Launch Roundup: Falcon 9 to launch five times, Blue Origin to launch crew

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SpaceX is set to dominate the launch manifest for the first whole week of October with five Falcon 9 missions. All five of these missions will launch satellites into internet constellations, with four launching into SpaceX’s Starlink constellation and the fifth launching into Amazon’s Project Kuiper constellation.

Meanwhile, China will launch another unknown payload atop its Chang Zheng 8A rocket. Blue Origin also looks to join the launch schedule by launching six people to suborbital space on its New Shepard vehicle.

Falcon 9 | Starlink Group 10-59

To start the week off, SpaceX is launching its first of four Starlink missions at 12:10 AM EDT (4:10 UTC) on Tuesday, Oct. 7. Starlink Group 10-59 will lift off from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCSFS) in Florida. The 28 Starlink v2 Mini satellites will fly on a northeast trajectory to an orbit inclined 53.16 degrees. Then, just over an hour into the flight, the satellites will be deployed into low-Earth orbit (LEO).

Booster 1090 will launch on its eighth flight following a 44-day refurbishment period. This booster has already completed multiple Starlink missions, as well as the Crew-10, CRS SpX-33, Bandwagon-3, O3b mPower 7 & 8, and O3b mPower 9 & 10 missions. Shortly after launch, B1090 will attempt to land on SpaceX’s autonomous droneship, A Shortfall of Gravitas, which will be stationed in the Atlantic Ocean. 

Falcon 9 | Starlink Group 11-17

The next batch of Starlink satellites headed to low-Earth orbit will launch on the Starlink Group 11-17 mission. Falcon 9 is scheduled to launch from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) at the Vandenberg Space Force Base (VSFB) in California on Tuesday, Oct. 7, at 6:00 PM PDT (Oct. 8 at 1:00 UTC).

Falcon 9 is expected to carry 28 Starlink v2 Mini satellites into LEO. A currently unknown booster will launch and attempt to land on SpaceX’s west coast droneship, Of Course I Still Love You, in the Pacific Ocean.

New Shepard | NS-36

Blue Origin is set to launch another six-person crew to suborbital space on New Shepard’s 36th mission. NS-36 is expected to launch on Wednesday, Oct. 8, at 8:00 AM CDT (13:00 UTC), carrying Jeff Elgin, Danna Karagussova, Dr. Clint Kelly III, Aaron Newman, Vitalii Ostrovsky, and an undisclosed sixth crew member. This flight will mark New Shepard’s 15th crewed mission. 

Lifting off from Launch Site One in West Texas, New Shepard will perform a brief 10-12 minute suborbital hop above the Kármán line. The booster, which remains unknown at this time, will attempt a propulsive landing at the North Landing Pad, while the crew capsule, also currently unknown, will land under parachutes in the Texas Desert. This marks New Shepard’s eighth mission this year, doubling the total flights carried out in 2024.

Falcon 9 | Project Kuiper (KF-03)

Falcon 9 is set to launch more internet satellites on Wednesday, but this time for Amazon’s Project Kuiper constellation. The KF-03 mission is scheduled to launch on Oct. 9 at 9:34 PM EDT (Oct. 10 at 1:34 UTC), and will see 24 communication satellites launch northeast into LEO atop Falcon 9.

To date, five Kuiper missions have been launched, with three using Atlas V and two using Falcon 9. Two additional Kuiper launches are scheduled for later this year, on the Atlas V and Vulcan. So far, 129 Kuiper satellites have been placed into LEO, with 3,236 satellites expected to be deployed across the entire constellation. 

Launching from SLC-40 at CCSFS in Florida, booster B1091 will make its second flight after a 60-day turnaround. Shortly after launch, the booster will separate from the upper stage and attempt a landing on SpaceX’s Just Read the Instructions droneship. The second stage will continue into LEO and deploy the Project Kuiper satellites approximately one hour into the flight. 

Chang Zheng 8A | Unknown Payload

On Friday, Oct. 10, CASC is expected to launch the fifth Chang Zheng 8A (CZ-8A) of the year from Commercial LC-1 at the Wenchang Space Launch Site in China. Launching on a southeastern trajectory out of Wenchang, this mission was postponed from Oct. 5 due to Typhoon Matmo.

Many details about this mission are currently unknown, but more information will be available after liftoff. The launch window opens at 3:11 UTC and closes at 3:37 UTC, with launch scheduled for 3:19 UTC.

This mission will mark the eighth overall flight of the Chang Zheng 8 rocket family, which launched for the first time in December 2020.

Falcon 9 | Starlink Group 10-52

Starlink Group 10-52 is scheduled to launch on Oct. 12 at 4:11 AM EDT (8:11 UTC) from SLC-40 at CCSFS. Falcon 9 will carry 28 Starlink v2 Mini satellites on a northeast trajectory to the constellation’s Group 10 shell in LEO. The booster and droneship supporting this mission are currently unknown.

Falcon 9 | Starlink Group 11-19

The final Starlink mission for this week, Starlink Group 11-19, is scheduled to launch on Sunday, Oct. 12, at 12:59 PM PDT (19:59 UTC) from SLC-4E at the VSFB in California. Falcon 9 is expected to carry 28 Starlink v2 Mini satellites on a southeastern trajectory to the constellation’s Group 11 shell.

The booster supporting this mission is currently unknown. Following launch, the booster will land on SpaceX’s Of Course I Still Love You droneship, which will be stationed downrange in the Pacific Ocean.

This mission will mark Falcon 9’s 130th mission of 2025 and 548th overall.

(Lead image: Falcon 9 launching from Florida. Credit: Julia Bergeron for NSF)

The post Launch Roundup: Falcon 9 to launch five times, Blue Origin to launch crew appeared first on NASASpaceFlight.com.



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