Launch Roundup: New Glenn and Starship headline first full week of 2025

Date:
Mon, 06 Jan 2025 22:26:46 +0000

Description:
The first full week of 2025 will feature a full lineup of launches from the The post Launch Roundup: New Glenn and Starship headline first full week of 2025 appeared first on NASASpaceFlight.com .

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The first full week of 2025 will feature a full lineup of launches from the United States and China, including the possible debut flight of Blue Origins long-awaited New Glenn rocket. Starship Flight 7 is also on the docket toward the end of the week, while the years first Starlink launch is to be followed by two additional Starlink flights on Falcon 9.

Chinas first launch of 2025, from Xichang, is also on the schedule, as well
as a Falcon 9 launch for the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) from California. The Starlink flights are all scheduled to fly from Florida, while Starship Flight 7 is scheduled to launch from Starbase in south Texas.





Falcon 9 | Starlink 6-71

The first Starlink launch of 2025 is launched on Monday, Jan. 6, at 3:43 PM EST (20:43 UTC) from SLC-40 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCSFS) in Florida. Launch occurred at the very end of a four-hour window that ended at 3:44 PM EST (20:44 UTC).

The booster, B1077, flew on a southeast trajectory with a batch of 24
Starlink v2-Mini broadband communication satellites. Following launch, B1077 landed atop SpaceXs Just Read the Instructions autonomous droneship in the Atlantic. The launchs timing depended on how quickly SpaceX could turn around SLC-40 after it hosted the launch of the Thuraya 4-NGS mission on Jan. 3.

This flight was the second SpaceX and Falcon 9 launch of 2025. SpaceX
achieved 132 Falcon 9, 134 Falcon family, and 138 total launches in 2024, and the company looks to improve on those numbers in 2025. 131 of the 132 Falcon
9 launches last year were successful, with the outlier being the Starlink 9-3 flight in July, and the brief enforced cessation of launches kept SpaceX from meeting its target of 148 flights. CZ-3B/E at the pad. (Credit: CASC)

Chang Zheng 3B/E | Unknown Payload

Chinas first launch of 2025 is scheduled for 20:00 UTC on Monday, Jan. 6,
just hours after Starlink 6-71s flight. Although the payload and launch vehicle identities are not certain, a Chang Zheng (CZ) 3B/E rocket is thought to be flying a payload to geosynchronous transfer orbit (GTO) from Launch Complex 3 (LC-3) at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan province
in China.

The CZ-3B/E is a version of the ICBM-derived family of CZ-2, CZ-3, and CZ-4 launch vehicles. This version uses three stages and four strap-on boosters attached to the first stage. All stages and boosters on the 56 m tall rocket, except for the third stage, use storable but highly toxic liquid hypergolic propellants, while the third stage uses liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen.
The rocket can place up to 5,500 kg into GTO and has launched communications satellites and the Change-3 lander the first Chinese lunar lander and its Yutu rover to the Moon.

This flight will be the 90th overall launch of the CZ-3B/E and the first of this year. The CZ-3B and other variants of the family that use hypergolic propellants and inland launch sites are still in use. However, new additions to the Chang Zheng family use safer, less toxic propellants and utilize coastal launch sites like Hainan Island. 22 Starlink satellites deployed during the Starlink Group 10-8 mission from SLC-40. (Credit: SpaceX)

Falcon 9 | Starlink 12-11

The second Starlink launch of the year and the week is also scheduled to be the first flight from the Kennedy Space Center and Launch Complex 39A
(LC-39A) in 2025. The Starlink 12-11 mission is expected to launch on
Tuesday, Jan. 7, at 10:51 AM EST (15:51 UTC), at the start of a
four-hour-long window that lasts until 2:51 PM EST (19:51 UTC).

The booster, which is not yet known, is flying on a southeast trajectory with 21 Starlink v2-Mini satellites. These will mix regular Starlink satellites
and the slightly larger Direct to Cell variant. Recovery is set to use a droneship in the Atlantic.

This flight will be the third SpaceX flight of 2025 as the company works to equal or exceed last years pace.

Falcon 9 | NROL-153

The first NRO flight of 2025 and the first launch of the year from Vandenberg Space Force Base (VSFB) is scheduled for Thursday, Jan. 9, at 7:19 PM PST (03:19 UTC Friday, Jan. 10) from Space Launch Complex 4E (SLC-4E) at VSFB on the California coast. The launch window lasts 90 minutes and closes at 8:49
PM PST (04:49 UTC Jan. 10).

The booster, which is not yet known, is flying on a southeast trajectory down the California coast. Droneship Of Course I Still Love You is set to support booster recovery in the Pacific. The payload for this mission is a batch of Starshield reconnaissance satellites for a constellation operating on a principle similar to Starlink.

A constellation of distributed reconnaissance satellites would enable more robust coverage than relying on a single large satellite that could fail or become disabled. SpaceX and Northrop Grumman built the satellites for this
NRO constellation. If schedules hold, this launch will be the fourth SpaceX flight of 2025. The first flight-worthy New Glenn first stage, So Youre Telling Me Theres A Chance, starts its rollout to LC-36 for testing. (Credit: Blue Origin)

New Glenn | Blue Ring Pathfinder

Blue Origins long-awaited New Glenn heavy-lift rocket, which started in the early 2010s before being formally announced in 2016, is finally on the launch pad at Launch Complex 36 (LC-36) at the CCSFS being prepared for its debut flight.

Blue Origin, founded by Amazon creator and billionaire Jeff Bezos in 2000, developed the two-stage New Glenn as its first orbital-class rocket,
following its New Shepard suborbital human launch vehicle. New Glenn, named after John Glenn, the first American to orbit the Earth, is scheduled to launch on Friday, Jan. 10 at 1:00 AM EST (06:00 UTC) at the start of a three-hour 45-minute window.

New Glenn will carry the DarkSky-1 Blue Ring Pathfinder, a prototype of Blue Origins Blue Ring platform. The Blue Ring platform is designed to refuel satellites, transport them to different orbits, and host payloads. It can
also act as a satellite bus or a space tug and is launch vehicle agnostic, though New Glenn is expected to fly Blue Ring missions in the future. It's getting real, folks! @blueorigin 's recovery vessel, Jacklyn, has departed Port Canaveral for the inaugural launch of New Glenn. She is in the company
of her supporting vessel Harvey Stone.

Next time we see them in port might be pretty exciting

@NASASpaceflight pic.twitter.com/ibRAfvXySF

Max Evans (@_mgde_) January 2, 2025



The 57 m tall booster stage, Glenn Stage 1 (GS1), known as So Youre Telling Me Theres a Chance or GS1-SN001, will attempt to land on Blue Origins Landing Platform Vessel 1 (LPV1) named Jacklyn after Jeff Bezos mother. The GS1
stage, equipped with seven BE-4 engines using methane and liquid oxygen as propellants, will use all seven engines during launch and up to three during landing. The stage will also use fins and thrusters to guide its path to Jacklyn , which will be out in the Atlantic hundreds of kilometers off the Florida coast.

The 23 m tall Glenn Stage 2 (GS2), equipped with two BE-3U engines using liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen as propellants, will send the Blue Ring prototype into a medium-Earth orbit. GS2 is not reusable, though Blue Origin has worked on a project called Jarvis in the past that was a concept to
enable full reuse of both stages of the vehicle.

This flight was originally scheduled for October 2024 with NASAs ESCAPADE
Mars payload, but New Glenn was not expected to be ready for its maiden
flight by October. The ESCAPADE flight has since been moved to a later date, and the results of this flight will determine the cadence Blue Origin
achieves with New Glenn in 2025.



New Glenn, capable of launching up to 45,000 kg to low-Earth orbit (LEO), has contracts for Kuiper, Telesat, and OneWeb constellation launches and several geostationary communication satellites from various customers. Blue Origin hopes to use New Glenn to launch national security payloads and this flight will serve as a certification flight for this purpose.

Blue Origin also hopes to use New Glenn to launch its Orbital Reef space station and Blue Moon lander while being able to reuse individual GS1 stages up to 25 times, and later, 100 times, to lower launch costs. The company
hopes to be competitive with SpaceX in the worldwide launch market while working toward a future where millions of people live and work in space.

Falcon 9 | Starlink 12-12

The third Starlink launch of 2025 is scheduled for Friday, Jan. 10, at 10:27 AM EST (15:27 UTC) from SLC-40 at the CCSFS. Launch is set to occur at the start of a four-hour launch window lasting until 2:27 PM EST (19:27 UTC).

The booster, which is not yet known, is flying on a southeast trajectory and will land atop one of SpaceXs two east coast droneships in the Atlantic. Falcon 9 will launch a batch of Starlink v2-Mini satellites, with a mix of regular Starlink satellites and the slightly larger Direct to Cell version.

The Starlink 12-12 mission will be the fifth Falcon 9 and SpaceX launch of
the year, with over half of January left. Ship 33, the first Block 2
Starship, conducts a test firing at the Starbase Masseys site. (Credit: BocaChicaGal for NSF)

Starship | Flight 7

The Starship program, fresh off four flights in 2024, is preparing for its first flight of 2025. Starship Flight 7, another suborbital flight at a
nearly orbital velocity, is scheduled to launch from Pad A at Starbase,
Texas, on Friday, Jan. 10, at 4:00 PM CST (22:00 UTC). Liftoff is currently set for the start of a 98-minute window that ends at 5:38 PM CST (23:38 UTC).

Flight 7, using Booster 14 and Ship 33, will see Starship fly eastward over the Gulf of Mexico out of Starbase. Booster 14 will attempt a catch at Pad A, flying a precise trajectory that will allow it to be captured by the Mechazilla chopstick arms on the launch tower. A booster catch attempt succeeded on Flight 5 but was waved off during Flight 6 due to issues with ground equipment.

Once Ship 33 reaches its intended suborbital trajectory, its tasks will include another in-space restart of a Raptor engine and a deployment of ten simulated Starlink v3 satellites from its payload bay. The deployment will
use a PEZ dispenser to jettison the dummy satellites in succession, and these payloads will enter the atmosphere using the same suborbital trajectory as Ship 33. A then-live view of Ship 29 during atmospheric reentry, provided by SpaceXs Starlink constellation. (Credit: SpaceX)

Ship 33 will reenter similarly to earlier flights before splashing down in
the Indian Ocean. Liftoff is timed to enable a daylight reentry and ocean landing of Ship 33, and many additional cameras and sensors will be installed on the launch vehicle to provide additional views and data. Ship 33 is the first Block 2 Starship, with modifications to the fins, heat shield, and
more.

If schedules hold, Flight 7 will be SpaceXs sixth launch of the year. The company plans to fly up to 25 Starship missions this year. As Starship is a new system, and the second launch pad at Starbase is still some time away
from completion, SpaceXs cadence goal for Starship in 2025 is very ambitious. However, the Starship program will likely exceed last years totals and achievements.

(Lead image: New Glenn NG1 vehicle on the pad at LC-36. Credit: Max Evans
for NSF)



The post Launch Roundup: New Glenn and Starship headline first full week of 2025 appeared first on NASASpaceFlight.com .



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Link to news story: https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2025/01/launch-roundup-010625/


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