During an event Tuesday at the Johnson Space Center, NASA revealed the astronauts who had been selected for next year’s Artemis 3 mission, a flight to test rendezvous and docking procedures in low-Earth orbit with moon landers being built by SpaceX and Blue Origin.
The Falcon 9 is launching a day before the company begins publicly trading on the Nasdaq. Liftoff from pad 4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California is scheduled for 8:05:59 a.m. PDT (11:05:59 a.m. EDT / 1505:59 UTC).
The crew of NASA’s next Artemis moon program mission was announced Tuesday, setting the stage for a flight to Earth orbit next year to test rendezvous and docking procedures with moon landers being built by SpaceX and Blue Origin, a critical milestone before sending astronauts back to the moon for landing in 2028.
The mission will be a low Earth orbit rendezvous between the Orion spacecraft and one or both of the Human Landing System landers: Blue Origin’s Blue Moon Mark 2 and SpaceX’s Starship.
The Starlink 10-35 mission will be the 53rd dedicated launch for the satellite constellation. Liftoff from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station is scheduled at 6:13:50 a.m. EDT (1013:50 UTC).
The mission represents a rare public announcement of the launch of SpaceX’s Starshield satellites, a government variant of Starlink satellites. Liftoff from pad 4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base happened at 9:24:45 p.m. PDT on Saturday, June 6 (12:24:45 a.m. EDT / 0424:45 UTC on Sunday, June 7).
The precautions were announced the same day as NASA said Roscosmos cosmonauts are set to perform “a more extensive repair operation”, but without providing details as to what that entails.
The Starlink 17-47 mission saw SpaceX attempt its 200th landing on the drone ship called ‘Of Course I Still Love You.’ Liftoff from pad 4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base happened at 8:40:39 a.m. PDT (11:40:39 a.m. EDT / 1540:39 UTC).
Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp, in an overnight post on the social media platform X, said propellant tanks at launch pad 36 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station made it through the blast in good shape, as did a nearby processing hangar. The main support gantry, while damaged, can be repaired in place.
The Starlink 10-43 mission will fly on a Falcon 9 rocket heading on a north-easterly trajectory. Liftoff from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station is scheduled for Thursday, June 4, at 6:26:30 a.m. EDT (1026:30 UTC).
The Starlink 17-41 mission was SpaceX’s 10th and final launch of May. Liftoff of the Falcon 9 rocket from pad 4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base happened at 8:25 a.m. PDT (11:25 a.m. EDT / 1525 UTC).
The Leo Atlas 07 mission was the second to last flight that Amazon booked on a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket. Liftoff from pad 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station happened at 7:53 p.m. EDT (2353 UTC).