocket Lab)
Rocket Lab plans to launch a Synspective satellite tv for pc aboard an Electron rocket from its personal launch website on the Mahia Peninsula in New Zealand. The flight is scheduled for Friday, Might 22, at 09:30 UTC from a pad at Launch Complicated-1, with an unknown launch window period.
Electron will launch the StriX-7 satellite tv for pc into low-Earth orbit (LEO). The satellite tv for pc would be the third to fly as a part of Synspective’s block buy of 10 launches from Rocket Lab to fill out a constellation of Earth commentary satellites, and it’s the ninth total mission that Rocket Lab has flown for Synspective.
Like all StriX satellites, StriX-7 is supplied with an artificial aperture radar that may penetrate cloud cowl and consider targets on Earth at evening in addition to throughout the day. This satellite tv for pc will conduct its work from a round LEO at 572 km altitude inclined 44.8 levels to the equator to cowl mid-latitude areas.
Viva La StriX is the ninth Electron launch of 2026 and the 88th Electron launch total. Rocket Lab remains to be engaged on its upcoming Neutron medium-lift launcher, which is scheduled to fly within the fourth quarter of this yr.
Artist’s impression of a Synspective satellite tv for pc in orbit. (Credit score: Synspective)
Falcon 9 | Starlink Group 17-37
SpaceX is at the moment planning to fly the Starlink Group 17-37 mission on Saturday, Might 23, at 7:00 AM PDT (14:00 UTC) from SLC-4E at VSFB. The launch window lasts till 11:00 AM PDT (18:00 UTC).
Booster B1100 will take a southerly trajectory on its sixth flight and can finally land atop Of Course I Nonetheless Love You within the Pacific. The second stage will carry the 24 Starlink v2 Mini satellites into LEO. The booster began its profession with the Starlink Group 11-30 mission, and has additionally flown NROL-105 together with three different Starlink missions, all from VSFB. This flight would be the 59th Falcon 9 launch of 2026.
(Lead picture: Timelapse of exercise at Starbase with Booster 19 and Ship 39 pictured. Credit score: Ceaser G for NSF/L2)
The publish Launch Preview: Falcon 9, Electron, and Vega C launch missions alongside Starship Flight 12 appeared first on NASASpaceFlight.com.