Launch

One mission concluded, one moved into its next phase, and another is getting ready to launch. Here’s a brief recap of the last few days’ worth of human spaceflight stories.

This week the FAA announced new fines against SpaceX for violating its launch license during Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launches back in 2023. However, the company states that the FAA was a part of the decision-making for moving forward with one of the violations, and allowed it to continue with its launch.

Early this morning, the Polaris Dawn mission reached 1,400 km above Earth’s surface. This marks the highest spaceflight since the Apollo missions and beats the records set during NASA’s Gemini program in the 1960s.

This week we’re discussing Polaris Dawn’s return to the launch pad, with a hopeful launch this time, and Blue Origin’s delay in its ESCAPADE mission. But for now, eyes are on Polaris Dawn as it attempts to launch and fight off poor weather forecasts on its historic mission.

UPDATE: The FAA has cleared SpaceX to resume Falcon 9 launches while the mishap investigation continues.

For the second time this year, SpaceX‘s workhorse rocket, and the most launched rocket in the world, is grounded after the booster failed to successfully land on its drone ship out in the ocean. This triggered a mishap investigation by the FAA, which means SpaceX won’t be able to launch again until it can show it won’t cause any risk to public safety.

Rocket Lab, under the leadership of its founder and CEO Peter Beck, continues to expand its influence and capabilities in the global space industry. Known for its Electron rocket, a leading small satellite launch vehicle, the company is now venturing into more ambitious territories with the development of the Neutron rocket and the upcoming Venus Life Finder mission. 

This week, SpaceX is set to launch the first mission of the Polaris Program, named “Polaris Dawn,” marking a significant milestone in the evolution of human space exploration. This Crew Dragon mission, funded by billionaire Jared Isaacman, who previously commanded the private all-civilian Inspiration4 mission, is designed to push the boundaries of what is possible in space. The Polaris Program is a series of human spaceflight missions focused on advancing technology, conducting cutting-edge scientific research, and preparing for future deep space missions. 

On Monday, the four members of the Polaris Dawn crew arrived at the Shuttle Landing Facility at Kennedy Space Center ahead of its launch next week. The crew will finish up their training at SpaceX’s facilities at the cape as they prepare to push what is possible by commercial spaceflight.

This week will be another week of Starlink launches from SpaceX after a short break from the company to launch some missions commercially, how nice of them. With that, according to the current launch manifest, two Starlink missions are scheduled to lift off from the same launch pad in less than three days.

This week SpaceX is looking at launching three Falcon 9 rockets, two of those will be for the company’s Starlink constellation. Another payload is a multi-payload satellite that will host missions for the Space Force, Norwegian’s Ministry of Defense, and ViaSat.

Rocket Factory Augsburg is gearing up for its first orbital launch attempt of its RFA One rocket. Its spaceport, a set of Islands north of mainland Scotland, is also ready for the company’s launch, the first from the UK’s soil.

ULA launched an Atlas V rocket early this morning carrying a classified payload. This was the Atlas V’s final national security payload, with the remaining NSSL missions being carried out by the company’s new Vulcan rocket.

This week we have a total of four launches on the schedule as of right now. Two of the missions are coming from SpaceX with the remaining two coming from Rocket Lab and ULA. The highlight for the week will be the Atlas V launch, as it will be ULA’s final Atlas launch for national security missions.

After Thursday’s green light from the FAA to resume launches, SpaceX took no time to try to catch up on the last few week’s lack of Starlink missions. Using all three of its Falcon 9 launch sites, the company launched a total of 67 Starlink satellites into orbit.

SpaceX has been cleared by the FAA to resume flight operations for its Falcon 9 rocket, even though the company’s investigation hasn’t yet been fully closed. SpaceX released a statement detailing what caused the failure of its second stage earlier this month and a short term fix ahead of Saturday’s early morning Starlink launch.

Blue Origin announced Wednesday its crew for the NS-26 missions. On board will be several high achieving and and lucky individuals that will get the chance to fly and feel weightlessness above the Karman Line. One of the crew members, a daughter of a previous participant, will become the youngest woman to reach 100 km.

Next month SpaceX is planning to launch the next crew of four astronauts to the International Space Station under NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. In case you forgot, here’s a quick recap of who’s going to be on top of that Falcon 9 rocket come liftoff.

We only have two known launches this week and both will be coming from SpaceX within a couple hours of each other. However, there is no word from the FAA if the agency has green-lit the company to return to flight.

In contrast to weeks past, we only have a single mission scheduled to launch this week, an Electron from New Zealand. Due to SpaceX’s anomaly mid-flight last week, its Falcon 9 rocket has been grounded until an investigation is completed.

On Tuesday Arianespace and ESA lifted off the long awaited Ariane 6 rocket from its launch site in French Guiana. Delivering several test satellites for multiple customers, the rocket proved it was capable of getting to orbit, however its second stage suffered an anomaly on a highly requested upgrade.

Today ESA is preparing to launch its first Ariane 6 rocket from French Guiana in South America. The continent has been waiting a long time for this moment after several delays to various parts of the rocket.