SpaceX to launch new crew to the International Space Station - TWIRL #204

Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, R. Sankrit

The most interesting mission this week will be performed by SpaceX, which will launch a crewed Dragon capsule to the International Space Station with the next expedition crew.

Sunday, 9 March

Who: SpaceX
What: Falcon 9
When: 03:09 – 03:40 UTC
Where: California, US
Why: In this mission, SpaceX will use a Falcon 9 carrying the SPHEREx and PUNCH missions. The SPHEREx satellite will snap images of the universe in infrared light. It will help astronomers understand more and allow for the study of light coming from more than 450 million galaxies. The PUNCH satellite will consist of four small satellites that will work together to study the sun’s corona. The satellites will also snap images of solar wind leaving the sun to help scientists learn more about space weather.

Who: CNSA
What: Long March 3B/E
When: 17:20 UTC
Where: Xichang Satellite Launch Center
Why: The Long March 3B/E will be launched carrying an unknown payload into orbit.

Monday, 10 March

Who: Rocket Lab
What: Electron
When: 00:00 UTC
Where: Mahia, New Zealand
Why: Rocket Lab will use an Electron rocket to launch the QPS-SAR 9 satellite for the Japanese company, iQPS. This synthetic aperture radar Earth observation satellite will be able to distinguish objects are small as 1 meter long, making it ideal from tracking vehicles.

Tuesday, 11 March

Who: CNSA
What: Long March 8
When: 16:30 UTC
Where: Hainan Commercial Launch Site
Why: A Long March 8 will be used to launch 18 satellites for the Thousand Sails internet constellation, run by the Shanghai Spacecom Satellite Technology. These satellites are similar to SpaceX’s Starlink internet satellites. In the end, there is expected to be 14,000 of these satellites in low Earth orbit.

Wednesday, 12 March

Who: SpaceX
What: Falcon 9
When: 06:39 UTC
Where: California, US
Why: SpaceX will use a Falcon 9 rocket to launch its Transporter-13 mission to a Sun-synchronous orbit. This is a rideshare mission which will see a number of satellites for various entities. There will be 27 satellites on this mission from 14 countries.

Who: SpaceX
What: Falcon 9
When: 23:48 UTC
Where: Florida, US
Why: SpaceX will use a Falcon 9 to launch the Crew-10 Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station (ISS) carrying several astronauts. Aboard the craft will be NASA astronauts Anne McClain, Nichole Ayers, JAXA astronaut Takuya Onishi, and cosmonaut Kirill Peskov. The crew will be the next ISS expedition crew.

Saturday, 15 March

Who: Roscosmos
What: Angara 1.2
When: 10:00 UTC
Where: Plesetsk Cosmodrome, Russia
Why: Roscosmos will launch an Angara 1.2 rocket from Plesetsk Cosmodrome carrying three military satellite into orbit. The satellites are designated Kosmos 2585-2587.

Who: Firefly Aerospace
What: Alpha
When: 13:25 – 14:17 UTC
Where: California, US
Why: Firefly Aerospace will use an Alpha rocket to launch the LM 400 demonstrator for Lockheed Martin.

Starlink missions:

What: Starlink Group 12-21
When: 04:10 – 08:10 UTC, Sunday, 9 March

What: Starlink Group 12-16
When: 12:18 – 16:18 UTC, Tuesday, 11 March

What: Starlink Group 12-25
When: 20:27 – 00:27 UTC, Thursday – Friday, 13 – 14 March

Recap

The first mission we got last week was from Russia. Roscosmos launched the Soyuz 2.1b rocket carrying a GLONASS-K2 navigation satellite. It was placed in a medium Earth orbit and will provide navigation services as part of the GLONASS constellation.
Next up, SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 carrying Starlink Group 12-20 consisting of 21 Starlink satellites. Following the launch, the first stage of the rocket performed a landing. You can watch it on SpaceX’s website.
On Thursday, Europe joined the launch party when Arianespace launched the Ariane 62 from French Guyana. It was carrying the third Composante Spatiale Optique (CSO 3) military reconnaissance satellite for CNES and DGA, the French defense procurement agency.

The final mission came from SpaceX which launched the eighth Starship mission. While Mechazilla caught Super Heavy again, the top portion of Starship failed and broke up in the atmosphere. You can see the mission on the SpaceX website.

That’s all for this week, check in next time.