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This week, China will launch a near-Earth asteroid pattern return mission amongst a number of different missions. In the meantime, Rocket Lab has postponed the launch its Electron rocket from New Zealand till June 3 for extra checks and unhealthy climate.
Coming off the launch of Starship’s ninth flight check on Tuesday, SpaceX is scheduled to launch at the very least two Starlink missions. The corporate can also be slated to launch a GPS III satellite tv for pc from Florida for the U.S. House Pressure.
In a late addition to the launch roster this week, Blue Origin introduced that one other crewed flight of the New Shepard suborbital will happen on Saturday.
Falcon 9 | Starlink Group 10-32
The primary Starlink mission of the week, Starlink Group 10-32, launched on Wednesday, Could 28, at 1:30 AM EDT (13:30 UTC) aboard a  SpaceX Falcon 9 from Launch Advanced 39A (LC-39A) at Kennedy House Heart in Florida. The climate forecasts had proven solely a 60% likelihood for favorable climate circumstances at launch, however SpaceX was capable of get the rocket away firstly of a four-hour launch window.
LAUNCH! Starlink Group 10-32 units sail. https://t.co/B7NKPx7kjm pic.twitter.com/IltNAYgr0M
— NSF – NASASpaceflight.com (@NASASpaceflight) Could 28, 2025
The booster supporting this mission was B1080, which landed atop SpaceX’s droneship Simply Learn The Directions downrange within the Atlantic Ocean. The payload of 27 Starlink v2 Mini satellites was positioned into low-Earth orbit (LEO) at an altitude of 279 km in an orbit inclined at 53 levels.
Falcon booster B1080 was flying for the nineteenth time, having beforehand flown the Axiom Mission 2, Euclid, Starlink Group 6-11, Starlink Group 6-24, Axiom Mission 3, CRS-30, Starlink Group 6-52, Starlink Group 6-62, Astra 1P/SES-24, CRS-21, Starlink Group 10-10, Starlink Group 6-69, Starlink Group 12-1, Starlink Group 12-2, Starlink Group 12-4, Starlink Group 10-12, Starlink Group 6-80, and Starlink Group 6-75 missions. It first flew on Could 21, 2023.
Falcon 9 is a 3.9-meter diameter, 70-meter-high excessive two-stage rocket. The primary stage booster is powered by 9 Merlin 1D engines, whereas the second makes use of a single vacuum-optimized Merlin engine. Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy are the primary and solely reusable orbital rockets in service at this time, with one Falcon booster having flown twenty-eight flights. The 2 payload fairings are additionally recovered and reused after flight.
Starlink satellites are deployed through the Starlink Group 12-8 mission. (Credit score: SpaceX)
The Chinese language Aerospace Science and Expertise Company (CASC) launched its Tianwen 2 near-Earth asteroid pattern return mission on Wednesday, Could 28, at 17:31 UTC. The Chang Zheng 3B/E (CZ-3B/E) rocket lifted off from Launch Advanced 2 (LC-2) on the Xichang Satellite tv for pc Launch Heart in China and flew due east to put the payload right into a heliocentric orbit.
The 30-month journey to and from the asteroid 469219 Kamo’oalewa (2016 HO3) will embody the gathering of roughly 1,000 g of samples from the asteroid’s floor — the primary asteroid pattern return mission for China. The spacecraft will landing on the asteroid to permit a drill pattern to be taken, and also will carry out a “touch-and-go” pattern assortment earlier than returning to Earth, just like NASA’s OSIRIS-REx (now OSIRIS-APEX) mission.
The primary spacecraft will then proceed its mission after delivering the samples. A gravity help maneuver at Earth will ship Tianwen 2 to the principle belt energetic asteroid 311P/PANSTARRS, the place the spacecraft will undertake additional investigations.
The CZ-3B/E rocket has three levels and stands at a top of 56.3 m. The Chang Zheng 3 (CZ-3) rocket household has been flying since 2007, with Tianwen 2 serving as its 168th mission and ninth of 2025.
A Chinese language Chang Zheng 4B (CZ-4B) rocket launched on Thursday, Could 29, at 04:12 UTC from Website 9401 (SLS-2) on the Jiuquan Satellite tv for pc Launch Heart in China. The payload on this mission was Shijian 26, an experimental Earth commentary satellite tv for pc.
The CZ-4B flew on a southerly trajectory out of Jiuquan, putting the payload right into a Solar-synchronous Orbit. This mission served as the primary CZ-4B mission of 2025 and the 52nd general.
The Chang Zheng 4B is a 3 stage rocket standing at 46.97 meters in top.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 is scheduled to launch the GPS III SV08 mission on Friday, Could 30, at 1:23 PM EDT (17:23 UTC) firstly of a brief 15-minute launch window. The quick window displays the necessity for a exact orbital insertion for this mission.
This mission was initially assigned to launch aboard a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Vulcan rocket however was later reassigned to Falcon 9. Consequently, the GPS IIIF-1 satellite tv for pc, initially slated to fly atop a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket, will now launch on Vulcan.
Falcon 9 will liftoff from House Launch Advanced 40 (SLC-40) on the Cape Canaveral House Pressure Station in Florida, flying on a northeasterly trajectory and putting the payload right into a medium-Earth orbit. Following launch and stage separation, the primary stage booster will land downrange on the autonomous Simply Learn The Directions droneship.
GPS III is a navy and civil International Positioning System constellation, constructed by a Lockheed Martin-led group and operated by the US House Pressure.
Falcon 9 | Starlink Group 11-18
A second Starlink Group 11 mission, Starlink Group 11-18, will launch on Friday, Could 30, at 1:24 PM PDT (20:24 UTC) from House Launch Advanced 4 East (SLC-4E) on the Vandenberg House Pressure Base in California.
The presently unknown booster will land on SpaceX’s west coast droneship, Of Course I Nonetheless Love You, which will probably be stationed downrange within the Pacific Ocean.
Blue Origin will launch the fourth New Shepard mission of 2025 on Saturday, Could 31, at 9:30 AM EDT (13:30 UTC). The suborbital flight will liftoff from Launch Website One, West Texas, in Texas and fly the six crew members to only above the Kármán Line, the place they are going to take pleasure in a brief interval of microgravity earlier than the capsule descends.
This would be the twelfth crewed flight of New Shepard. The six-person crew consists of Aymette (Amy) Medina Jorge, Dr. Gretchen Inexperienced, Jaime Alemán, Jesse Williams, Mark Rocket, and Paul Jeris.
The New Shepard rocket has two levels. The primary is a reusable booster powered by a single BE-3PM engine utilizing liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen propellants. After ascent, and stage separation, the booster returns to land utilizing the engine to carry out a delicate landing on retractable legs. The second stage is the crew capsule which descends below parachutes and makes use of a retro-propulsion brake to additional soften the touchdown.
Falcon 9 | Starlink Group 12-9
SpaceX will launch one other batch of Starlink satellites on Monday, June 2, at 12:57 AM EDT (04:57 UTC). Falcon 9 will launch from SLC-40 at Cape Canaveral and fly on a southeasterly trajectory.
The identities of the booster and restoration vessels supporting this mission will not be but identified.
(Lead picture: Falcon 9 launches from Florida. Credit score: Julia Bergeron for NSF)
