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This Week in Launch: Another week of more SpaceX and Chinese launches

After a few weeks of featuring at least one big name launch that makes writing these articles easy, we’re back to more standard communication satellites. Two launches from SpaceX are on the schedule with a third possible over the weekend. China, not to be left out is also scheduled for a Long March 5 with an unknown payload on top.

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This Week in Launch: Rocket Lab and Virgin Galactic enter the chat

galactic 01, galactic 02, virgin galactic

This week Rocket Lab will reattempt its first launch of 2024 and possibly Virgin Galactic will fly Friday on one of its final missions before it goes quiet. For SpaceX however, this month has been far below its 13 launches a month goal, although this year’s start looks to be stronger than last year’s.

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The first all European spaceflight mission lifts off with Axiom

Thursday afternoon SpaceX launched the Axiom-3 mission out of Kennedy Space Center making it its first human spaceflight mission of the year. Another milestone first was it being the first entirely European crewed mission ever with all four astronauts holding citizenship from a European nation.

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SpaceX launches 5G direct-to-cell connection on Starlink satellites

Late last night, SpaceX launched its first rocket of 2024 out of Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. On top, in addition to the Starlink V2 mini satellites were used to, were six Starlink satellites capable of connecting directly to standard 5G cellphones. These satellites are the first following a partnership with T-Mobile announced back in 2022 to feature the connectivity, and are a major step forward for SpaceX’s satellite internet constellation.

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This Week in Launch: Vandenberg to host first SpaceX launch of the year

Welcome to 2024, a year hopefully of many firsts. India started the year off with a launch just a few hours into New Years Day but here in the Western Hemisphere, SpaceX will kick things off with you guessed it, a Starlink launch.

Also, special guest this week since it’s launching so early Monday morning, ULA plans to debut its Vulcan rocket after years of delays.

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SpaceX rounds out 2023 with 98 total launches

Last night SpaceX rounded out the year with a double header, launching a classified mission on the Falcon Heavy for the US Air Force and Space Force and then about three hours later, 23 Starlink satellites. This completed another record breaking year with 98 total rocket launches from the company and many other milestones.

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SpaceX plans rapid increase in West Coast launch cadence

SpaceX plans to launch about 50 rockets from Vandenberg Space Force Base in 2024 with a chance of 100 launches in the year 2025. This comes to a spaceport that has historically seem launches in the single digits. Now, it could soon see a launch for SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket in the next few years.

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