We have a lot of missions coming up this week, but the most notable will be United Launch Alliance’s mission to the International Space Station as part of NASA’s Commercial Crew program. Be sure to also check out the recap section for China’s latest moon mission launch.

Monday, May 6

• WHO: SpaceX
• what: Falcon 9
• When: 15:34 – 20:05 UTC
• where: Florida, USA
• Why: SpaceX will launch a Falcon 9 carrying 23 Starlink satellites into orbit. This batch is known as Starlink Group 6-56, this ID can be used in apps like ISS Detector to try to spot them flying in the night sky. For those who don’t know, SpaceX’s Starlink satellites beam internet down to Earth and even provide internet in remote areas not served by traditional broadband.

Tuesday, May 7

• WHO: United Launch Alliance
• what: Atlas V
• When: 2:34 am UTC
• where: Florida, USA
• Why: United Launch Alliance will launch an Atlas V rocket carrying the CST-100 Starliner crew-carrying spacecraft to the International Space Station as part of a test flight. The astronauts will include Barry Willmore and Sunita Williams of NASA. This mission is being carried out as part of NASA’s Commercial Crew program.

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• WHO: porcelain
• what: March long 6C
• When: 3:20 am UTC
• where: Taiyuan, China
• Why: China will first launch a Long March 6C carrying the Neptune 1 synthetic aperture radar satellite for Ningbo Zhihui Space Technology Co., Ltd. This satellite is just the first satellite in an eventual 36-satellite constellation.

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• WHO: SpaceX
• what: Falcon 9
• When: 10:09 am UTC
• where: Florida, USA
• Why: SpaceX will launch a Falcon 9 carrying 23 Starlink satellites. This group is Starlink Group 6-57. They will join the giant Starlink constellation to beam the internet down to Earth. Like most other Starlink missions, we need to see the first stage of the Falcon 9 make a landing.

Wednesday, May 8

• WHO: SpaceX
• what: Falcon 9
• When: 02:48 – 7:18 UTC
• where: California, USA
• Why: This batch of Starlink satellites is Group 8-2, they will be placed in low orbit before the Earth launch. Interestingly, this group of about 22 satellites can accommodate six Starlink satellites directly into the cell – these are relatively new, with the first satellites of this type being sent only a few months ago.

Thursday, May 9

• WHO: porcelain
• what: long March 3B/E
• When: 1:50 AM UTC
• where: Xichang, China
• Why: China will use Long March 3B or 3E to launch two BeiDou navigation satellites for the government. BeiDou satellites operate in Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) which is further away than Low Earth Orbit where Starlink operates. Most modern smartphones support BeiDou satellites to help improve location accuracy on Google Maps.

summarize

• The first launch we got last week was SpaceX Starlink mission 159. 23 Starlink satellites were launched, known as Starlink Group 6-54, and then the first stage of the rocket made a landing.

• The second launch was also a Falcon 9 but this time it carried two WorldView Legion satellites for Maxar. These satellites are the first two of six planned WorldView Legion satellites.

• Next, SpaceX has 23 more Starlink satellites to launch, known as Starlink 6-55. The first stage of the Falcon 9 also landed.

• Finally, China launched its Chang’e-6 mission to the moon aboard a long-range spacecraft on March 5 Y8. The purpose of this lunar mission is to collect samples from the far side of the moon and bring them back to Earth for testing.

That’s it for this week, check back next time.