The last week of January has a busy slate of orbital launches, with flights from Florida, California, New Zealand, and possibly China on the schedule. SpaceX plans to close out the month with the GPS III SV09 mission, along with up to three Starlink launches, while Rocket Lab’s “Bridging the Swarm” mission is being prepared for liftoff on Electron. SpaceX is also planning to start February with a Starlink launch before the week ends.
The GPS III SV09 launch is the fourth non-Starlink launch of 2026 so far, while “Bridging the Swarm” will be Rocket Lab’s second launch in one week if the schedule holds. China has two possible flights on the manifest: a Chang Zheng 7A from Hainan Island and a Jielong 3 from the South China Sea, though neither has a confirmed launch date. China’s year in spaceflight has already been eventful, with two launch failures within 12 hours in mid-January.
SpaceX’s first launch of the week will see a Falcon 9 launch on Monday, Jan. 26, at 11:42 PM EST (04:42 UTC Tuesday, Jan. 27) from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCSFS) in Florida. The GPS III SV09 payload will be onboard.
The launch window is set to last 15 minutes, ending at 11:57 PM EST (04:57 UTC Tuesday). The U.S. Space Force’s 45th Weather Squadron’s launch forecast calls for a 60% chance of launch criteria violation, with the primary concern being liftoff winds. The recovery conditions for the booster, B1096, in the Atlantic are also rated as moderate to high risk. The probability of a 24-hour delay is only five percent, with low risk for upper-level winds, booster recovery weather, and solar activity.
Once the mission launches, B1096 will fly to the northeast and land on A Shortfall of Gravitas out in the Atlantic. The Falcon 9 second stage will take the 4,352 kg GPS III SV09 satellite, also named Ellison Onizuka after one of the fallen STS-51L Challenger astronauts, to a medium-Earth orbit (MEO).
The GPS III SV09 payload before encapsulation in its fairing before launch on a Falcon 9. (Credit: U.S. Space Force)
B1096 started its career with the KF-01 Amazon Leo mission on July 15, 2025. The booster also launched NASA’s IMAP, SWFO-L1, and GLIDE science spacecraft to the L1 Lagrange point between the Sun and Earth on Sept. 24, and later flew the Starlink Group 6-87 and NROL-77 missions, all from Florida.
This GPS spacecraft was originally earmarked to fly aboard a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Vulcan mission, but was moved to a Falcon 9, while a later GPS IIIF satellite was moved from Falcon Heavy to Vulcan.
The GPS III series of spacecraft offers improved accuracy and jamming resistance over previous versions of the navigation spacecraft, which is a vital piece of infrastructure for the United States and the world.
This launch will serve as the 11th Falcon 9 launch of the month and of the year.
Rocket Lab’s second launch of the month is scheduled for Wednesday, Jan. 28, at 00:55 UTC from the company’s private launch facility on the Mahia Peninsula in New Zealand. The launch window lasts until 02:00 UTC, and the Electron will fly southbound, carrying the NeonSat-1A observation satellite to a Sun-synchronous orbit (SSO).
The “Bridging The Swarm” mission on the launch pad before a previous launch attempt in December 2025. (Credit: Rocket Lab)
The South Korean government created the NeonSat microsatellite constellation to observe the Korean Peninsula, offering near-real-time disaster monitoring capability, and is mass-producing satellites for this purpose. The 100 kg NeonSat-1A features a high-resolution optical camera and will join the NeonSat-1 satellite already in orbit, offering revisit capabilities to sites of interest.
The technology incorporated into NeonSat-1A, once proven, will be added to the next 10 satellites in the constellation. South Korean academic, industry, and research institutions are cooperating on this project, and future NeonSat satellites are set to be launched aboard South Korea’s indigenous Nuri launcher later this year and in 2027.
“Bridging the Swarm” originally attempted to launch on Dec. 11, 2025, but the launch was scrubbed after a hold at T-5:43 minutes and another hold at T-8:12 minutes after the countdown had recycled. Teams assessed sensor data, and Rocket Lab tried again on Dec. 16 but aborted after engine ignition due to out-of-family sensor data.
Falcon 9 upper stage is reflected in Starlink satellites as they are deployed. (Credit: SpaceX)
Falcon 9 | Starlink Group 17-19
SpaceX’s first Starlink flight of the week, Starlink Group 17-19, is scheduled for Thursday, Jan. 29, at 7:17 AM PST (15:17 UTC) from Space Launch Complex-4E (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. The four-hour launch window ends at 11:17 AM PST (19:17 UTC).
Booster B1082 is taking a southbound trajectory and will land on Of Course I Still Love You out in the Pacific. The second stage will take 25 Starlink v2 Mini satellites to a low-Earth orbit (LEO) inclined 97.6 degrees to the equator.
The booster’s career started with Starlink Group 7-9 in January 2024, and the booster has flown the USSF-62, OneWeb #20, NROL-145, and 14 other Starlink missions. This flight will be the 12th Falcon 9 flight of the month and the year so far if schedules hold.
Starlink satellites are released during the Starlink Group 15-5 mission. (Credit: SpaceX)
Falcon 9 | Starlink Group 6-101
The final SpaceX launch currently scheduled for this month — and the second Falcon 9 launch of the day — is scheduled for Thursday, Jan. 29 at 11:00 PM EST (04:00 UTC on Friday, Jan. 30) from SLC-40 at CCSFS. Starlink Group 6-101’s launch window lasts until 3:00 AM EST (08:00 UTC) on Friday, Jan. 30.
Falcon booster B1095 will fly on a southeast trajectory, as is usual for Starlink missions from Florida during the winter months. The booster will land on Just Read the Instructions in the Atlantic, while the second stage will fly 29 Starlink v2 Mini satellites to a LEO inclined 43 degrees to the equator.
The booster began its career with the Starlink Group 12-15 mission on May 20, 2025, and all of its missions to date have been Starlink flights out of Florida. This flight will be the 13th and final Falcon 9 launch of January 2026 if schedules hold.
Falcon 9 | Starlink Group 6-103
The first orbital launch of February is a Falcon 9 scheduled to launch the Starlink Group 6-103 mission on Sunday, Feb. 1, at 6:04 PM EST (23:04 UTC) from SLC-40 at CCSFS. Falcon 9 will carry 29 Starlink v2 Mini satellites to LEO on a southeast trajectory, deploying them into an orbit inclined 43 degrees to the equator.
B1090, flying on its 10th mission, will land on A Shortfall of Gravitas out in the Atlantic. The booster started its career with the O3b mPOWER 7 & 8 mission and also flew Crew-10, Bandwagon-3, O3b mPOWER 9 & 10, CRS-33, as well as four Starlink flights.
This launch is the 14th Falcon 9 flight of the year.
A Chang Zheng 7A liftoff. (Credit: Wu Tong Xiaoyu)
Chang Zheng 7A | Unknown Payload
The first scheduled Chinese launch of the week was a Chang Zheng 7A (CZ-7A) from Wenchang Space Launch Site on Hainan Island, south of mainland China, but it has been delayed. Liftoff had been scheduled for Monday, Jan. 26, at 21:00 UTC from LC-201 at Wenchang, but the flight was possibly delayed due to the Shijian-32 Chang Zheng 3B (CZ-3B) failure on Jan. 16. The CZ-3B and CZ-7A use the same third stage.
Though the payload is unknown, the rocket will take an eastward trajectory from Hainan Island. This trajectory is suitable for satellites bound for geosynchronous orbit, and the CZ-7A typically flies satellites to MEO or geosynchronous transfer orbit.
Wenchang is the closest Chinese launch site to the equator and therefore allows launches to use more of the Earth’s eastward rotation speed to assist when flying higher-orbiting payloads.
The CZ-7A uses highly refined kerosene and liquid oxygen as propellants for its four strap-on boosters and the first two stages, and liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen for its third stage. This rocket, a three-stage derivative of the Chang Zheng 7 (CZ-7), is a medium-lift launch vehicle capable of flying up to 7,000 kg to geosynchronous transfer orbit.
This flight is the first CZ-7A launch of 2026 and the third flight from Hainan Island this month. The CZ-7 series is notable for flying Tianzhou cargo spacecraft to the Tiangong space station, and the family has 24 flights to its name with one failure.
Launch of a Jielong-3. (Credit: CNSA)
Jielong 3 Y9 | Unknown Payload
Another possible Chinese orbital flight this week could be Chinarocket’s Jielong 3 small satellite launcher from a platform in the South China Sea off the port of Haiyang, though no launch date is currently confirmed. A NOTAM is in effect from Jan. 20 to Jan. 25 that could correspond to this launch, though this is not confirmed.
When this mission flies, the Jielong 3 will take a southbound trajectory, which is suitable for observation and reconnaissance satellites operating in SSO. Pakistan’s SUPARCO has an Earth observation satellite scheduled for launch from China, and a Jielong 3 was pictured with a Pakistani flag on its fairing last month during preparations for a launch on Dec. 26. The flight was subsequently postponed.
The Jielong 3 is a four-stage, solid-fueled launcher capable of launching up to 1,600 kg to a 500 km altitude SSO. This flight will be the ninth launch of the Jielong 3.
(Lead image: The GPS III SV09 payload before encapsulation in its fairing before launch on a Falcon 9. Credit: U.S. Space Force)
The post Launch Roundup: GPS, Starlink, Electron launches scheduled for last week of January appeared first on NASASpaceFlight.com.
Comments
Post a Comment