Due to several delays last week, This Week in Missile Launches features a large number of upcoming missions. The excitement begins Sunday with the launch of Starship’s fifth test flight and Blue Origin’s New Shepard. Later that day, SpaceX will launch NASA’s Europa Clipper mission to the Galilean moon of Europa.

Sunday, October 13

WHO : SpaceX
What : starship
When : 12:00 — 13:07 UTC
Where : Texas, USA
From where : SpaceX will launch Starship on its fifth suborbital test flight, called IFT-5. SpaceX will use this mission to re-attempt the first-ever controlled entry of a Starship. Starship will attempt to land in the southern Indian Ocean west of Australia, while the Super Heavy launch vehicle will attempt to land near the launch tower.

WHO : Blue Origin
What : New Shepard
When : 13:00-16:00 UTC
Where : Texas, USA
From where : Blue Origin will launch the New Shepard suborbital rocket on an uncrewed mission. This was somewhat unusual, as New Shepard launch ships were known for crewed launches to the edge of space for paying customers. The rocket will fly with a technical upgrade to increase its performance and reusability.
Some of the 12 payloads include new navigation systems for New Shepard and New Glenn, LIDAR sensors for the Lunar Permanence program, and ultra-wide proximity sensors as part of a NASA TechFlights grant. Mission NS-27.

WHO : SpaceX
What : Heavy Falcon
When : 16:12 UTC
Where : Florida, USA
From where : SpaceX will launch its Falcon Heavy rocket with the Europa Clipper mission for NASA. The Europa Clipper spacecraft will explore Jupiter’s moon Europa by making flights in Jupiter’s orbit. It will carry nine science instruments and use them to study Europa’s icy surface and subsurface ocean to see whether the Moon could support life. Europa Clipper is NASA’s largest planetary probe, with a 30-foot aperture when its solar panels are expanded. The spacecraft will make its closest pass in February 2025. It will then use Earth for gravity assist in December 2026, and then enter Jupiter’s orbit on April 11, 2030, with 45 orbits planned.

Monday, October 14

WHO : SpaceX
What : Şahin 9
When : 05:48 — 09:48 UTC
Where : Florida, USA
From where : SpaceX will use Falcon 9 to launch 22 Starlink satellites into low Earth orbit. This satellite group is known as Starlink Group 10-10. You can use this ID to find orbiting satellites using various satellite tracking services. The first stage of the Falcon 9 will also land.

Tuesday, October 15

WHO : SpaceX
What : Şahin 9
When : 08:03 UTC
Where : California, USA
From where : Tuesday’s first launch will be another Falcon 9 from SpaceX. This group of 20 satellites will be known as Starlink Group 9-7 and will include 13 Starlink direct link satellites. As in the previous launch, these satellites will enter low Earth orbit and the first stage of the Falcon 9 will land.

Collection

Our most recent first mission was SpaceX’s Falcon 9 launch in conjunction with the European Space Agency’s Hera mission. The Hera mission will study the Didymos double asteroid system, which was previously hit by NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) spacecraft.

The second and final launch was China’s Long March 3B, which launched WHG-03 High Orbit Internet Services from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center. The satellite was successfully launched into orbit.