This week’s launch manifest will feature nine missions launching on seven different rockets, including the second launch of Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket.
In addition to three Falcon 9 missions from SpaceX, an Ariane 62, New Glenn, Atlas V, Chang Zheng 7A, Kinetica-1, and Electron are all scheduled to launch, with flights from China, French Guiana, New Zealand, and several launch sites in the United States.
On Monday, Nov. 3, at 03:47 UTC, a Chang Zheng 7A (CZ-7A) flew the first launch of this busy week. The CZ-7A lifted off from Launch Complex 201 at Wenchang Space Launch Site in China.
The rocket flew on an easterly trajectory, lifting its payload to a geostationary transfer orbit. The 58 m tall, three-stage CZ-7A features four strap-on liquid-fuelled boosters and a 2.5 m high, 4.2 m diameter fairing. The payload was a Chinese Earth observation satellite, Yaogan 46.
This mission marked the fifth flight of a CZ-7 in 2025, and the 255th orbital launch attempt of the year worldwide.
Ariane 62 launches on its first flight on July 9, 2024. (Credit: ESA)
The fourth flight of an Ariane 62 is scheduled for Tuesday, Nov. 4, at 21:03 UTC from Ensemble de Lancement Ariane 4 (ELA-4) at Guiana Space Center, French Guiana.
The two-stage Ariane 6 rocket, assisted by two strap-on solid rocket boosters, will fly on a northern trajectory to place the 2,184 kg Sentinel-1D payload into a Sun-synchronous orbit (SSO).
Sentinel-1D will join its sibling, Sentinel-1C, in orbit. When fully commissioned, it will replace Sentinel-1A, which has been operating in orbit for 11 years — well beyond its planned mission lifetime.
Sentinel-1D and Sentinel-1C will generate data and imaging using a C-band synthetic aperture radar (SAR) instrument, which captures high-resolution imagery of Earth’s surface. The satellites are also equipped with an Automatic Identification System (AIS) instrument to improve the detection and tracking of marine vessels.
Electron | QPS-SAR-14 The Nation God Navigates
Rocket Lab’s Electron will make its 16th flight of 2025 on Wednesday, Nov. 5, at 19:45 UTC. Launching from Rocket Lab’s Launch Complex 1B (LC-1B) on the Māhia Peninsula in New Zealand, Electron will fly on a southeasterly trajectory, lofting the 100 kg QPS-SAR satellite into a low-Earth orbit (LEO). The mission will deploy QPS-SAR-14, nicknamed YACHIHOKO-I for the Japanese god of nation-building, to a 575 km circular LEO. This will be the sixth QPS-SAR satellite launched by Electron for the Japanese company iQPS.
iQPS’s satellites are small, high-performance SAR satellites that use a lightweight, large, stowable antenna to collect high-resolution images of Earth through clouds and adverse weather conditions. Ultimately, the iQPS constellation is planned to have 36 satellites capable of monitoring specific fixed points on Earth every 10 minutes. The QPS-SAR satellite will use a Rocket Lab Motorized Lightband as its separation system for deployment to space.
Electron is a two-stage rocket with an optional kick stage. The first stage features nine Rutherford sea-level engines, each producing 21 kN of thrust at liftoff and peaking at 25 kN (5,600 lbf) in flight. The second stage utilizes a Rutherford vacuum engine that produces 25.8 kN (5,800 lbf) of thrust. Both variants of Rutherford are powered by electric pumps instead of traditional gas turbines. The kick stage employs an unspecified bi-propellant Curie engine. Both the Rutherford and Curie engines are largely 3D-printed, and the two main stages are constructed of carbon composite.
Falcon 9 | Starlink Group 6-81
The first SpaceX Falcon 9 of the week will fly on Wednesday, Nov. 5, at 6:08 PM EST (23:08 UTC), lifting 29 v2 Mini Starlink satellites for the Starlink Group 6-81 mission into LEO. Falcon 9 will launch from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCSFS) in Florida, and fly on a southeasterly trajectory.
Booster B1094 will be flying for the fifth time, having previously flown the Starlink Group 12-10, Axiom Mission 4, Crew-11, and CRS NG-23 missions. Following stage separation, the booster will land atop the autonomous droneship Just Read The Instructions, which will be stationed approximately 640 km downrange in the Atlantic Ocean. The booster will then be returned to Port Canaveral for reuse.
Falcon 9 is a 3.9 m diameter, 70 m tall two-stage rocket. Nine Merlin 1D engines power the first stage booster, while the second stage utilizes a single vacuum-optimized Merlin engine. Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy are the first reusable orbital rockets, with one Falcon booster having flown 30 flights. The two payload fairings are also recovered and reused after flight.
United Launch Alliance (ULA) is set to launch an Atlas V on Wednesday, Nov. 5, at 10:24 PM EST (Thursday, Nov. 6, at 03:24 UTC), carrying a communications satellite for ViaSat. Atlas V will fly due east from Space Launch Complex 41 (SLC-41) at the CCSFS in Florida.
Lofting a 6,400 kg payload into geostationary Earth orbit requires the most powerful configuration of the Atlas V: the 551. The Atlas V 551 utilizes five strap-on solid rocket motors in addition to the two core stages. Unlike the Falcon 9, the Atlas V is not reusable; its solid rocket motors and first stage will fall back into the Atlantic and be destroyed after use during ascent.
The payload, ViaSat-3 F2, was built by Boeing. The ViaSat-3 constellation is comprised of three Ka-band satellites, each designed to rapidly shift capacity throughout its coverage area, delivering bandwidth where and when it’s needed most.
Falcon 9 | Starlink Group 11-14
The second Starlink mission of this week is scheduled to launch on Thursday, Nov. 6, at 12:56 PM PST (20:56 UTC) from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) at the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.
Falcon booster B1093 will lift 28 Starlink v2 Mini satellites into LEO after flying on a southeasterly trajectory. Following its ascent, the booster will land on SpaceX’s west coast droneship Of Course I Still Love You.
Booster B1093 will be flying for the eighth time, having previously flown five Starlink missions and the Tranche 1 Transport Layer B and Tranche 1 Transport Layer C missions. B1083 first flew on April 7, 2025.
A Chinese Kinetica 1 rocket is scheduled for liftoff on Friday, Nov. 7, at 03:30 UTC. The four-stage, all-solid-propellant launch vehicle will fly due south out of Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center’s Site 130.
The payload flying on this mission is currently unknown.
Love seeing New Glenn's seven BE-4 engines come alive! Congratulations to Team Blue on today's hotfire. We extended the hotfire duration this time to simulate the landing burn sequence by shutting down the non-gimballed engines after ramping down to 50 percent thrust, then… pic.twitter.com/iu0y6yYAnG
— Dave Limp (@davill) October 31, 2025
Following the successful completion of its stage one static fire test last week, the long-anticipated second flight of Blue Origin’s reusable New Glenn rocket is scheduled for Friday, Nov. 7th, at 2:51 PM EST (19:51 UTC). Launching from Launch Complex 36 (LC-36) at THE CCSFS in Florida, booster GS1-SN002 will lift NASA’s Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers (ESCAPADE) dual-spacecraft mission into a heliocentric orbit. The combined payload mass is 1,070 kg.
Following ascent and stage-separation, GS1-SN002 will attempt to land atop Blue Origin’s recovery vessel Jacklyn. New Glenn’s first mission failed the landing attempt after controllers lost telemetry sometime after the entry burn started. Blue Origin later confirmed that the booster missed Jacklyn and was lost.
The two Rocket Lab-built ESCAPADE spacecraft will study ion and sputtered escape from Mars using three instruments. The science goals of the mission are to understand the processes controlling the structure of Mars’ hybrid magnetosphere and how it guides ion flows; understand how energy and momentum are transported from the solar wind through Mars’ magnetosphere; and understand the processes controlling the flow of energy and matter into and out of the collisional atmosphere. ESCAPADE is part of the NASA Small Innovative Missions for Planetary Exploration (SIMPLEx) program.
New Glenn will also host technology demonstrating Viasat’s InRange launch telemetry relay service as part of NASA’s Communications Services Project (CSP).
Falcon 9 | Starlink Group 10-51
The final Starlink mission of the week, Starlink Group 10-51, is scheduled to launch on Saturday, Nov. 8, at 3:30 AM EST (08:30 UTC) from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Falcon booster B1069 will be flying its 28th mission, having previously flown the Hotbird 13F, OneWeb #15, SES-18 & SES-19, and 24 Starlink missions. B1069 first flew on Dec. 21, 2021.
Falcon 9 will fly on a northeasterly trajectory and deploy 29 v2 Mini Starlink satellites into LEO. Following launch, B1069 will land atop A Shortfall of Gravitas, which will be stationed approximately 640 km downrange in the Atlantic Ocean.
(Lead image: A SpaceX Falcon 9 lifts off with the Bandwagon-4 mission. Credit: Julia Bergeron for NSF)
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