Weekly Spaceflight Update: May 10-17th
This week was very busy, having launches occurring from multiple launch pads in China and the United States. Below is a summary of this week:
NROL-172 – May 11
On Monday, May 11 at 7:13 p.m. PT, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched the NROL-172 mission from Space Launch Complex 4E (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. Shortly after launch, the first-stage booster (B1097) made its ninth landing on the “Of Course I Still Love You” droneship positioned downrange in the Pacific Ocean.
This booster previously supported missions such as Sentinel-6B, Twilight, and six Starlink missions
Credit: SpaceX
LandSpace ZhuQue-2E - May 14
On May 14 at 11:00 a.m. CST local, LandSpace launched its upgraded ZhuQue-2E rocket from Site 96A at Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, China, carrying a mass simulator to a polar orbit.
Credit: LandSpace
Kinetica 1 - May 15
On May 15 at 12:33 p.m. CST local, the Kinetica 1 rocket launched five satellites to a sun-synchronous orbit from Site 130 at Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, China.
Credit: CAS Space
CRS-34 – May 15
At 6:05 p.m. EDT on Friday, May 15, SpaceX launched the 34th Commercial Resupply Services (CRS-34) mission to the International Space Station for NASA aboard a Dragon spacecraft. Shortly after stage separation, the Falcon 9 first-stage booster B1096 made its sixth landing at Landing Zone 40 (LZ-40). Its previous missions were KF-01, IMAP, NROL-77, GPS III-9, and one Starlink mission.
The Dragon spacecraft flying this mission was also on its sixth flight to space, having previously supported CRS-22, CRS-24, CRS-27, CRS-30, and CRS-32. Roughly two days later, the spacecraft, carrying about 6,500 pounds of experiments, supplies, and equipment, docked autonomously to the forward port of the station’s Harmony module at 6:37 a.m. EDT. It will remain there for approximately one month before returning to Earth and splashing down off the coast of California.
Below are some photos our photographers captured during the launches.
At 6:05 p.m. EDT on Friday, May 15, SpaceX launched the 34th Commercial Resupply Services (CRS-34) mission to the International Space Station for NASA aboard a Dragon spacecraft. Shortly after stage separation, the Falcon 9 first-stage booster B1096 made its sixth landing at Landing Zone 40 (LZ-40). Its previous missions were KF-01, IMAP, NROL-77, GPS III-9, and one Starlink mission.
The Dragon spacecraft flying this mission was also on its sixth flight to space, having previously supported CRS-22, CRS-24, CRS-27, CRS-30, and CRS-32. Roughly two days later, the spacecraft, carrying about 6,500 pounds of experiments, supplies, and equipment, docked autonomously to the forward port of the station’s Harmony module at 6:37 a.m. EDT. It will remain there for approximately one month before returning to Earth and splashing down off the coast of California.
Below are some photos our photographers captured during the launches.
Image Credit: Gavin R.
More Images of Falcon 9 launching CRS-34
SpaceSail Polar Group #9
On May 17 at 10:42 p.m. CST local, a Long March 8 rocket launched another batch of internet satellites to a polar orbit from Commercial LC-1 at Wenchang Space Launch Site, China.
Credit: CASC
