Mission 2, formally dubbed ‘SMBC x Hakuto-R Venture Moon,’ was a follow up to ispace’s 2023 failed landing attempt. Touchdown was anticipated on June 5 at 3:17 p.m. EDT / 1917 UTC (4:17 a.m. JST on June 6).
The Starlink 11-22 mission was SpaceX’s 50th Starlink launch of the year. Liftoff from pad 4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base occurred at 4:40 p.m. PDT (7:40 p.m. EDT, 2340 UTC).
The mission will be Rocket Lab’s seventh Electron rocket launch of the year and its second in 2025 in support of BlackSky. Teams are targeting liftoff from Mahia, New Zealand at 11:57 a.m. NZT on June 3 (7:57 p.m. EDT, 2357 UTC on June 2).
The mission opportunity came as solar activity triggered an alert from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for a severe geomagnetic storm alert, which could impact the Starlink satellites. The launch teams are now targeting Tuesday, June 3 at 12:29 a.m. EDT (0429 UTC).