Weekly Dose of Space (18/1-24/1)

Welcome back to Weekly Dose of Space! This week had five rockets heading into space, with three supporting mega-constellations. Events during the week had a New Glenn booster preparing to fly again and Neutron suffering hardware loss before it first flight. As always, we'll also look ahead to what the worldwide launch schedule might look like next week.

Launches This Week

January 18th - Falcon 9 with Starlink Group 6-100

From Space Launch Complex 40, in Floirda, SpaceX's Falcon 9 flew into low Earth orbit with twenty-nine Starlink satellites. Supporting this launch was booster B1080, for its twenty-fourth flight with a landing downrange on the drone ship 'A Shortfall Of Gravitas'.

January 19th - Long March 12 with GuoWang Group 19

A Long March 12 flew out of the Wenchang Commercial Space Launch Site carrying nine GuoWang satellites into low Earth orbit. With this launch, the connectivity mega-constellation has 154 satellites in space.

January 22nd - Falcon 9 with Starlink Group 17-30

Another Falcon 9 flew out of Space Launch Complex 4E, in California, to deliver twenty-five Starlink satellites into low Earth orbit. Booster B1093 supported this mission for its tenth flight, landing on the drone ship 'Of Course I Still Love You' downrange.

January 22nd - Electron for 'The Cosmos Will See You Now'

Rocket Lab's Electrion carried two of Open Cosmos' broadband satellites into a polar orbit from Launch Complex 1A, on the Māhia Peninsula. Open Cosmos' plans to launch further satellites for a Europe-focused resilient connectivity infrastructure.

January 22nd - New Shepard with NS-38

In West Texas, Blue Origin flew its New Shepard vehicle briefly over the Kármán line, carrying passangers Tim Drexler, Linda Edwards, Alain Fernandez, Alberto Gutiérrez, Jim Hendren, and Laura Stiles. Booster NS4 supported this mission for its seventeenth flight, while capsule RSS First Step was being used for the sixteenth time.

In Other Space News

New Glenn booster to be reused in February

New Glenn's next flight is set to take place no earlier than late in February, carrying a single AST SpaceMobile cellular broadband satellite into low Earth orbit, Blue Origin announced on January 22nd. That mission will take place from the rocket's only launch pad, Launch Complex 36 in Florida.

For the mission, Blue Origin is reusing the first-stage booster designated 'Never Tell Me The Odds', which landed back in November 2025 for New Glenn's first ever. At the moment, the booster is being refurbished for flight.

Neutron suffers hardware loss during testing

Rocket Lab shared on January 21st that its first-stage propellant tanks for its partially reusable Neutron rocket had been lost during qualification testing shortly before. The test that resulted in hardware loss was a hydrostatic trial, in which the propellant tanks were filled with water to stress them beyond their expected flight limits.

If the test had been successfully completed, the tanks were expected to be integrated onto Neutron's first flight vehicle. Writing on the path to flight, the company shared:

"There was no significant damage to the test structure or facilities, the next Stage 1 tank is already in production, and Neutron’s development campaign continues while the team assesses today’s test outcome." – "The team is reviewing the Stage 1 test data, which will determine the extent of the impact to Neutron’s launch schedule."

What to Expect Next Week

January 25th - Falcon 9 with Starlink Group 17-20

SpaceX is preparing to launch a Falcon 9 from Space Launch Complex 4E into low Earth orbit with a batch of Starlink satellites.

January 26th - Electron with NeonSat-1A

Rocket Lab is set to launch Korea's NeonSat-1A Earth monitoring into sun-synchronous orbit from the Māhia Peninsula.

January 27th - Falcon 9 with GPS-III-SV09

A Falcon 9 is set to head for medium Earth orbit carrying the U.S. military's GPS-III-SV09 navigation satellite.

January 29th - Falcon 9 with Starlink Group 17-19

Another batch of Starlink satellites are set to be placed into low Earth orbit via a Falcon 9 flying from Space Launch Complex 4E.

January 30th - Falcon 9 with Starlink Group 6-101

More Starlink satellites will be launched atop of a Falcon 9, flying from Space Launch Complex 40, and deployed into low Earth orbit.