Launch Roundup: SpaceX to start new Starlink shell; China, Russia to launch unknown payloads

Date:
Mon, 19 May 2025 21:47:05 +0000

Description:
This week, SpaceX will begin building a new shell for its Starlink constellation, launching from The post Launch Roundup: SpaceX to start new Starlink shell; China, Russia to launch unknown payloads appeared first on NASASpaceFlight.com .

FULL STORY ======================================================================

This week, SpaceX will begin building a new shell for its Starlink constellation, launching from Vandenberg to a polar orbit. At least two other Starlink launches are planned for the week as well.

Elsewhere, several Chinese missions are scheduled, and a Russian Soyuz
mission will carry an unknown payload into orbit.



Falcon 9 | Starlink Group 12-15

On Monday, May 19, at 11:58 PM EDT (Tuesday, May 20, at 03:58 UTC), a SpaceX Falcon 9 is scheduled to launch Starlink Group 12-15 to low-Earth orbit (LEO) from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at the Cape Canaveral Space Flight Station in Florida. Unusually, this launch window extends until only 12:15 AM EDT (04:15 UTC), just 35 minutes, when most Starlink missions launch within a four-hour window.

Falcon 9 will launch a batch of 23 Starlink satellites, comprised of both v2 Mini and Direct-to-Cell variants, on a southeasterly trajectory out of the Cape. The booster and droneship supporting this mission are not yet known.

This will be the 60th Falcon 9 and SpaceX mission of 2025.



Falcon 9 is a 3.9 m diameter, 70 m tall two-stage rocket. Nine Merlin 1D engines power the first stage booster, while the second stage features a single vacuum-optimized Merlin engine. The Merlins utilize densified liquid oxygen and RP-1 kerosene as propellants. Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy are the first and only reusable orbital rockets in service today, with one Falcon booster having now flown 28 flights. The two payload fairings are also recovered and reused after flight.

Chang Zheng 7A | Unknown Payload

The first of several Chinese launches expected this week will launch from Launch Complex 201 (LC-201) at the Wenchang Space Launch Site in China on Tuesday, May 20, at 11:50 UTC. The launch window extends from 11:42 UTC until 13:11 UTC.

There is no information regarding the missions payload at present, however, the hazard warning notices published indicate that the Chang Zheng 7A (CZ-7A) will fly due east from the launch site.

Standing 58 m tall, the CZ-7A has three stages, with the first stage
featuring four strap-on boosters. The first two stages and the four boosters all use liquid oxygen and RP-1 propellants, while the third stage burns
liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen.

This will be the second CZ-7A flight of 2025, and the 19th overall since its debut in 2020.

Kinetica 1 | Unknown Payload

Another Chinese launch is expected on Wednesday, May 21, at 04:00 UTC. During a launch window extending from 03:54 until 04:15 UTC, a Kinetica 1 will liftoff from Site 130 at Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in China.

Published hazard notices indicate a southwesterly trajectory for the flight. This mission will serve as the first Kinetica 1 mission of 2025, and the seventh overall.

Kinetica 1 is a 31 m tall, 2.65 m diameter, four-stage rocket that first flew in July 2022. All four stages utilize solid fuel and solid rocket motors.



Falcon 9 | Starlink Group 11-16

The second Falcon 9 launch of the week will occur on Wednesday, May 21, at 2:20 PM PDT (21:20 UTC) at the start of a four-hour launch window. Starlink Group 11-16 will launch from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) at the Vandenberg Space Force Base (SFB) in California, the first of two Starlink launches scheduled from Vandenberg this week.

Falcon 9 will launch a batch of Starlink v2 Mini satellites on a
southeasterly trajectory to LEO. After stage separation and reentry, the yet-to-be-confirmed booster will land on the autonomous droneship Of Course I Still Love You , stationed approximately 640 km downrange of the launch site in the Pacific Ocean.

Soyuz 2.1a | Unknown Payload

A Russian Soyuz 2.1a with a Fregat-M fourth stage will launch an unknown payload on Friday, May 23, at 07:00 UTC from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northwestern Russia.

Hazard notices indicate a northeasterly trajectory to an orbit inclined at 67 degrees.

The Soyuz 2.1a is powered by four RD-107A engines on the first stage
(arranged around the second, core stage), a single RD-108A engine on the core stage, and an RD-0110 engine on the third stage. Each stage uses liquid
oxygen and RP-1 kerosene as propellants. The Fregat-M fourth stage uses a liquid-propellant engine burning unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine (UDMH) fuel and dinitrogen tetroxide (N2O4) oxidizer, a pair of hypergolic propellants that ignite on contact.

This will be the third launch for a Soyuz in 2025 and the 113th orbital
launch attempt worldwide this year.



Falcon 9 | Starlink Group 12-22

SLC-40 will host a second Starlink mission this week, Starlink Group 12-22,
on Saturday, May 24, at 1:19 PM EDT (17:19 UTC).

The currently unknown Falcon 9 booster will lift a mixture of Starlink v2
Mini and Starlink Direct-to-Cell satellites to LEO, flying on a southeasterly trajectory.

The booster will land on one of the two SpaceX autonomous droneships
stationed in the Atlantic Ocean, either Just Read the Instructions or A Shortfall of Gravitas .

Falcon 9 | Starlink Group 17-1

The construction of a new Starlink group shell will begin on Sunday, May 25, at 9:14 AM PDT (16:14 UTC), when a Falcon 9 will launch from SLC-4E at Vandenberg with the Starlink Group 17-1 mission. Falcon 9 will follow a southern trajectory to place the satellites into a Sun-synchronous orbit
(SSO) at a 97-degree inclination a first for the constellation. This will be the first Starlink Group to be placed into polar orbit since Group 3, which utilized v1.5 satellites.

The yet-to-be-announced booster will land on the Of Course I Still Love You droneship. This droneship is capable of faster turnarounds due to SpaceXs additional port facility in Long Beach, California, which is close to the landing zone for most Starlink missions.

(Lead Image: A Falcon 9 lifts off from Florida. Credit: Julia Bergeron for NSF )



The post Launch Roundup: SpaceX to start new Starlink shell; China, Russia to launch unknown payloads appeared first on NASASpaceFlight.com .



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Link to news story: https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2025/05/launch-roundup-051925/


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