Launch Schedule

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch another batch of 27 optimized Starlink V2 Mini satellites to low Earth orbit. The first-stage booster, tail number B1092, making its fifth flight, is scheduled to land on the droneship, ‘A Shortfall of Gravitas,’ in the Atlantic Ocean a little more than eight minutes after liftoff.

Updated: June 27

A Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Co., Ltd. H-2A rocket will launch the Global Observing SATellite for Greenhouse gases and Water cycle (GOSAT-GW), a Japanese Earth-observing satellite. The roughly 2,900 kg (6,393 lbs) satellite will operate in a Sun-synchronous orbit at an altitude of 666 km (414 mi). This spacecraft comes from a partnership between the Japanese Ministry of Environment (MOE), National Institute for Environmental Studies (NIES) and the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). The two primary instruments are the Total Anthropogenic and Natural emissions mapping SpectrOmeter-3 (TANSO-3) and the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer 3 (AMSR3). This will be the 50th and final launch of a H-2A rocket.

Updated: June 26

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch another batch of optimized Starlink V2 Mini satellites into low Earth orbit. A little more than eight minutes after liftoff, the first stage booster will target a landing on the droneship, ‘Of Course I Still Love You,’ positioned in the Pacific Ocean.

Updated: June 27

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch the Meteosat Third Generation – Sounder 1 (MTG-S1) spacecraft to geostationary Earth orbit on behalf of the European Organization for the Exploration of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT). In addition to its Infrared Sounder instrument, the spacecraft also hosts the European Union’s Copernicus Sentinel-4 mission. The MTG-S1 is designed to observe the full lifecycle of convective storms from space and create more accurate forecasts. The spacecraft was originally manifested as the payload for the third flight of an Ariane 6 rocket, but was shifted to a Falcon 9 in June 2024.

Updated: June 26

Gilmour Space in Australia is preparing to launch the inaugural flight of its Eris Block 1 rocket. The three-stage launch vehicle is 25 m (82 ft) tall and is equipped with 1.5 m (4.9 ft) diameter payload fairings. The rocket is designed to send up to 305 kg up to low Earth orbit. This first mission, called “TestFlight1,” does not appear to have a payload on board. Delayed from May 4, 2024, due to a lack of launch permit. Delayed from May 14/15 due to a ground support system issue. Delayed from May 15/16 due to unintended triggering of the payload fairing deployment at the pad. Delayed from July 1

Updated: June 26

A Rocket Lab Electron rocket will launch a satellite for an undisclosed customer into a 650 km circular orbit. This is set to be the first of two such launches in 2025 for this customer. Delayed from June 20 due to strong upper level winds. Delayed from June 24 “to allow time for additional checkouts.”

Updated: June 26

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch NASA’s TRACERS (Tandem Reconnection and Cusp Electrodynamics Reconnaissance Satellites) as the primary payload on a rideshare mission secured through the agency’s VADR (Venture-Class Acquisition of Dedicated and Rideshare) launch services contract, providing new opportunities for science and technology payloads. The two TRACERS satellites are designed to study the interaction of the Sun’s solar particles interact with the Earth’s magnetic field to better understand the impacts of solar activity on Earth. The mission is conducted through a partnership between NASA; the University of Iowa; the Southwest Research Institute; the University of New Hampshire; the Space Sciences Laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley; and the University of California, Los Angeles. The secondary payload(s) have not been announced for this mission as of May 15.

Updated: May 15

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch the second of the two-satellite Sentinel-6 series. NASA awarded SpaceX a $94 million firm fixed price contract for the launch in 2022. The Sentinel-6B “will use a radar altimeter to bounce signals off the ocean surface and deliver continuity of ocean topography measurements,” according to NASA. The missions is designed through a partnership between NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA), and the European Organization for the Exploration of Meteorological Studies.

Updated: February 27

A United Launch Alliance Vulcan Centaur rocket will launch on its second demonstration flight with Sierra Space’s Dream Chaser cargo vehicle for the International Space Station. The Dream Chaser is a lifting body resupply spacecraft that will launch on top of a rocket and land on a runway. This will be the Dream Chaser’s first flight to space. The Vulcan Centaur rocket will fly in the VC4L configuration with four GEM-63XL solid rocket boosters, a long-length payload fairing, and two RL10 engines on the Centaur upper stage. Delayed from August 2022, December 2023, January 2024,  April 2024 and September 2024.

Updated: May 05

A Blue Origin New Glenn rocket will launch a pair of identical spacecraft on NASA’s Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers (EscaPADE) mission. The two satellites, named Blue and Gold, will make a roughly 11-month journey to Mars where they will then perform about an 11-month science mission while orbiting the Red Planet. Blue and Gold were manufactured by Rocket Lab over about 3.5 years and carry science experiments from the University of California, Berkeley. This launch of the New Glenn rocket will also feature a landing attempt on its landing barge in the Atlantic Ocean. Delayed from October 13.

Updated: April 26

A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket will launch NASA’s Dragonfly mission, which consists of a rotorcraft designed by the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) that will explore Saturn’s icy moon, Titan. The mission was originally selected in 2019 and went through multiple plan iterations across fiscal years 2020 through 2022. It passed its Preliminary Design Review in March 2023 and then its Critical Design Review in April 2025. The mission has a total lifecycle cost of $3.35 billion, of which, $256.6 million was awarded to SpaceX to provide launch services and other mission related costs. The 20-day launch window opens on July 5, 2028.

Updated: April 25