Weekly Dose of Space (8/9-14/9)

Welcome back to Weekly Dose of Space! This week once again had five orbital launches occur, with one being crewed. News this week had the first-ever commercial spacewalk and a Chinese company performing a major reusable rocket test. As always, we'll also look ahead to what the worldwide launch schedule might look like next week.

SpaceX

This week at Starbase was slower compared to previous weeks due to storm-related flooding, nevertheless it began on September 8th, when Ship 31 was spotted being loaded with propellant at the Massey's test site, no engine testing is believed to have happened with nothing said by SpaceX.

Two days later a test tank, also at the Massey's test site, was spotted being loaded with propellant for testing, it's unknown what this test tank is for. Over at the launch site on September 13th teams were spotted installing various commodity pipes to the the second launch tower.

More test of Ship 31 was also spotted on September 14th, but once again no engine testing is believed to have occurred.

Launches This Week

September 10th - Falcon 9 with Polaris Dawn.

Polaris Dawn finally lifted off from Launch Complex 39A, in Florida, atop Falcon 9 at 09:23 am, Universal Coordinated Time, on September 10th heading to low Earth orbit. Crew Dragon C207 'Resilience' is carrying four astronauts for this mission, they are Commander Jared Isaacman, Pilot Scott Poteet, Mission Specialist Anna Menon, and Mission Specialist Sarah Gillis.

The booster for this mission, B1083, was flying for the fourth time and successfully landed on the drone ship 'Just Read The Instructions' downrange.

September 11th - Soyuz 2.1a with MS-26

A Soyuz 2.1a blasted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome heading into low Earth orbit to allow the Soyuz MS-26 mission to chase down the International Space Station. Onboard the Soyuz MS-26 spacecraft are Roscosmos' Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner as well as NASA's Donald Pettit.

September 12th - Falcon 9 with BlueBird Block 1

A Falcon 9 lifted off from Space Launch Complex 40, in Florida, carrying five satellites into low Earth orbit for AST SpaceMobile’s broadband constellation. The booster for this mission was B1078 flying for the thirteenth time and landing back at Landing Zone 1.

September 13th - Starlink Group 9-6

Another Falcon 9 carried a batch of twenty-one satellites to low Earth orbit from Space Launch Complex 4E, in California. The booster supporting this mission was B1071 flying for the eighteenth time and landing down range on the drone ship 'Of Course I Still Love You'.

September 14th - Qaem 100 with Chamran-1

A Qaem 100 rocket lifted off from the Shahroud Missile Test Site in Iran and headed for low Earth orbit. The rocket carried the Chamran-1 technology demonstration satellite, which is believed to weigh 60 kilograms.

In Other Space News

Polaris Dawn mission completes first commercial spacewalk!

After three days in orbit, Sarah Gillis and Jared Isaacman conducted the first commercial spacewalk out of the front of Crew Dragon C207 'Resilience' after a two-day pre-breathe.

The spacewalk was performed to conduct mobility tests as well as verifying the first SpaceX-designed suit for use in a vacuum. Both Gillis and Isaacman performed these tests, emerging from Crew Dragon individually.

For this mission, SpaceX has swapped out the docking port on the front of the vehicle with its 'Skywalker' structure. 'Skywalker' is designed to help the crew exit Crew Dragon, and move back inside after the spacewalk.

If you want to know more about Polaris Dawn consider checking out our coverage of pre-launch, launch, and in-orbit activity.

LandSpace performs major rocket reuse test

LandSpace, one of the leaders of China's commercial launch industry, performed a 10-kilometer hop test on September 10th with the company's Zhuque-3 VTVL-1 vehicle. This was the second 10-kilometer hop test in China following one in late June, as a joint effort between the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation and the Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology.

The test vehicle flew for 3 minutes and 20.7 seconds with the engine igniting twice, once for liftoff and once for landing. This test had the vehicle land a few miles away where it landed just 1.7 meters off-center at a speed of 1.65 meters per second, or 3.7 miles per hour (5.95 kilometers per hour). According to LandSpace, this hop test verified control during unpowered flight, the reusability of the company's engines, and the technology to light an engine during descent in flight.

Further details about LandSpace and Zhuque-3 are available here.

What to Expect Next Week

Starbase

As we have been reporting for the last few weeks, the fifth test flight of SpaceX's Starship-Super Heavy vehicle is still awaiting regulatory approval from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration. This latest flight test requires a change in the flight plan, notably a potential landing of Booster 12 back at the launch site on the launch towers 'chopsticks'. The Federal Aviation Administration is currently not expected to approve this launch until November due to environmental concerns and SpaceX's late submission of information.

Both vehicles for flight five, Booster 12 and Ship 30, are ready for flight pending a possible wet dress rehearsal.

September 15th - Falcon 9 with Galileo FM26 & FM32

Falcon 9 is expected to launch from Space Launch Complex 40, in Florida, carrying two Galileo satellites for Europe. The booster for this mission is unknown, but it is expected to land downrange on a drone ship.

September 16th - H2A with IGS Radar 8

A H2A rocket is expected to launch from the Tanegashima Space Center carrying a reconnaissance satellite to sun-synchronus orbit.

September 17th - Electron with 'Kinéis Killed the RadIoT Star'

Rocket Lab's Electron rocket is expecting to deliver its second batch of Kinéis Internet of Things satellites from Launch Complex 1B on the Māhia Peninsula, in New Zealand, to low Earth orbit.

September 17th - Anagara 1.2 with an unknown payload

An Angara 1.2 is believed to be launching from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome carrying an unknown payload to a sun-synchronous orbit.

September 18th - Falcon 9 with Starlink Group 9-17

SpaceX is believed to be launching another batch of Starlink satellites to low Earth orbit from Space Launch Complex 4E, in California. The booster for this mission is also unknown, but it is expected to land downrange on a drone ship.