SpaceX, South Korea, and China Prepare for Rocket Launches This Week

SpaceX, South Korea, and China are preparing for several uncrewed rocket launches scheduled between Oct. 5 and Oct. 11, according to NASASpaceFlight, Astronomy.com, and Astronomy Magazine. The planned missions include orbital flights carrying commercial, scientific, and military payloads. [1][2][3]

Astronomy Magazine reported that SpaceX is scheduled to launch the Tranche 1 Transport Layer A mission for the U.S. Space Development Agency on Tuesday, Oct. 6, at 4:17 a.m. EDT. A Falcon 9 rocket will lift off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California to deploy military satellites into low Earth orbit, with the first-stage booster expected to land at Landing Zone 4 at Vandenberg. [3]

SpaceX is also scheduled to launch a batch of Starlink satellites during the week, according to Astronomy Magazine. Additional international missions scheduled for the week include South Korea launching a batch of Earth-observing satellites on its Nuri rocket, while China plans to launch a Long March 12 rocket. [3]