North Korean Launch Fails; Starliner CFT and EarthCARE

The North Korean space agency launched a Chollima 1 satellite launch vehicle from Sohae on the west coast of the country at 13:44 UTC on Monday, May 27. However, the vehicle exploded during first stage flight, marking the third failure out of the launcher’s four flights to date.

The Chollima 1 vehicle, named after a mythical Korean horse, was carrying the Manligyeong-1-1 payload, thought to be a military reconnaissance satellite. The vehicle was launching the satellite into a sun-synchronous orbit, which is typically used by many observation and reconnaissance satellites. That’s the first North Korean satellite launch attempt of 2024.

With the North Korean launch attempt behind us, let’s look ahead at the exciting lineup of space missions scheduled for the coming days. Buckle up, space enthusiasts, as we embark on a thrilling journey through the cosmic calendar.

Leading the charge is SpaceX, the undisputed champion of launch cadence. Fresh from their milestone of deploying the 6,500th Starlink satellite, the company shows no signs of slowing down. On Tuesday, May 28th, the Falcon 9 rocket is poised to take flight from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, carrying a batch of 23 Starlink v2 Mini satellites. This mission, dubbed Starlink 6-60, marks the beginning of a nearly four-hour launch window and will see the booster, B1078-10, embark on its 10th flight before landing gracefully on the autonomous spaceport drone ship in the Atlantic.

Hot on the heels of Starlink 6-60, another Falcon 9 is set to illuminate the skies above Vandenberg Space Force Base in California later the same day. This time, the payload is the joint European/Japanese EarthCARE satellite, a cutting-edge environmental monitoring platform designed to study Earth’s atmosphere and gather data crucial for refining climate models. With its suite of advanced instruments, including the Cloud Profiling Radar and Backscatter Lidar, EarthCARE promises to shed light on the intricate interplay between clouds, aerosols, and Earth’s radiation budget.

But that is not all! The launch lineup continues with a diverse array of missions from around the globe. Galactic Energy, a Chinese company, is gearing up to launch its Gushenxing-1S Y2 small satellite launcher on Wednesday, May 29th, carrying a suspected payload of Tianqi satellites designed to facilitate Internet of Things (IoT) communication.

Meanwhile, in the realm of resupply missions, Roscosmos is set to launch the Progress MS-27 cargo ship to the International Space Station (ISS) on Thursday, May 30th. This trusty spacecraft, carrying over 2,500 kilograms of essential supplies, will embark on a two-day journey before docking at the Poisk module’s zenith port.

The same day promises to be a launch extravaganza, with China’s Chang Zheng-3B/E rocket taking to the skies with the Paksat MM1R communications satellite, built for the Pakistan Space & Upper Atmosphere Research Commission. Not to be outdone, SpaceX will follow with another Starlink mission, Starlink 6-64, further bolstering the ever-growing constellation of satellites providing global internet coverage.

Rounding out the week’s launches is yet another Chinese mission, this time a Gushenxing-1 rocket carrying a suspected trio of new meteorological satellites, the Yunyao Qixiang. This mission is slated for liftoff just 26 minutes after the Starlink 6-64 launch, showcasing the remarkable cadence of modern spaceflight operations.

But the grand finale, the moment we’ve all been waiting for, is the long-awaited Boeing Starliner Crewed Flight Test (CFT). After a series of delays and setbacks, the Atlas V N22 rocket is finally poised to launch NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams aboard the Starliner spacecraft, Calypso, on Saturday, June 1st. This historic mission, the first crewed launch from Cape Canaveral since Apollo 7 in 1968, will pave the way for operational Starliner missions to the ISS in the near future.