Did you see the launch of SpaceX’s Starship earlier this month? If that’s whetted your appetite for more cutting-edge rocket launches, you’re in luck because this summer will see the blast-off of three more landmark launches.
Expect a rare outing for SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket, a debut launch of a new workhorse rocket and an attempt to send astronauts farther into space than at anytime since NASA’s Apollo missions in the early 1970s.
Here’s everything you need to know—and dates for your diary.
Tuesday, June 25: A Rare Launch And Tandem Landing
Mission: SpaceX Falcon Heavy launches NOAA’s GOES-U satellite.
Where to watch: SpaceX’s website or YouTube channel.
Only the tenth SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket will launch from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, today, taking into orbit a NASA/NOAA GOES-U weather satellite. GOES-U is unique in having a coronagraph to image the sun’s mysteriously hotter outer atmosphere, helping solar physicists more accurately predict space weather.
Falcon Heavy is a partly reusable super heavy-lift launch vehicle, the highlight will be watching its two boosters land in tandem on two adjacent pads.
NASA and SpaceX are targeting a two-hour launch window opening at 5:16 p.m. EDT on Tuesday, June 25, but keep an eye on the SpaceX feed on X for exact timings.
Tuesday, July 9: A Powerful New Rocket Goes Skywards For The First Time
Mission: Europe’s new workhorse rocket makes it debut launch.
Where to watch: European Space Agency’s website or YouTube channel.
The European Space Agency has confirmed the first launch of Ariane 6 from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana.
Europe’s new heavy lift launch vehicle replaces Ariane 5 and has a re-ignitable upper stage, which will allow it to launch multiple missions on different orbits on a single flight.
Friday, July 12: ‘Polaris Dawn’ Goes 870 miles Above Earth
Mission: A SpaceX Falcon 9 will launch a commercial crew of four private astronauts into space in a Dragon capsule.
Where to watch: SpaceX’s website or YouTube channel.
The Polaris Program is a tie-up with SpaceX that will see up to three human spaceflight missions to demonstrate new technologies. It’s headed-up by Jared Isaacman, founder of Shift4 Payments, who went to space as commander of the SpaceX Inspiration4 mission in September 2021.
This first mission, “Polaris Dawn,” will see the Dragon spacecraft containing four astronauts (Isaacman, Scott Poteet, Sarah Gillis and Anna Menon) fly 870 miles above Earth—the highest since the Apollo missions to the moon.
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