Weekly Update - March 5 - 13th
The past few days has been quite interesting for Spaceflight
Here’s a Summary of all of those Mission and events that have taken place.
KAIROS Flight 3 - Launch Recap
On March 5th Kairos Flight 3 successfully Lifted off at 11:10 AM JST from Spaceport Kii in western Japan. The 18 meter tall, solid fueled rocket climbed normally during it’s first stage burn. About 70 seconds into flight the launch vehicle experienced an anomaly, the rocket’s autonomous flight termination system (FTS) activated, ending Kairos Flight 3’s mission.
Rocket Lab Launches Insight At Speed Is A Friend Indeed
On March 5th Rocket Lab successfully Launched Electron from LC-1A in Māhia Peninsula, New Zealand carrying BlackSky Global 34 into orbit, this payload was placed into a Low Earth Orbit (LEO).
Image Credit: Rocket Lab
SpaceX Starlink Group 17-18
On March 8th SpaceX launched Starlink Group 17-18 into Orbit adding 25 more Starlink satellites into the constellation from SLC-4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base California.
The First stage Booster, B1097, flew for it’s 7th time on this mission and previously supported Sentinel-6B, Twilight, and five Starlink missions.
It landed on the drone ship, Of Course I Still Love You (OCISLY), stationed in the Pacific Ocean.
Image Credit: SpaceX
SpaceX Launches EchoStar XXV
On March 10th SpaceX launched the EchoStar XXV mission into a Geostationary Transfer Orbit (GEO).
The EchoStar XXV satellite is a DISH Network broadcast satellite that delivers content across the United States.
The First stage supporting this mission, B1085, has previously supported Crew-9, RRT-1, Firefly Blue Ghost 1, Fram2, SXM-10, MTG-21, and seven Starlink missions.
Shortly stage separation the first stage successfully landed on the drone ship, A Shortfall Of Gravitas, completing it’s 14th flight.
Image Credit: Asher B.
Firefly Aerospace Launches “Stairway To Seven”
On Wednesday March 11th at 5:50 PM PDT Firefly Aerospace launched the Stairway To Seven payload into orbit.
This mission, Alpha Flight 7, was a demonstrator payload for Lockheed Martin identified as “ICOSR SV.”
This mission was a very successful for the young startup Firefly, completing their 7th mission to date.
Image Credit: Firefly aerospace - seanparkerphoto
NASA Artemis II Flight Readiness Review
On March 12th NASA Held a Press conference at Kennedy Space Center Florida where NASA managers discussed the outcome from the Flight Readiness Review.
They announced that team polled “GO” to proceed with the April 1st launch date. They also said that SLS rollout is NET the 19th of April, they will complete final pad work prior to the aforementioned launch date of April 1st.
Image Credit: Asher B.
CASC - SatNet LEO Group 20
On March 12th at 3:48 PM EST China launched Long March 8A from Commercial LC-1 in Wenchang Space Launch Site, China.
This mission launched a B=batch of 9 Low Earth Orbit communication satellites for the Chinese state owned SatNet.
This Satellite constellation will eventually consist of over 13000 satellites.
CASC - Shiyan 30 03-04
On March 12th at 6:33 PM EST China launched Long March 2D carrying a pair of Chinese satellites reported to be for “Earth observation technological testing and validation” purposes.
This mission launched from LC-3 in Xichang Satellite Launch Center, China
SpaceX Starlink Group 17-31
On March 13th SpaceX launched Starlink Group 17-31 at 7:57 AM PST from SLC-4E, Vandenberg Space Force Base, California.
SpaceX launched 25 more Starlink satellites aboard this mission.
This was the 32nd flight for the First stage (B1071) supporting this mission.
B1071 landed on the drone ship, Of Course I Still Love You, stationed in the Pacific Ocean.
The First stage has previously launched NROL-87, NROL-85, SARah-1, SWOT, Transporter-8, Transporter-9, NROL-146, Bandwagon-2, NROL-192, Transporter-14, Transporter-15, and 20 Starlink missions.
Image Credit: SpaceX
