After a rare week without any launches and littered with brush, the spaceflight industry is trying to get back on schedule with four launches from around the world. Electron’s 50th launch is expected this week, and SpaceX and CASC continue to dominate the launch calendar.
SpaceX begins the week with preparations to address the shortfalls with two Falcon 9 missions launching from Cape Canaveral, Florida, and Vandenberg, California. Later in the week, Rocket Lab is expected to launch the No Time Toulouse mission flying on an Electron from New Zealand. At the same time, China is targeting the next launch of its booster rocket, the Chang Zheng 2C, to launch a joint Chinese-French telescope.
Falcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink Group 9-1
With the first Starlink Group 9 satellites now in orbit, four different types of Starlink groups are being actively added to space at an incredible rate. After being pushed back from June 13th to June 14th and now to June 18th, that launch officially kicked off on June 18th at 20:40 PDT (03:40 UTC June 19th).
Falcon 9 launched 20 Direct-to-Cell Starlink v2 Mini satellites into an inclined 53-degree orbit on a southeast trajectory. B1082, launching from Space Launch Complex-4E in Vandenberg, California, carried these satellites on its fifth flight to a 286 x 295 km initial orbit, where they were launched into orbit by the second stage and deployed. Then, using Starlink Hall-Effect satellites, they aimed to an altitude of just over 500 km to add even more support to the more than 6,000 active Starlink satellites already in orbit.
A view of the stack of 21 Starlink v2 Mini satellites before they are enclosed in the fairing. (Credit: SpaceX)
This booster completed the 246th consecutive landing on an autonomous droneship Of course I still love you which was parked 642 km down in the same landing position as Starlink Group missions 8-7 and 8-8. This was Falcon 9’s 62nd flight in 2024, putting SpaceX 43% of the way to its goal of 144 launches in one year, although the year has progressed 46%, leaving SpaceX behind schedule by just a tiny margin.
Falcon 9 Block 5 | Astra 1P/SES-24
After a week of weather delays and an unusual T-0 interruption after the Falcon 9 had already fired its engines, SpaceX is trying to get back on its feet with the Astra 1P/SES-24 launch. That mission has already been delayed by one day due to bad weather at Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
Now scheduled for launch on June 19 at 17:35 EDT (21:35 UTC) at the earliest, after cleaning on June 18, SpaceX will use B1080 for its ninth flight. This booster will launch the Astra 1P/SES-24 television satellite into an inclined 19.2° geostationary orbit on an easterly trajectory from the same launch pad. It will then land at a distance of about 648 km on an autonomous SpaceX drone Just read the Instructions.
The SES-24/Astra 1P was built in Europe by Thales Alenia Space for the European TV market and will provide updated reliability and picture quality capabilities to Germany, Spain and France. SES-24/Astra 1P is a broadband satellite with 80 transponders. This gives it the ability to broadcast up to 500 HDTV channels.
Photos of Astra 1P/SES-24’s clean room prior to shipment to Cape Canaveral. (Credit: Thales Alenia Space)
This will be the first time SpaceX has launched an Astra satellite, with previous launches being the Atlas V, Proton M and Ariane 5. Once in orbit, the satellite will deploy its 45-meter-wide 20 kW solar array. it is one of the most powerful satellites in geosynchronous orbit.
Electron/Curie | No time Toulouse
Electron is vertical for its 50th launch to complete the No Time Toulouse mission with the first ever batch of five Kinéis 1-5 nanosatellites. After a two-day weather delay, Electron will lift off in the immediate launch window on June 21 at 6:13 NZT (June 20, 18:13 UTC) from LC-1B on New Zealand’s Māhia Peninsula. The Electron will launch at a 98-degree angle to the equator, where it will deliver the payload into low Earth orbit (LEO).
After the Electron reaches LEO, Rocket Lab’s Curie kick stage circularizes the orbit with an eight-second burn to a 635 km orbit. It then releases the satellites into their specific sequence, where the satellites move under their own power up to the final 650 km of orbit. After successfully releasing the five satellites, Curie will perform a launch flare to bring the spacecraft safely out of orbit and into the Pacific Ocean.
Delivery of Kinéis nanosatellites to Rocket Lab for final testing prior to integration. (Credit: Kinéis)
Kinéis is a French Internet of Things satellite operatorra connection provider operating from Toulouse, France. These satellites are the first Kinéis internal satellites to be launched on Electron, with four more missions already planned in the future to deliver 20 more nanosatellites. Kinéis already uses the Argos satellite system, which has been in orbit since 1978. Using these satellites and the new nanosatellites, Kinéis will be able to create a constellation that will significantly reduce the revisit time between satellite passes.
Chang Zheng 2C | MYSELF
A brand new telescope is preparing to fly to LEO on China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation’s (CASC) Chang Zheng 2C rocket. Chang Zheng 2C, which will launch from the LC-3 Xichang Satellite Launch Center in China on June 22 at 15:00 CST (07:00 UTC), will carry the Satellite Variable Objects Monitor (SVOM) telescope to an inclined 30° LEV. This payload will end up in a circular orbit of 625 km with an orbital period of 96 minutes. This will be Chang Zheng 2C’s fourth mission this year and 78th mission ever.
The SVOM mission is the first joint astronomy mission between the French Space Agency and the China National Space Administration. This partnership is the result of a 2014 Memorandum of Understanding that aimed to promote the exchange of research on common issues of interest to both nations. SVOM is the result of this cooperation.
Final preparation of SVOM launch before integration into Chang Zheng 2C. (Credit: CASC)
The SVOM X-ray telescope will be used to detect and localize gamma-ray bursts in the X-ray band with the ECLAIR instrument, observe gamma-ray bursts in the soft X-ray region with the MXT instrument, measure the spectrum of high-energy bursts with the Gamma-Flash Monitor, and operate in the visible range to detect and observe the visible emission produced by immediately after the gamma-ray burst using the VT telescope. SVOM’s goal is to study gamma-ray bursts from exploding stars and learn more about the unknowns of the universe, such as the death of massive stars, the birth of black holes, and much more.
(Main image: Electron on LC-1B in New Zealand before launch No time Toulouse mission. Credit: Rocket Lab)