Spaceflight

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Your one-stop shop for spaceflight news and discussion.

All serious posts related to spaceflight are welcome! JAXA, ISRO, CNSA, Roscosmos, ULA, RocketLab, Firefly, Relativity, Blue Origin, etc. (Arca and Pythom, if you must).

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founded 2 years ago
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submitted 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) by threelonmusketeers to c/spaceflight
 
 

Welcome everyone!

This follows a previous launch attempt on April 10th, which was scrubbed due to weather.

| Scheduled for (UTC) | 2025-04-28 23:01 | |


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| | Scheduled for (local) | 2025-04-28 19:01 (EDT) | | Launch site | SLC-41, Cape Canaveral SFS, Florida, USA. | | Launch vehicle | Atlas V 551 | | Launch provider | United Launch Alliance (ULA) | | Customer | Amazon Kuiper Systems | | Payload | KA-01 | | Target orbit | LEO |

Livestreams

| Stream | Link | |


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| | ULA | https://www.youtube.com/@unitedlaunchalliance/streams | | NASASpaceflight | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kw96eOC2iPs | | Space Affairs | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQuTcF_d6Ls | | Spaceflight Now | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cJ21DHYtbQ | | The Launch Pad | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlQfiGzmjd8 | | Everyday Astronaut | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_he20zjJZTw |

Launch statistics

☑️ 1st Atlas V mission of 2025

☑️ 1st ULA mission of 2025

☑️ 102nd Atlas V mission overall

☑️ 164th ULA mission overall

Mission Details 🚀

Project Kuiper is a mega constellation of satellites in Low Earth Orbit that will offer broadband internet access managed by Kuiper Systems LLC, a subsidiary of Amazon. This constellation is planned to be composed of 3,236 satellites. The satellites are projected to be placed in 98 orbital planes in three orbital layers, one at 590 km, 610 km, and 630 km altitude.


Previous ULA launch: Vulcan Cert-2

Next ULA launch: TBD

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submitted 6 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) by threelonmusketeers to c/spaceflight
 
 

Message In A Booster

| Scheduled for UTC | 2025-04-29 13:37 | |


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| | Scheduled for (local) | 2025-04-29 06:37 (PDT) | | Launch site | SLC-2W, Vandenberg SFB, California, USA | | Launch provider | Firefly Aerospace | | Launch vehicle | Alpha | | Customer | Lockheed Martin | | Payload | LM400 Demo | | Target orbit | LEO |

Livestreams

| Stream | Link | |


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| | Firefly Aerospace | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkusoizm-Zk (scrub) | | NASASpaceflight | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o35dNjHwWuc (scrub) | | Space Affairs | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9k7jMf0FQ0 (scrub) |

Payload info (NextSpaceflight):

First of up to 25 launches of Low Earth Orbit technology demonstration satellites to be built and operated by Lockheed Martin.

Demonstration mission for Lockheed Martin LM400 satellite bus, which will carry a communications payload. The satellite bus is customizable to support different missions — including remote sensing, communications, imagery and radar — as well as orbits and launch configurations.

Stats

  • 1st launch of Firefly Alpha in 2025.
  • 6th launch of Firefly Alpha overall.

Firefly mission page

Please post small launch updates, discussions, and questions here! Also feel free to leave feedback or suggestions for the mod team. We’re still a relatively small sub, so feedback from the community is very valuable!

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Shenzhou 20 Launch Thread (self.spaceflight)
submitted 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) by threelonmusketeers to c/spaceflight
 
 

Welcome everyone!

Another six months, another crew rotation to Tiangong.

This thread has been created for informational and discussion purposes, and in no way represents an endorsement of the CCP.

| Scheduled for (UTC) | 2025-04-24 09:17 | |


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| | Scheduled for (local) | 2025-04-24 17:17 (CST) | | Docking scheduled for (UTC) | 2025-04-24 15:49 | | Mission | Shenzhou 20 | | Launch site | Site 901 (SLS-1), Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, China | | Vehicle | Long March 2F | | Commander | Chen Dong 🇨🇳| | Operator | Chen Zhongrui 🇨🇳| | Science Operator | Wang Jie 🇨🇳| | Mission success criteria | Successful launch and docking to the Tiangong space station |

Livestreams

| Stream | Link | |


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| | CGTN | https://m.youtube.com/@cgtn/streams | | VideoFromSpace | https://youtube.com/watch?v=bAPlw5DuLak | | Space Affairs | https://youtube.com/watch?v=tEnWWq0PpwY | | The Launch Pad | https://youtube.com/watch?v=VrRtxYadXms |

Stats

☑️ 1st crewed Chinese spaceflight this year, 15th overall

☑️ 20th flight of the Shenzhou program

☑️ 1st Long March 2F mission of 2025, 25th overall

Mission Details 🚀

Next Spaceflight

Shenzhou 20 (Chinese: 神舟二十号) will mark the 15th crewed Chinese spaceflight and the 20th flight of the Shenzhou program. The spacecraft will carry three Chinese astronauts on the 9th flight to the Chinese Space Station. The crew consists of Chen Dong, Chen Zhongrui and Wang Jie.

| Target orbit | LEO | |


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| | Payload mass | 8100 kg |

Please post small launch updates, discussions, and questions here! Also feel free to leave feedback or suggestions for the mod team. We’re still a relatively small sub, so feedback from the community is very valuable!

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