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SpaceX has launched its 250th mission from SLC-40 in Florida this week. The company has up to four Starlink missions planned in the coming days and continues to reach new milestones, including the first booster to reach 28 flights. SpaceX has now exceeded 250 dedicated Starlink launches, which it reached during last week’s Starlink Group 12-23 mission.
The company also continues to push the limits of its Falcon 9 vehicle, launching a record 29 Starlink satellites on Sunday, May 4th. This mission also marked SpaceX’s 50th mission of the year and the 100th successful consecutive Falcon 9 landing since the last landing failure, with booster B1078 becoming the ninth booster in the fleet to reach 20 flights.
While SpaceX will continue to dominate the launch manifest, other companies, agencies, and countries are continuing to fly, including China. The first launch attempt of the week, a Chang Zheng 12A, was scrubbed early on Monday, May 5. This mission may be rescheduled for later this week, but the reason for the scrub has not been officially declared. Onboard was the fourth batch of Xingwang satellites for the Guowang network — one of two megaconstellations China hopes to rival Starlink in the future.
Last month’s launch manifest made it the busiest April in history, with 26 rockets launching worldwide. The final six missions also set a new global launch record, with six launches conducted within 18 hours between April 28 and 29. This pace is expected to continue throughout May, with additional Starlink missions, crew launches, and more on the schedule.
Falcon 9 | Starlink Group 6-93
The first Starlink mission of the week launched from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on Tuesday, May 6. Liftoff took place around an hour into the four-hour launch window at 9:17 PM EDT (01:17 UTC on May 7).
SpaceX continues to gradually increase the number of satellites Falcon 9 can carry with this mission. A batch of 28 Starlink v2 Mini satellites was onboard this flight, marking the fourth time a Falcon 9 has launched 28 satellites. Each of these previous missions flew to the Group 6 shell of the constellation. This was the 77th mission to deliver Starlink satellites into the constellation’s largest shell, Group 6, which saw its first launch in February 2023. The Group 6-1 mission lofted the first batch of v2 Mini satellites, offering four times the bandwidth of its v1 and v1.5 predecessors.
Falcon 9 flew on a southeasterly trajectory following liftoff. Fresh from last month’s Fram2 mission, Booster B1085 took its seventh flight and landed on SpaceX’s autonomous droneship Just Read The Instructions, which was positioned downrange in the Atlantic Ocean. This booster has also launched the Crew-9 mission last year and this January’s Blue Ghost and Hakuto-R M2 mission. It has also lofted GPS III and two other batches of Starlink satellites into orbit.
Falcon 9 launches Starlink Group 6-93 from SLC-40 in Florida (Credit: SpaceX)
Falcon 9 | Starlink Group 15-3
The second Starlink mission for the week had been delayed from last week due to bad weather conditions. Starlink Group 15-3 lifted off from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) at the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on Friday, May 9, at 5:19 PM PDT (00:19 UTC on May 10).
Onboard Falcon 9 were 26 Starlink v2 Mini satellites. Since late March, all Starlink missions from Vandenberg have carried batches of 27 satellites into other shells, except for the Starlink Group 15-1 mission, which lofted 22 satellites into the new Group 15 shell in February. This is common when SpaceX mixes the v2 Mini and the Direct-to-Cell satellite variants. Since the Direct-to-Cell Starlinks are around 20% heavier than the v2 Minis, fewer v2 Mini satellites can be carried when both variants are flown together.
This mission flew on a southeasterly trajectory to place the payload into an orbit inclined at 70 degrees. Booster B1081 successfully landed on the autonomous droneship Of Course I Still Love You, which was stationed downrange in the Pacific Ocean. This booster has been active since September 2023 and flew for the 14th time. It has previously supported two Transporter missions and the Crew-7 and CRS-29 missions, which both launched to the International Space Station. It has also lofted the EarthCARE and PACE Earth-observation satellites.
Falcon 9 | Starlink Group 6-91
Another Falcon 9 launched from Florida on Saturday, May 10, at the top of its four-hour launch window at 2:28 AM EDT (06:28 UTC). This mission was the 250th Falcon launch from SLC-40. SpaceX also noted that this mission was the first time a fairing had taken its 30th flight.
Last week marked 20 years since the last Titan rocket launch from SLC-40, carrying the NROL-16 mission to orbit on April 30, 2005. The pad underwent five years of extensive transformation for the Falcon 9 v1.0 vehicle before its maiden flight lifted off in June of 2010. Since that first Falcon 9 flight, SLC-40 has been the most active launch complex in the world. The pad recently surpassed its 300th orbital launch with the Bandwagon 3 mission less than two weeks ago, and has now supported its 250th Falcon mission.
Despite the 6-91 mission number, this was the 78th Starlink mission to the Group 6 shell, carrying a further 28 Starlink v2 Mini satellites onboard. Booster B1083 supported this mission on its 11th flight and successfully landed on the autonomous droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas approximately eight minutes into the mission. This booster has lofted crew on both the Polaris Dawn and Crew-8 missions, cargo to the International Space Station on the CRS-31 mission and the Nova C lunar lander “Athena” amongst other Starlink missions.
At the start of the week, SpaceX had launched over 8,400 Starlink satellites, of which nearly 1,100 have deorbited. At any given time, a number are still moving into their final positions, which can take weeks. The constellation currently accounts for over 63% of the approximately 11,600 active satellites in orbit.
Chang Zheng 6A | Unknown Payload
The third Chang Zheng 6A (CZ-6A) to launch this year is expected to take flight from LC-9A at the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in the Shanxi Province of northern China on Sunday, May 11.
Liftoff is expected around 13:20 UTC during a brief 31 minute launch window. Details of the payload onboard are currently unconfirmed but anticipated to be another group of Qianfan satellites. Recent flights of the CZ-6A have carried four batches of these flat-packed “Thousand Sails” internet communications satellites, with April’s most recent flight lofting six Shiyan 27 satellites into sun-synchronous orbit. This would be the 99th orbital launch worldwide this year.
A Chang Zheng 6A launches Qianfan satellites from LC-9A at Taiyuan Satellite Launch Centre in January 2025 (Credit: CCTV/CASC)
Falcon 9 | Starlink Group 6-83
Another Starlink mission is planned to take flight on Monday, May 12 during a four-hour launch window which begins at 12:06 AM EDT (04:06 UTC). This mission is planned to launch from LC-39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
A Falcon 9 will carry another batch of 28 v2-Mini satellites into low-Earth orbit while booster B1067 is set to become the first booster in the fleet to reach 28 launches. This booster has visited the International Space Station four times delivering both cargo and crew on the CRS-22, CRS-25, Crew-3 and Crew-4 missions. Active since June 2021 it has also lofted Gailieo, 03B mPower, Koreasat and Hotbird satellites to orbit amongst others. B1067 will return to land on the droneship Just Read The Instructions which will be waiting downrange in the Atlantic to the southeast of the launch site.
Chang Zheng 3C/E | Unknown Payload
A Chang Zheng 3C/E (CZ-3C/E) is expected to launch on Monday, May 12 at approximately 18:05 UTC within a brief 36 minute launch window. Liftoff is planned from pad LC-3 at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in China.
Details on the payload are uncertain and may be another experimental Tongxin Jishu Shiyan satellite. The last CZ-3C/E to fly launched from Xichang back in July, 2021 carrying the fifth Tianlian 1 tracking and relay satellite – a variation on NASA’s racking and Data Relay Satellite System (TDRSS).
The CZ-3C/E is an enhanced variant of the Chang Zheng 3C, featuring an extended 4 m diameter fairing atop the same three-stage configuration with two strap-on boosters. It is capable of delivering payloads of up to 8,000 kg to low-Earth orbit (LEO) and approximately 3,800 kg to geostationary transfer orbit (GTO).
(Lead image: Falcon 9 launches into the Florida sky. Credit: Julia Bergeron for NSF)
