SpaceX to go in heavy on Starlink launches this week - TWIRL #174

Following last week's absence of launches, This Week in Rocket Launches, we are back into full swing with several missions from SpaceX and a launch from Rocket Lab in New Zealand.

Sunday, 28 July

• Who: SpaceX
• What: Falcon 9
• When: 4:13 - 8:13 a.m. UTC
• Where: Florida, US
• Why: SpaceX will be launching a Falcon 9 carrying a batch of 23 Starlink satellites into a low Earth orbit. This group of satellites is known as Starlink Group 10-4 if you decide to use apps to try to spot them in the night sky. The first stage of the Falcon 9 will most likely attempt a landing so that it can be reused.

• Who: SpaceX
• What: Falcon 9
• When: 7:24 - 11:24 a.m. UTC
• Where: California, US
• Why: Like the previous mission, this one will see SpaceX launch Starlink satellites. This group is known as Starlink Group 9-4. It will consist of 20 Starlink satellites, including 13 direct-to-cell (DTC) Starlink satellites. The first stage of the rocket should also attempt a landing during this mission.

Tuesday, 30 July

• Who: United Launch Alliance (ULA)
• What: Atlas V
• When: 10:45 a.m. UTC
• Where: Florida, US
• Why: ULA will launch an Atlas V rocket as part of the USSF-51 mission for the U.S. Space Force. It will be carrying a satellite, but it's not clear which satellite.

• Who: Rocket Lab
• What: Electron
• When: 4:15 p.m. UTC
• Where: Mahia, New Zealand
• Why: Rocket Lab will use an Electron rocket to launch the StriX 2 satellite for Synspective. Despite the number of the satellite, it's the fifth in the series to be launched, following StriX α, β, 1, and 3. Synspective eventually wants to build this constellation of satellites out to 25. They are synthetic aperture radar satellites and can target ground data with a 1-3 meter resolution.

Saturday, 3 August

• Who: SpaceX
• What: Falcon 9
• When: 3:28 p.m. UTC
• Where: Florida, US
• Why: SpaceX will use the Falcon 9 to launch the Cygnus cargo freighter on an operational cargo flight to the International Space Station (ISS). The mission designation is NG-21 and is taking place under the auspices of NASA's commercial resupply services (CRS).

Recap

As you may have surmised from the absence of a TWIRL installment last week, there was not a lot going on. While the schedule didn't have any launches fixed, we did get a single Starlink mission where SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 and then performed a landing of the first stage of the rocket.

That's all for this week; check back next time.

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