Another busy week of launches has arrived, with SpaceX planning to launch five Falcon 9 missions this week. Of these five missions, four are Starlink missions, with the fifth being the Transporter 15 rideshare mission.
Internationally, China is planning to launch two rockets from Jiuquan and Xichang. The Hanbit-Nano rocket from South Korean company Innospace is also expected to make its maiden flight from Brazil late in the week.
Falcon 9 | Starlink Group 6-94
The first SpaceX Falcon 9 mission of the week is scheduled to launch on Tuesday, Nov. 18, at 6:29 PM EST (23:29 UTC). Starlink Group 6-94 will launch from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCSFS) in Florida, carrying 28 v2 Mini Starlink satellites into low-Earth orbit (LEO).
The booster supporting this mission will be B1085. Flying for the 12th time, B1085 has previously supported the Crew-9, GPS III-7, Blue Ghost Mission 1 & HAKUTO-R M2, Fram2, SXM-10, MTG-S1/Sentinel-4A, and five Starlink missions. B1085’s first flight was on Aug. 8, 2024.
Falcon 9 will fly on a southeasterly trajectory before landing atop one of SpaceX’s two east coast droneships, A Shortfall of Gravitas, which will be stationed approximately 640 km downrange in the Atlantic Ocean, just north of the Bahamas.
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 two of three reusable orbital rockets in service today, with one Falcon booster having flown 31 flights. The two payload fairings are also recovered and reused after flights.
Chang Zheng 2C/YZ-1S | Unknown Payload
The first of the two Chinese rockets this week will be a Chang Zheng 2C/YZ-1S launching from Site 401 (SLS-2) at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in China. The launch window opens at 03:52 UTC on Wednesday, Nov. 19. Liftoff is expected at 04:00 UTC, leaving a further 19 minutes in the window, should it be needed.
The payload for this mission is likely to remain undisclosed until after launch.
Chang Zheng 2C/YZ-1S is a three-stage rocket based on the core two-stage Chang Zheng 2C (CZ-2C), which is, in turn, derived from the DF-5 ICBM. It utilizes storable propellants, specifically nitrogen tetroxide and unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine. The YZ-1S designation indicates the use of a solid rocket motor third stage.
Introducing LEO Express 3, launching soon on the Transporter-15 rideshare mission with @SpaceX.
Mira is flying its third mission, debuting the first vehicle in the upgraded spacecraft line. Building on the success of the LEO Express 1 and 2 missions, LEO Express 3 expands Mira’s… pic.twitter.com/JDzi92VeW5
— Impulse Space (@GoToImpulse) November 4, 2025
The second Falcon 9 mission of the week is expected to launch on Wednesday, Nov. 19, at 10:18 AM PST (18:18 UTC) from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) at the Vandenberg Space Force Base (VSFB) in California. Transporter 15 is a rideshare mission that will carry multiple payloads into Sun-synchronous orbit (SSO) on a southerly trajectory.
Included among the payloads is Impulse Space’s upgraded version of the Mira spacecraft, LEO Express 3, which is also a rideshare. LEO Express 3 uses Mira’s high-thrust, high-maneuverability characteristics to deliver customers’ small satellites to precise orbits.
Booster B1071 will support Transporter 15 and will be flying on its 30th mission, making it the second Falcon booster to achieve this milestone. B1071 is the second most flown booster after B1067, which made its 31st flight on Oct. 19.
Following launch and stage separation, Falcon 9 will land on the west coast droneship Of Course I Still Love You, which will be stationed approximately 640 km downrange in the Pacific Ocean. The booster will be returned to port in Long Beach.
Falcon 9 | Starlink Group 6-78
Falcon 9 operations will switch back to the east coast on Thursday, Nov. 20, for the Starlink Group 6-78 mission, which is due to launch at 2:05 PM EST (19:05 UTC) from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at the Kennedy Space Center.
A currently unannounced booster will fly a southeasterly trajectory to place the 28 Starlink v2 Mini satellites into a 43-degree inclination orbit. The booster will land on one of SpaceX’s two east coast droneships.
If the current launch manifest holds, this launch will mark the 150th Falcon 9 mission of 2025.
Chang Zheng 3B/E | Unknown Payload
Launch Complex 2 (LC-2) at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in China will support the launch of a Chang Zheng 3B/E on Friday, Nov. 21, at 10:55 UTC. The payload for this mission is likely to remain undisclosed until after launch.
The Chang Zheng 3B (CZ-3B) rocket has three stages and stands 56.3 m tall. The CZ-3B/E variant utilizes four strap-on boosters. All stages and boosters are powered by highly toxic, yet stable, hypergolic propellants.
We completed satellite integration for the SPACEWARD mission together with the Grahaa Space(@grahaaspace) team.
Engineers from Grahaa Space visited the Alcântara Space Center to load their satellite into the deployment pod and review the full integration workflow.
This… pic.twitter.com/nDzAG241Rs— innospacecorp (@innospacecorp) November 14, 2025
The maiden flight of Innospace’s Hanbit-Nano microlauncher is due to take place on Saturday, Nov. 22, at 18:00 UTC. The Spaceward mission will launch from the South Korean company’s dedicated Innospace Pad at the Alcântrara Launch Center in Maranhâo, Brazil. Hanbit-Nano will attempt to place eight payloads into a LEO at an altitude of 300 km.
Hanbit-Nano will fly northeast from the coast of Brazil. Five of the eight payloads are satellites that will be deployed at an orbital inclination of 40 degrees, while the three other payloads will remain attached to the second stage.
Innospace’s Hanbit-Nano is a two-stage rocket capable of lifting up to 90 kg of payload into LEO. The rocket stands 21.7 m tall and 1.4 m in diameter. The first stage is powered by a hybrid engine that utilizes paraffin and liquid oxygen, and features electric turbo-pumps similar to those used by Rocket Lab’s Electron. The second stage can use either a similarly propelled Hyper engine or a methalox-powered LiMER engine. It is not clear which of these options is being used on this flight.
Falcon 9 | Starlink Group 6-79
The next Falcon 9 mission for this week is scheduled to liftoff on Saturday, Nov. 22, at 6:41 PM EST (23:41 UTC) from SLC-40 at CCSFS. The Starlink Group 6-79 mission will see another batch of Starlink v2 Mini satellites be launched into the constellation’s Group 6 shell.
The currently unannounced booster will follow a southeasterly trajectory out of Florida before landing on one of SpaceX’s east coast droneships.
Falcon 9 | Starlink Group 11-30
The final Falcon 9 mission for this week is scheduled to liftoff at 12:00 AM PST on Saturday, Nov. 22 (08:00 UTC on Sunday, Nov. 23). Starlink Group 11-30 will launch 28 v2 Mini satellites into LEO, following a southeasterly trajectory from SLC-4E at the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.
According to SpaceX’s website, the Falcon booster supporting this mission is B1071. This booster is also scheduled to support the Transporter 15 mission earlier in the week. B1071 may support Starlink 11-30 if Transporter 15 is delayed further, but details are unclear.
After ascent and stage-separation, the booster will land atop SpaceX’s west coast droneship Of Course I Still Love You. This mission will serve as the 571st Falcon 9 mission overall and the 153rd of 2025. Furthermore, this mission will mark the 279th orbital launch attempt of 2025.
(Lead image: Atlas V launches ViaSat-3 F2 from Florida. Credit: Jerry Pike for NSF)
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