Category Archives: Launch

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 28 Apr – 1 May 2023

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5 Space Agency / Independent Moon Landing Missions to Launch in Coming Months

Astrobotic Peregrine awaiting ULA launch readiness NET June following Centaur V anomaly; NPO Lavochkin preparing to transport Roscosmos Luna-25 to Vostochny Cosmodrome in first 10 days of June ahead of NET 13 July launch; Intuitive Machines aiming for summer launch of Nova-C; JAXA SLIM launching NET August pending investigation of probable short circuit / engine leak cause of H3 failure; ISRO Chandrayaan-3 pushed to 2024 per comments given by Union Minister Jitendra Singh; Lunar aspirants may consider consultation / collaboration with only successful 21st Century Moon surface operators at CNSA

Credits: Astrobotic, Roscosmos, IM, JAXA, ISRO, CNSA

Tuesday / 11 April 2023

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ULA Centaur V Anomaly May Further Delay Peregrine Launch, Deployment of Iris Rover

Explosion during pressurization of Vulcan Centaur upper stage at ULA testing facility within MSFC captured by Blue Origin camera monitoring adjacent test stand 29 March (as reported by Eric Berger of Ars Technica) could push certification flight scheduled to launch of Astrobotic Peregrine lunar lander and Kuipersat-1/2 from NET 4 May, pending investigation into incident; Peregrine to carry Iris lunar rover, built by CMU students, set to be the first robotic USA Moon rover, and 25 other payloads (11 NASA / 15 independent)

Credits: ULA, Twitter / @SciGuySpace, Astrobotic

Tuesday / 28 Feb 2023

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Lunar Crew Module / Lander Mockups on Display as CMSA to Announce Taikonauts for Shenzhou-16 & 17

30 years of steady progress toward and realization of human exploration in space (27 missions / 10 crewed) being celebrated at 3-month exhibit at National Museum of China in Beijing featuring models of China Manned Space Agency next-generation crewed spacecraft and lunar surface lander, which are to be launched via 25,906 kN-thrust Long March 10 (formerly LM-5DY) rocket in 2020s; 6 crewmembers for next 2 missions to Tiangong Space Station to be revealed as international astronaut exchanges under consideration

Pictured: (T-B) CMSA Director Hao Chun, Taikonaut Yang Liwei, CMSA Deputy Chief Designer Chen Shanguang; Credits: CMSA, CGTN screengrab, Wikipedia

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 24-27 Feb 2023

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International Moon Missions Operating in Lunar Orbit as Wave of Landers Approach / Prep for Launch

 NASA / Advanced Space CAPSTONE orbiter prepares for spacecraft-to-spacecraft positioning test with LRO; KPLO Danuri imaging heritage areas – first robotic Moon landing (Luna-9) site in Oceanus Procellarum, first lunar rover (Lunokhod 1) landing site in Mare Imbrium – and Earth phases; ispace progressing on ballistic lunar transfer, now moving at ~520 m/s, will soon begin control burns to decrease speed on approach, landing expected NET late April; JAXA SLIM launching NET April; Astrobotic Peregrine to launch on inaugural Vulcan Centaur flight NET 4 May; Intuitive Machines launching Nova-C NET late June

Pictured: ispace Spaceflight Operations Engineer Sam Richards; Credits: KARI, ispace, LinkedIn

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 3-6 Feb 2023

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International Wave of Robotic Moon Missions Prepare for Launch, Landing, Lunar Surface Exploration and Science

12 spacecraft currently operate in cislunar space, 2 landers (CE-3, 4) and 1 rover (Yutu-2) function on the lunar surface; 6 lander missions prepare to join: ispace HAKUTO-R now ~1,300,000 km from Earth, due to arrive NET April; JAXA SLIM with LEV-2 demonstrator payload may follow NET April; Astrobotic with Peregrine lander awaits ULA Vulcan Centaur readiness for engine and launch vehicle integration, launch NET Q1 – PM1 now targeting silica-rich Gruithuisen Domes (Mons Gruithuisen Gamma / Mons Gruithuisen Delta) at ~36°N x 40°W; Intuitive Machines Nova-C launching to 3-6 day direct transit in H1; Chandrayaan-3 NET June; Roscosmos Luna-25 NET July

Credits: NASA, ispace, Astrobotic

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 27-30 Jan 2023

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CNSA Continues Exploration and Science on the Surface of Moon as Phase 4 of Chang’E Program to Begin NET 2024

Chang’e-4 Moon Lander and Yutu-2 (‘Jade Rabbit’) rover are again busy gathering data / traversing the lunar surface following 16 and 15 Jan activation commands marking start of their 51st lunar day (equivalent to 1,479 Earth days); Yutu-2 has traveled 1,455-m; As Queqiao (‘Magpie Bridge’) replay satellite nears end of 5-year mission life in June, Queqiao-2 with 8-year lifespan being prepared for launch in early 2024, an essential communication link for farside SPA sample-return mission Chang’E-6 NET 2024, MSP CE-7 NET 2026, and CE-8 NET 2028

Pictured: Chang’E-7 Deputy Chief Designer Tang Yuhua (T), CLEP Phase 3 Deputy Chief Designer Li Chunlai (B); Credits: CNSA / CLEP, CCTV via Inside Outer Space, IAF

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 9-12 Dec 2022

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Orion Return is Beginning of New Era of Lunar Exploration as 2023 Commercial and National Moon Mission Prepare

Mission team including Landing / Recovery Director Melissa Jones, Entry Flight Director Judd Frieling now planning to recover Orion capsule near Guadalupe Island, ~241 km from Baja California coast following 11 Dec 09:40 PST splashdown; Just 10 hours prior, ispace HAKUTO-R lander is to launch to Moon from CCSFS (02:38 EST); CLPS missions from Intuitive Machines and Astrobotic to follow NET Q1 2023, JAXA SLIM NET April, ISRO Chandrayaan-3 NET June; Artemis 2 circumlunar crewed mission NET May 2024, SpaceX uncrewed demo mission and crewed dearMoon NET 2024

Credits: Astrobotic, Blue Origin, NASA

Tuesday / 6 Dec 2022

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ispace HAKUTO-R Mission 1 Reportedly Launching on Falcon 9 Wednesday Morning from CCSFS

A leading contender in an increasingly crowded race to the first commercial Moon landing, ispace of Tokyo, hopes to launch Mission 1, first in HAKUTO-R (White Rabbit) series of lunar missions, on 7 Dec at 3:04 EST from SLC-40 via SpaceX F9, accompanied by JPL Lunar Flashlight CubeSat; The 340-kg dry / 1,000-kg wet M1 lander has payload capacity of 30 kg, to carry an array of international payloads including rovers from UAE and Japan; While launch was delayed by SpaceX for launch vehicle inspection, ispace plans “no major operational changes”, nominal landing in late April 2023

 Pictured: ispace CEO Takeshi Hakamada, CTO Ryo Ujiie, CFO Jumpei Nozaki, CRO Atsushi Saiki; Credits: ispace, SpaceX

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 2-5 Dec 2022

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Wave of Independent Moon Missions to Trail Artemis 1, Followed by National Efforts, Then Another Raft of Indies

As NASA / ESA Orion Moonship returns to Earth, Advanced Space-controlled, Tyvak-built, NASA-funded Capstone remains in NRHO and Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter Danuri on course to reach Moon orbit 16 Dec, planned commercial missions include ispace M1 awaiting SpaceX launch at KSC pending F9 review; Intuitive Machines IM-1 March 2023; Astrobotic PM1 Q1 2023; Followed by national missions from JAXA (SLIM, April 2023), ISRO (Chandrayaan-3, June 2023), Roscosmos (Luna-25, July 2023); Independents IM-2 (late 2023), SpaceX landing demo mission (2024), IM-3 (Q2 2024), Astrobotic GM1 (Nov 2024)

 Credits: NASA, ISRO, KARI, IM, SpaceX, Astrobotic,

Thanksgiving Holiday Edition
Wed-Mon / 23-28 Nov 2022

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8 International Lunar Missions May Follow Artemis 1, Capstone, Danuri in Remainder of 2022 and 2023

As Artemis Orion spacecraft occupies cislunar distant retrograde orbit (130 x 64,000 km) with splashdown expected 11 Dec, NASA Capstone tests cislunar near rectilinear halo orbit (1,600 x 70,000 km) and KARI Danuri on course to reach 100km lunar orbit 16 Dec, numerous global efforts work to follow with ispace M1 launching NET 29 Nov 2022; Throughout 2023: Astrobotic Peregrine Mission One NET Q1, Intuitive Machines IM-1 NET March, JAXA SLIM NET April, ISRO Chandrayaan-3 NET June, Roscosmos Luna-25 NET July; IM-2 and Turkish Space Agency AYAP-1 aim for late 2023

Credits: NASA, KARI, Astrobotic, IM, JAXA, ISRO, TSA