Polaris Dawn headlines this week’s launches; SpaceX to fly five Falcon 9s

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Another busy week of spaceflight activities contains up to five launches from SpaceX, including the Polaris Dawn mission, whose private crew will conduct an inspiring mission profile. Other SpaceX missions include three Starlink flights and another set of Starshield satellites to low-Earth orbit (LEO) for the National Reconnaissance Office. SpaceX has performed 81 launches of Falcon 9 so far this year.

Other launches include Blue Origin’s eighth crewed New Shepard mission, as well as Galactic Energy flying a Gushenxing-1S from the sea on its fourth mission of this year. 

Falcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink Group 9-5 

Starlink Group 9-5 will deploy 21 more Starlink v2 Mini satellites for SpaceX’s mega constellation supplying internet worldwide, 13 of those equipped with Direct-to-Cell capabilities.

Falcon 9 will launch from SLC-4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base(VSFB) to LEO. The launch profile for this mission takes the satellites on a southeastern trajectory to a 53-degree inclination orbit with a deployment altitude of 284 by 294 km. 

Liftoff is planned to occur at 11:06 PM PDT in a window beginning at 11:04 PM  on Aug. 27 and lasting until 3:04 AM on Aug. 28 (06:04 to 10:04 UTC on Aug. 28). A currently unknown booster will be taking these satellites on their ride to space before landing on droneship Of Course I Still Love You. The deployment of the Starlink satellites in orbit will conclude SpaceX’s 82nd launch of Falcon 9 in 2024.

Falcon 9 Block 5 | Polaris Dawn

The Polaris Dawn mission will take four private astronauts to the stars for what could be one of the most groundbreaking spaceflight missions this year. Heading to orbit on Wednesday, Aug. 28, Commander Jared Issacman, Pilot Scott Poteet, and Mission Specialists Sarah Gillis and Anna Menon will be spending up to five days in a Crew Dragon spacecraft as they reach higher than any human has gone in space since Apollo. The launch window opens at 3:38 AM EDT (07:38 UTC).

In orbit, the Polaris Dawn crew will conduct multiple research activities including but not limited to human health during long-duration spaceflight, Starlink laser communication between spacecraft, and the performance of SpaceX’s brand new EVA suit during an EVA where Crew Dragon will have to be completely open to the vacuum of space. 

READ MORE:

SpaceX ready to launch historic Polaris Dawn mission

Gushenxing-1S | Unknown Payload

A Gushenxing-1S (also known as Ceres 1S) rocket is preparing to launch from the sea at 5:20 UTC on Aug. 29 from the Haiyang Spaceport in China’s eastern province of Shandong. The vehicle will lift off from the converted launch barge Dong Fang Hang Tian Gang. The payload is currently unknown but may be revealed closer to the launch date. When it does launch this will be Gushenxing-1S’s 4th mission of 2024 and 15th mission of all time. 

Falcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink Group 8-6

Launching out of SLC-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station(CCSFS) Falcon 9 will prepare to head to an inclined orbit of 53 degrees and take a batch of Starlink v2 Mini satellites on a northeastern trajectory. Liftoff is expected to occur on Thursday, Aug. 29, in a launch window beginning at 1:26 AM EDT and lasting until 5:26 AM (05:26 to 09:26 UTC)

Falcon 9 launches from LC-39A on Aug. 20 carrying 22 Starlink satellites (Credit: SpaceX)

Booster B1062 will be flying for the 23rd time after launching missions like Inspiration4, Ax-1, and many Starlink missions. Once the second stage is in space, B1062 will return to one of SpaceX’s autonomous drone ships, likely Just Read The Instructions.

New Shepard | NS-26

Blue Origin is preparing to launch six more people into suborbital space with New Shepard on Aug. 29 at 8:00 AM CDT (13:00 UTC). Taking off from Launch Site One in West Texas, booster NS4 will conduct its 11th flight. After separation from the crew capsule, the booster will return and land at the North Landing Pad followed by the crew capsule touching down in the desert. 

Six crew members are flying on this launch. Nicolina Elrick, Rob Ferl, Eugene Grin, Dr. Eiman Jahangir, Karsen Kitchen, and Ephraim Rabin will all get their chance to experience space. A few notable achievements are happening on this flight. Karsen Kitchen will become the youngest woman to cross the Kármán line, and Rob Ferl is to be the first NASA-funded researcher to experiment on a suborbital spacecraft. 

This will be Blue Origin’s eighth mission with crew on New Shepard. The previous flight, NS-25, had a dis-reefing failure where one of the parachutes did not deploy exactly as expected. Blue Origin issued a statement saying that the root cause had been identified and corrective actions had been taken to make the vehicle safer. 

Falcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink Group 8-10

Another Starlink mission is set to fly on the final day of August at 1:39 AM EST (05:39 UTC). Starlink Group 8-10 will launch from SLC-40 at CCSFS on an unknown booster at a currently unspecified time. 

This mission has 21 Starlink v2 Mini satellites on board with 13 having Direct-to-Cell capabilities. Falcon 9 will launch to a 53-degree inclination orbit on a northeastern trajectory. 

Falcon 9 launches from LC-4E on Aug. 16 for the Transporter 11 mission (Credit: SpaceX)

Falcon 9 Block 5 | NROL-113

To end the week, SpaceX will launch satellites for the National Reconnaissance Office from SLC-4E at VSFB with a southeastern trajectory. Scheduled for late August, this will be a dedicated Starshield launch expected to put 21 satellites into an inclined orbit of 70 degrees.

An unknown booster will be launching this mission. This booster will return and land on the droneship Of Course I Still Love You while the Starshield satellites are put into orbit by the second stage. 

Not much information has been disclosed about the capabilities of Starshield satellites due to involvement in the United States government’s national defense. The satellites on this flight are believed to have imaging payloads built by Northrop Grumman.

Lead image: Jared Issacman pressing the ‘space’ button heading up the LC-39A elevator to Crew Dragon (Credit: Jared Issacman / SpaceX)

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