An Updated SpaceX Launch Calendar
The next SpaceX launch is July 2.
There is always something spectacular about a rocket launch, especially when the rocket in question is using super-cold oxygen and can land vertically on a floating drone ship.
Elon Musk founded SpaceX in 2002, promising the next generation of space flight, and the company’s Falcon 9 rockets are working on an ambitious launch calendar for all your space-related needs. We’re talking commercial and government satellite launches, NASA resupply missions to the International Space Station, and astronaut flights to and from the ISS on track for late 2018. Since launches can be delayed for all sorts of reasons — from accidents to inclement weather, the calendar changes regularly. This is what we know: SpaceX is essentially planning a launch every few weeks for the next few months. You can watch live webcasts of SpaceX launches — and the droneship landings — at spacex.com/webcast.
The SpaceX Calendar
Until the launch of the Falcon Heavy rocket (which is currently scheduled for the fall) all upcoming SpaceX launches use Falcon 9 rockets.
June 25, 2017 — Falcon 9, Iridium
At 4:25 p.m. Eastern time, a Falcon 9 launching from the Vandenberg Air Force Base, California will carry the next 10 satellite installments for Iridium’s mobile communications fleet.
July 1, 2017 — Falcon 9, Intelsat
Projected for July 1 at 7:35 p.m. Eastern time at the Kennedy Space Center, a Falcon 9 will launch the Intelsat 35e satellite into orbit as part of the Intelsat’s “Epic” fleet that will provide communications services over eastern North America, the Caribbean, South America, Europe and Africa. But, this launch has already been rescheduled from April.
July Updates
- In July, a Falcon 9 will launch from Cape Canaveral with the SES-11/EchoStar 105 hybrid communications satellite in tow. The satellite will replace the AMC-15 and AMC-18 satellites, improving communications and covering the entire United States and Gulf of Mexico.
- Sometime in July, a Falcon 9 will launch the Koreasat 5A communications satellite from the Kennedy Space Center, which will improve communications in South Korea, Japan, the Philippines, Guam, Indochina, and South Asia. This has been delayed from February.
- Also in July, a Falcon 9 will the Formosat 5 Earth observation satellite, the first indigenous development of remote sensing from the National Space Organization of Taiwan.
August Updates
- SpaceX is shooting for an August 1 launch date of the CRS 12 mission which will carry the 14th Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station.
- The next installment of the Iridium satellite fleet is expected to take place at the Vandenberg Air Force Base sometime in August.
Other Updates
- SpaceX’s first launch of the Falcon Heavy, the world’s largest rocket, has been pushed back from June for some time in the late summer or early fall. Official dates are still to be set, but it will certainly be a sight to enjoy when the demo flight launches from the Kennedy Space Center.
