Starship flies again as Skyroot chases India’s first private orbital launch
Here’s what’s launching July 13–19: Starship’s 13th flight test targets a Thursday liftoff, a crewed Soyuz heads for the International Space Station, and Skyroot Aerospace attempts India’s first private orbital launch.
The Soyuz MS-27 spacecraft, solar panels extended, approaches the International Space Station. Soyuz MS-29 is set to carry NASA astronaut Anil Menon and cosmonauts Pyotr Dubrov and Anna Kikina to the station this week. Credit: NASA
Rocket launches this week
Today, Monday, July 13, at 9:17 p.m. EST, SpaceX launches the Starlink Group 15-14 mission from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. The Falcon 9 booster is expected to land on the droneship Of Course I Still Love You in the Pacific.
Tuesday, July 14, brings a two-launch day. At 3:15 a.m. EST, SpaceX sends the Starlink Group 10-45 mission up from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, with the booster targeting the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas.
Later that morning, at 10:47 a.m. EST, Roscosmos launches Soyuz MS-29 on a Soyuz 2.1a rocket from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, carrying NASA astronaut Anil Menon and cosmonauts Pyotr Dubrov and Anna Kikina to join Expedition 74 aboard the International Space Station for a roughly eight-month stay. Soyuz MS-29
Thursday, July 16, is a packed day for SpaceX. At 4:22 p.m. EST, a Falcon 9 lifts off from Vandenberg carrying Tranche 1 Transport Layer E satellites for the Space Development Agency (SDA) — a direct reporting unit under the U.S. Space Force. The satellites are part of the SDA’s Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture, a large network of small satellites in low Earth orbit built for military communications and missile tracking. The booster is set to land on Of Course I Still Love You.
Then, in a 90-minute window opening at 6:45 p.m. EST, SpaceX targets the 13th flight test of Starship from Starbase, Texas. This flight repeats several objectives from Flight 12, which introduced the Starship V3. The booster will again attempt a boostback burn and an offshore landing burn over the Gulf of Mexico. The ship will attempt an in-space Raptor relight and a controlled splashdown in the Indian Ocean. This time Starship is carrying cargo: 20 next-generation Starlink V3 satellites will be deployed, six of them fitted with cameras to image Starship’s heat shield in flight. SpaceX has also made fixes after Flight 12, including propulsion changes to address the engine loss that struck the ship about 40 seconds after separation.
Friday, July 17, at 7:00 a.m. EST, a Long March 7A lifts off from Wenchang Space Launch Site in China carrying an undisclosed payload, per Next Spaceflight tracking data.
Skyroot Aerospace’s launch window for its Vikram-1 “Aagaman” demonstration flight from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in India opened July 12 and, per a post from Skyroot on X, remains open through Aug. 4. Next Spaceflight is reporting a possible launch opportunity at 1:00 a.m. EST on Saturday, July 18. This mission will be the company’s first orbital launch attempt.
Later that morning, at 10:00 a.m. EST, SpaceX closes out the week with the Starlink Group 17-39 mission from Vandenberg, with the booster again targeting Of Course I Still Love You.
Rocket launches last week
The week of July 7–12 opened with a SpaceX rideshare flight: Transporter 17 launched from Vandenberg on July 7 at 3:12 a.m. EST, with the booster landing on Of Course I Still Love You. SpaceX returned to Cape Canaveral on July 9 at 5:25 a.m. EST for the Starlink Group 10-42 mission, landing on A Shortfall of Gravitas.
The China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) launched the debut flight of its Long March 10B — a reusable variant of the rocket China is developing for crewed lunar missions — from Wenchang on July 10 at 12:15 a.m. EST. The flight marked China’s first controlled recovery of an orbital-class booster, catching the returning first stage on a sea platform using hooks that snagged a shifting grid of steel cables.
SpaceX closed the week with another Vandenberg Starlink launch, Group 17-48, on July 10 at 11:01 p.m. EST, with the booster landing on Of Course I Still Love You.
Upcoming rocket launches
On July 21, Next Spaceflight tracking lists a possible launch opportunity at 5:15 p.m. EST for Northrop Grumman’s Mission Robotic Vehicle MRV-1 on a Falcon 9 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. MRV-1 is designed to repair, upgrade, and relocate satellites in orbit using robotic arms, including installing mission-extending jetpacks.
On July 23, CASC has two launches on the books: at 7:00 a.m. EST, a Long March 3B/E lifts off from Xichang Satellite Launch Center carrying an undisclosed payload, per NextSpaceflight. Later that morning, at 10:00 a.m. EST, SpaceX targets the Starlink Group 17-51 mission from Vandenberg, with the booster set to land on Of Course I Still Love You.
