Launch Roundup: China to launch crew, Falcon 9 to launch Bandwagon rideshare

Date:
Mon, 21 Apr 2025 21:56:59 +0000

Description:
This week, China will launch three taikonauts to the Tiangong space station. SpaceXs Falcon 9 The post Launch Roundup: China to launch crew, Falcon 9 to launch Bandwagon rideshare appeared first on NASASpaceFlight.com .

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This week, China will launch three taikonauts to the Tiangong space station. SpaceXs Falcon 9 has three flights scheduled, with its third Bandwagon rideshare mission followed by two more Starlink missions, all heading to low-Earth orbit. Firefly Aerospace is also rolling Alpha back to the pad for another attempt to launch Lockheed Martins LM400 demonstration mission during the weekend.

The weeks launch manifest began in the early hours of Monday morning with a Falcon 9 lofting the CRS-32 cargo resupply mission to the International Space Station. Cargo Dragon C209 is due to dock at the Harmony port of the ISS on Tuesday, April 22, at 8:20 AM EDT (12:20 UTC), following a 28-hour coast and rendezvous.





Falcon 9 | Bandwagon-3

SpaceX will launch its third Bandwagon rideshare mission on Monday, April 21, at 8:48 PM EDT (00:48 UTC on April 22) from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

SpaceXs Bandwagon missions are a series of small satellite rideshare missions that launch payloads into mid-inclination low-Earth orbits (LEO). These missions complement the companys Transporter missions, which primarily target Sun-synchronous orbits. Payloads are attached to a ring-shaped adapter on the upper stage, known as the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle Secondary Payload Adapter (ESPA).

These rideshare missions offer customers a 50 kg satellite limit per mounting port for a base price of $300,000, which also helps to manage the mass distribution across the adapter. SpaceX offers flexible pricing for
additional mass and, with extenders, significantly larger payloads can also
be carried, such as the Haven-Demo at approximately 500 kg. Vast confirmed
the intention to launch its technology demonstrator aboard this mission in February during NSFs visit to its Long Beach factory. It will test key
systems such as propulsion, avionics, and communications, but does not
contain any pressurized modules.



SpaceX has confirmed that Atmos Space Cargos prototype reentry capsule, Phoenix-1, will also ride aboard this mission. The capsule will complete two orbits before deploying an innovative inflatable heat shield for atmospheric reentry, decelerating the capsule from orbital speeds to a controlled landing on water without the need for parachutes.

The mission will collect critical data that will be used to refine future iterations of the capsule. While this version of Phoenix is capable of transporting up to 100 kg, future versions will be able to carry several tonnes, including rocket stages, according to the company. This inaugural mission will carry four biological and technological demonstrations for three clients. As of the end of 2024, Atmos had already secured a commercial contract for seven reentry missions through 2027.

The official payload list has yet to be released, but two weather monitoring satellites from Tomorrow.io and a twelfth cluster of Earth observation satellites from HawkEye 360 are also expected to be onboard. The first Bandwagon mission carried nine payloads to LEO on April 7, 2024. With this latest flight, Bandwagon missions will have launched from each of SpaceXs three active launch sites on the east and west coasts of the United States. A fourth Bandwagon mission is currently slated for this summer. Phoenix-1 reentry capsule diagram. (Credit: Atmos Space Cargo)

Booster B1090 will be supporting this mission on its third flight and will return to the Cape to land on the concrete pad at Landing Zone 2 (LZ-2), just over nine kilometers south of SLC-40. This booster made its debut last December with the 03b mPower 7 & 8 mission, and went on to loft Crew-10 to
the International Space Station in March.

Chang Zheng 2F/G | Shenzhou 20

China will launch its 15th crewed mission from Site 901 at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre on Thursday, April 24, at 09:17 UTC. This will be the ninth crew transportation flight to the Tiangong space station.

The three taikonauts aboard this flight were selected in February but are typically not officially named until around a day before flight. They will relieve the Shenzhou 19 crew of Song Lingdong, Cai Xuzhe and Wang Haoze. The three will return to Earth shortly after an official handover ceremony,
having spent six months aboard the station. To date, China has launched 24 taikonauts into orbit, with Jing Haipeng having visited space a record four times. Chang Zheng 2F/G Y20 is rolled to the pad at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. (Credit: CCTV)

The Chang Zheng 2F/G (CZ-2F/G) is currently Chinas only crew-rated rocket.
The Y20 vehicle has been rolled to its launch pad to conduct pre-flight testing. Tiangong has already been maneuvered to the proper position for the Shenzhou 20 craft to dock.

Falcon 9 | Starlink Group 6-74

SpaceX is set to loft another batch of satellites into the largest shell of its Starlink constellation. Despite what the numbering may suggest, this will be the 75th launch into the group.

Falcon 9 will launch from SLC-40 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on Thursday, April 24, at 9:32 PM EDT (01:32 UTC on April 25),
heading southeast over the Atlantic Ocean. Following deployment, this batch
of satellites will move into an operational orbit at 559 km, inclined 43 degrees.

The booster supporting this mission has not been confirmed, but is expected
to land on an autonomous droneship downrange in the Atlantic Ocean approximately eight minutes into the mission.



Falcon 9 | Starlink Group 11-9

The second Starlink mission of the week will launch from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) at the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on Friday, April 26, at 2:40 PM PDT (21:40 UTC). The flight will carry another batch of Starlink v2-Mini satellites into LEO, taking a southeasterly trajectory
during ascent.

Starlink connects more than five million people with high-speed internet across 125 countries and territories. The service added Jordan and Guyana to its service list earlier this month and supported video calling during the recent Fram2 crewed mission.

The booster supporting this mission has not been confirmed, but is expected
to land on the west coast droneship, Of Course I Still Love You, which will
be stationed downrange in the Pacific.



Alpha | Message In A Booster

Firefly Aerospace will attempt to launch a technological demonstration of Lockheed Martins new LM400 satellite bus on Sunday, April 27. Previous attempts were postponed due to unspecified range conflicts. The mission will launch from Space Launch Complex-2W (SLC-2W) at the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California at 6:37 AM PDT (13:37 UTC).

This flight will be the sixth launch of an Alpha rocket and marks the second of up to 25 flights for Lockheed Martin as part of a multi-launch agreement with Firefly, which will span the next five years. Lockheed Martins versatile new mid-sized satellite bus can accommodate a variety of missions, including remote sensing, communications, imaging, and radar operations.

The LM400 Pathfinder will help prove the technology in orbit and contribute towards risk reduction before flying customer missions. While this demonstrator will be deployed to LEO, the platform is adaptable to multiple orbits and launch configurations, catering to military, civil, and commercial applications. Render of the Lockheed Martin LM400 tech demonstration (Credit Lockheed Martin)

The two-stage expendable Alpha vehicle stands just under 30 m in height and can deliver 1,030 kg to LEO. Four Reaver engines on the first stage burn liquid kerosene and oxygen in a tap-off cycle, while a single Lightning
engine using the same technology powers the upper stage.

NASASpaceflight is providing launch live stream production services for Firefly Flight A006.

Atlas V 551 | Project Kuiper (KA-01)

United Launch Alliances (ULA) Atlas V is set to launch the first batch of 27 operational communication satellites for Amazons Kuiper constellation to LEO. Amazon plans to deploy 3,236 satellites into this constellation, providing global broadband internet coverage. The satellites will operate in 98 orbital planes across three layers at altitudes of 590, 610, and 630 km higher than its rival, Starlink. Atlas V 551 on the pad during the previous launch
attempt (Credit: ULA)

Atlas V will launch in its most powerful 551 configuration, supported by five solid rocket boosters. Liftoff is scheduled for Monday, April 28, at 7:00 PM EDT (23:00 UTC) from Space Launch Complex 41 (SLC-41) at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, during a two-hour launch window. The previous attempt was postponed in early April due to unfavorable weather conditions.

The launch also marks the 250th flight of a Centaur upper stage atop an Atlas rocket, and its 275th overall. ULA has contracts for up to 83 Kuiper
launches, with seven additional missions to be flown aboard Atlas V 551 rockets. The remaining missions will fly on Atlas Vs successor, Vulcan Centaur. Kuiper satellites are also set to fly on New Glenn and Falcon 9.

(Lead image: Falcon 9 launches to orbit. Credit: Julia Bergeron for NSF )



The post Launch Roundup: China to launch crew, Falcon 9 to launch Bandwagon rideshare appeared first on NASASpaceFlight.com .



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Link to news story: https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2025/04/launch-roundup-042125/


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