Weekly Dose of Space (15/2-21/2)
Welcome back to Weekly Dose of Space! Last week saw four launches into low Earth orbit, with all of them carrying Starlink satellites. News during the week had the Artemis II lunar mission set for April and LandSpace's Zhuque-3 aiming to land this year. As always, we'll also look ahead to what the worldwide launch schedule might look like next week.
Launches This Week
February 15th - Falcon 9 with Starlink Group 17-13
SpaceX's Falcon 9 sent twenty-four Starlink satellites into low Earth orbit from Space Launch Complex 4E, in California. Supporting the mission was booster B1081 for its twenty-second flight, landing downrange on the drone ship 'Of Course I Still Love You'.
February 16th - Falcon 9 with Starlink Group 6-103
Out of Space Launch Complex 40, a Falcon 9 flew into low Earth orbit carrying twenty-nine Starlink satellites. Booster B1090 supported this launch for its tenth flight, landing on the drone ship 'A Shortfall Of Gravitas' downrange.
February 20th - Falcon 9 with Starlink Group 10-36
Twenty-nine more Starlink satellites were placed into low Earth orbit by a Falcon 9 flying from Space Launch Complex 40. Support this launch was booster B1077, flying for the twenty-sixth time and landing downrange on the drone ship 'Just Read The Instructions'.
Falcon 9 lands on the Just Read the Instructions droneship off the coast of The Bahamas pic.twitter.com/h5Ju4ndXSj
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) February 20, 2026
Falcon 9 first-stage booster B1077 landing on the drone ship 'Just Read The Instructions' on February 20th, via SpaceX on Twitter.
February 21st - Falcon 9 with Starlink Group 17-25
Another twenty-five Starlink satellites were delivered to low Earth orbit from Space Launch Complex 4E by a Falcon 9. Booster B1063 supported this launch for its thirty-first flight, with a landing on the drone ship 'Of Course I Still Love You' downrange.
In Other Space News
Artemis II mission set for April
Following a second wet dress rehearsal that saw no major issues, NASA initially announced on February 20th that the Artemis II mission is set to launch no earlier than March 6th (March 7th Universal Coordinated Time). A day later, the space agency discovered a helium-related-problem that requires delaying the mission to April 1st at the earliest.
The mission will utilize the Space Launch System rocket, launching from Launch Complex 39B in Florida, and an Orion spacecraft to send NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen around the Moon as part of a ten-day mission. In preparation for it, the four astronauts had entered the planned two-week quarantine before launch.
When Artemis II lifts off and performs its burn to head to the Moon, its astronauts will be the first people heading around it since Apollo 17 in December 1972.
Zhuque-3 planned to land as early as April
LandSpace shared via a presentation at the United Nations that the company is aiming to land and recover its first Zhuque-3 booster as early as April. The information regarding the rockets' next flight, and others this year, was from Cai Guorui, General Manager of the Department of Quality and Safety, who shared:
“We are right now optimizing the recovery workflow, and we are confident in achieving a first-stage recovery in the next flight of Zhuque-3. Looking forward, we are planning a second recovery attempt in quarter two this year, followed by a reuse of recovered first-stages in quarter four. These steps will further mature our reusable launch system at LandSpace and in China.”
As disclosed by Cai, later this year the company is looking to reuse a Zhuque-3 first-stage booster, assuming one lands before the fourth quarter. Three flights of the rocket are expected to take place in 2026, with flight hardware well into production.
What to Expect Next Week
February 22nd - Falcon 9 with Starlink Group 6-104
A batch of Starlink satellites are set to be launched into low Earth orbit by a Falcon 9 flying out of Space Launch Complex 40.
February 24th - Falcon 9 with Starlink Group 17-26
Another Falcon 9 is planned to head into low Earth orbit from Space Launch Complex 4E with another group of Starlink satellites.
February 24th - Electron for 'That's Not a Knife'
Rocket Lab's Electron rocket is preparing to fly in its suborbital HASTE configuration to throw Hypersonix's DART AE downrange for testing of a hydrogen-fuelled scramjet engine.
February 24th - Falcon 9 with Starlink Group 6-110
From Space Launch Complex 40, more Starlink satellites are planned to be placed into low Earth orbit by a Falcon 9.
February 25th - KAIROS with four satellites
Japanese company Space One is hoping to finally have its KAIROS launch vehicle reach orbit with four satellites set to be aboard its third flight, out of Space Port Kii, in Wakayama Prefecture, Japan.
February 27th - Falcon 9 with Starlink Group 6-108
Yet more Starlink satellites are set to head into low Earth orbit via a Falcon 9 from Space Launch Complex 40.
February 28th - Alpha for 'Stairway To Seven'
Firefly Aerospace's Alpha is expected to fly for the seventh time out of the Vandenberg Space Force Base, in California, to verify upgrades to the vehicle while being a return to flight mission.
February 28th - Falcon 9 with Starlink Group 17-23
SpaceX is looking to launch another batch of Starlink satellites from Space Launch Complex 4E and into low Earth orbit.
