Previous Spaceflight Launches
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Soyuz 2.1a | Progress MS-18 (79P)
Progress Rocket Space Center | RussiaBaikonur Cosmodrome, Republic of Kazakhstan
Oct. 28, 2021, midnight
Kuaizhou-1A | Jilin-1-02F
ExPace | ChinaJiuquan Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China
Oct. 27, 2021, 6:19 a.m.
H-IIA 202 | QZS-1R
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries | JapanTanegashima Space Center, Japan
Oct. 26, 2021, 2:19 a.m.
Status: Launch Successful
Mission:
The Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS) is a three-satellite regional time transfer system and the satellite-based augmentation system for the GPS that would be receivable within Japan. The primary purpose of QZSS is to increase the availability of GPS in Japan's numerous urban canyons, where only satellites at very high elevation can be seen. A secondary function is performance enhancement, increasing the accuracy and reliability of GPS derived navigation solutions. QZS-1R is a replacement satellite for QZS-1 which was launched in 2010.
Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit
Ariane 5 ECA+ | SES-17 & Syracuse 4A
ArianeGroup | FranceGuiana Space Centre, French Guiana
Oct. 24, 2021, 2:10 a.m.
Status: Launch Successful
Mission:
SES-17 is a Ka-band high-throughput geostationary communications satellite built by Thales Alenia Space designed to provide mobile internet services to airline passengers over the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean. Syracuse 4A is a French military communications satellite built by Thales Alenia Space.
Geostationary Transfer Orbit
Long March 3B | Shijian 21
China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation | ChinaXichang Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China
Oct. 24, 2021, 1:27 a.m.
Nuri | Flight Test
Korea Aerospace Research Institute | South KoreaNaro Space Center, South Korea
Oct. 21, 2021, 8 a.m.
Atlas V 401 | Lucy
United Launch Alliance | United States of AmericaCape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA
Oct. 16, 2021, 9:34 a.m.
Status: Launch Successful
Mission:
Lucy is the first mission to explore and study Trojan asteroids. The Trojans are a type of asteroids that orbit the Sun in two groups, in front of and behind Jupiter in its orbit around our star. Since these asteroids have been in such stable orbits for billions of years, they are of great interest as remnants of early Solar System. Lucy is a NASA mission led by NASA Goddard and Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado. Over the course of 12 years, Lucy will fly by seven different Trojan asteroids and also one main belt asteroid. The complex trajectory to visit all targets will include several Earth gravity assists.
Heliocentric N/A
Long March 2F/G | Shenzhou 13
China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation | ChinaJiuquan Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China
Oct. 15, 2021, 4:23 p.m.
Status: Launch Successful
Mission:
Second crewed flight to the Chinese Tiangong space station carrying Zhai Zhigang, commander, Wang Yaping and Ye Guangfu, operators, on their second, second and first spaceflight respectively. Their mission duration onboard the TSS is 6 months, the longest so far in Chinese spaceflight.
Low Earth Orbit
Long March 2D | Xihe (CHASE)
China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation | ChinaTaiyuan Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China
Oct. 14, 2021, 10:51 a.m.
Status: Launch Successful
Mission:
Xihe, also known as the Chinese Hα Solar Explorer (CHASE), is designed to test a newly developed satellite platform and conduct solar observations. The scientific payload of the satellite is an Hα imaging spectrograph (HIS), which can, for the first time, acquire full-disk spectroscopic solar observations in the Hα waveband. It will complement the observations by on-orbit solar spacecraft (such as SDO, IRIS, STEREO and PSP), as well as future solar missions of the Solar Orbiter and the Chinese Advanced Space-based Solar Observatory (ASO-S). Mission is named Xihe after a solar deity from Chinese mythology.
Sun-Synchronous Orbit
Soyuz 2.1b/Fregat-M | OneWeb 11
Progress Rocket Space Center | RussiaVostochny Cosmodrome, Siberia, Russian Federation
Oct. 14, 2021, 9:40 a.m.
Status: Launch Successful
Mission:
A batch of 36 satellites for the OneWeb satellite constellation, which is intended to provide global Internet broadband service for individual consumers. The constellation is planned to have around 648 microsatellites (of which 60 are spares), around 150 kg each, operating in Ku-band from low Earth orbit.
Polar Orbit
