The first week of September will see only four orbital launches and a single sub-orbital crewed launch. SpaceX will start the week off with its Starlink Group 6-12 mission. China will then launch two back-to-back missions with the Ceres-1S and Chang Zheng 4C. Virgin Galactic will then launch its fourth crewed mission of four months with Galactic-03. Finally, China will end the week with a Chang Zheng 6A launch.
Falcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink Group 6-12
Starting off the week, SpaceX will attempt to launch its first Starlink mission from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) in over six months on Sunday, Sep. 3, at 7:25 PM EDT (23:25 UTC). Falcon 9 will launch 21 Starlink v2 Mini satellites to a 284 by 293-kilometer low-Earth orbit, inclined 43.00 degrees.
This launch will take the Starlink constellation to 4,704 satellites in orbit, of which 3,963 are in their operational orbits. Overall, SpaceX will have launched 5,048 Starlink satellites, of which 344 have been deorbited either for testing purposes or for on-orbit failures.
The booster supporting this mission, B1073-10, first flew on the Starlink Group 4-15 mission in May 2022. Since then, it has supported SES-22, Starlink Group 4-26, Starlink Group 4-35, HAKUTO-R Mission 1, Amazonas Nexus, CRS-27, Starlink Group 6-2, and Starlink Group 5-11.
Following liftoff, the booster will attempt to land on SpaceX’s recovery vessel Just Read the Instructions, which was rapidly turned around following the launch of the Starlink Group 6-11 mission, which occurred on Aug. 27. SpaceX’s multi-purpose recovery ship Doug will provide drone ship support for this mission and will attempt to recover both fairing halves from the water roughly 45 minutes after liftoff.
As typical on East Coast Starlink missions, Falcon 9 will conduct two burns of its upper stage, deploying the 21 satellites 65 minutes after launch.
This mission marks the second Starlink mission from LC-39A of 2023. In comparison, SpaceX’s Space Launch Complex 40 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station has launched 21 Starlink missions this year and Space Launch Complex 4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base has seen 12. Due to the three Falcon Heavy launches and five Dragon launches thus far in 2023, LC-39A has been undergoing near-constant pad conversions.
Outbound and down.
Falcon 9, Dragon Endurance, and a new crew of 4 climb into the stars & onwards to humanity’s greatest outpost: the ISS.
– @NASASpaceflight pic.twitter.com/7tPapQ5smc
— Max Evans (@_mgde_) August 26, 2023
For Falcon Heavy missions, teams must remove the side rainbirds, make changes to the reaction frame to support the propellant loading of three boosters, make changes to the transporter erector, and change the pad’s countdown software to handle the different vehicle, in a process that takes roughly two weeks in both directions.
Additionally, for Dragon launches, SpaceX must modify the top of the transporter erector, removing the fairing airconditioning and supply lines for Dragon. This process is quicker than pad conversions for Falcon Heavy, but still adds roughly a week to pad turnaround times.
For these reasons, LC-39A has launched significantly fewer missions this calendar year than SpaceX’s other pads. Despite this, Starlink Group 6-12 will mark SpaceX’s 62nd Falcon launch of 2023 — surpassing the company’s 2022 record of 61 orbital launches in a year. If SpaceX’s launch cadence remains roughly constant for the rest of the year, the company is expected to reach roughly 95 launches, including Starship.
Ceres-1S | The Little Mermaid
On Tuesday, Sep. 5, at 09:40 UTC, the Ceres-1S rocket will launch four internet satellites into low-Earth orbit for China. This launch will take place from the Maritime launching platform, which will be stationed in the Yellow Sea. This will mark both the first maritime launch of the Ceres-1 rocket and the first private Chinese launch from a sea platform.
The Ceres-1S is a four-stage rocket that stands 19 meters tall with a fairing diameter of 1.4 meters. The vehicle can place up to 400 kilograms into a low-Earth orbit. This mission will mark its fifth mission of 2023 and ninth overall.
Chang Zheng 4C | Unknown Payload
A day later, China will attempt to launch its Chang Zheng 4C rocket from Site 9401 at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, in China. Liftoff is scheduled for 18:18 UTC on Sep. 6. The launch vehicle, launch time, and payload are all highly uncertain, and may change.
The Galactic-03 mission is Virgin Galactic’s third commercial mission using the SpaceShipTwo VSS Unity spacecraft. The mission, which will provide passengers with a few minutes of weightlessness and incredible views of Earth, is set to launch on Sep. 8, with a currently unknown drop time. This will mark SpaceShipTwo’s 17th mission and fifth of 2023.
The spacecraft will be carried to around 45,000 feet by carrier aircraft VMS Eve before being released and igniting its hybrid rocket engine. This engine, burning liquid nitrous oxide and solid rubber, will burn for around 60 seconds, taking the spacecraft to an altitude of roughly 80 kilometers.
4x slow motion footage of drop and ignition from today’s @virgingalactic Galactic 02 mission. @NASASpaceflight
Rewatch our stream here: https://t.co/WjVdH5Nv9u pic.twitter.com/zwsJkEQ0yr
— Jack Beyer (@thejackbeyer) August 10, 2023
Crew members for this mission purchased their tickets as early as 2005 and the full crew has not been announced. VSS Unity will be piloted by Nicola Pecile and Michael Masucci — veterans of the company. The astronaut instructor is Colin Bennett and the mothership VMS Eve will be piloted by pilots Jameel Janjua and Kelly Latimer.
Galactic-03 will mark Virgin Galactic’s fourth spaceflight in four months, with Galactic-02 having just flown 29 days prior to launch on Aug. 10.
Chang Zheng 6A | Unknown Payload
Ending the week off, China will attempt to launch a Chang Zheng 6A from Launch Complex 9A at the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in China. Liftoff is scheduled for 04:40 UTC on Sep. 9. However, the launch vehicle, payload, and launch time are still uncertain, and could change.
(Lead image: Credit: Falcon 9 returning the port following the Starlink Group 6-11 mission. Credit: Max Evans for NSF)
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