This week, China launched a near-Earth asteroid sample return mission amongst several other missions. Meanwhile, Rocket Lab has postponed the launch its Electron rocket from New Zealand until June 3 for additional checks and bad weather.
Coming off the launch of Starship’s ninth flight test on Tuesday, SpaceX launched several Starlink missions. The company also launched a GPS III satellite from Florida for the U.S. Space Force.
In a late addition to the launch roster this week, Blue Origin announced that another crewed flight of the New Shepard suborbital rocket, which took place on Saturday.
Falcon 9 | Starlink Group 10-32
The first Starlink mission of the week, Starlink Group 10-32, launched on Wednesday, May 28, at 1:30 AM EDT (13:30 UTC) aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The weather forecasts had shown only a 60% chance for favorable weather conditions at launch, but SpaceX was able to get the rocket away at the start of a four-hour launch window.
LAUNCH! Starlink Group 10-32 sets sail. https://t.co/B7NKPx7kjm pic.twitter.com/IltNAYgr0M
— NSF – NASASpaceflight.com (@NASASpaceflight) May 28, 2025
The booster supporting this mission was B1080, which landed atop SpaceX’s droneship Just Read The Instructions downrange in the Atlantic Ocean. The payload of 27 Starlink v2 Mini satellites was placed into low-Earth orbit (LEO) at an altitude of 279 km in an orbit inclined at 53 degrees.
Falcon booster B1080 was flying for the 19th time, having previously flown the Axiom Mission 2, Euclid, Starlink Group 6-11, Starlink Group 6-24, Axiom Mission 3, CRS-30, Starlink Group 6-52, Starlink Group 6-62, Astra 1P/SES-24, CRS-21, Starlink Group 10-10, Starlink Group 6-69, Starlink Group 12-1, Starlink Group 12-2, Starlink Group 12-4, Starlink Group 10-12, Starlink Group 6-80, and Starlink Group 6-75 missions. It first flew on May 21, 2023.
Falcon 9 is a 3.9-meter diameter, 70-meter-high high two-stage rocket. The first stage booster is powered by nine Merlin 1D engines, while the second utilizes a single vacuum-optimized Merlin engine. Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy are the first and only reusable orbital rockets in service today, with one Falcon booster having flown twenty-eight flights. The two payload fairings are also recovered and reused after flight.
Starlink satellites are deployed during the Starlink Group 12-8 mission. (Credit: SpaceX)
The Chinese Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) launched its Tianwen 2 near-Earth asteroid sample return mission on Wednesday, May 28, at 17:31 UTC. The Chang Zheng 3B/E (CZ-3B/E) rocket lifted off from Launch Complex 2 (LC-2) at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in China and flew due east to place the payload into a heliocentric orbit.
The 30-month journey to and from the asteroid 469219 Kamo’oalewa (2016 HO3) will include the collection of approximately 1,000 g of samples from the asteroid’s surface — the first asteroid sample return mission for China. The spacecraft will touchdown on the asteroid to allow a drill sample to be taken, and will also perform a “touch-and-go” sample collection before returning to Earth, similar to NASA’s OSIRIS-REx (now OSIRIS-APEX) mission.
The main spacecraft will then continue its mission after delivering the samples. A gravity assist maneuver at Earth will send Tianwen 2 to the main belt active asteroid 311P/PANSTARRS, where the spacecraft will undertake further investigations.
The CZ-3B/E rocket has three stages and stands at a height of 56.3 m. The Chang Zheng 3 (CZ-3) rocket family has been flying since 2007, with Tianwen 2 serving as its 168th mission and ninth of 2025.
A Chinese Chang Zheng 4B (CZ-4B) rocket launched on Thursday, May 29, at 04:12 UTC from Site 9401 (SLS-2) at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in China. The payload on this mission was Shijian 26, an experimental Earth observation satellite.
The CZ-4B flew on a southerly trajectory out of Jiuquan, placing the payload into a Sun-synchronous Orbit. This mission served as the first CZ-4B mission of 2025 and the 52nd overall.
The Chang Zheng 4B is a three stage rocket standing at 46.97 meters in height.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 launched the GPS III SV08 mission on Friday, May 30, at 1:37 PM EDT (17:37 UTC) near the end of a short 15-minute launch window and as some threatening weather cleared away. The short window reflected the need for a precise orbital insertion for this mission, the destination for which is Plane E Slot 3F.
This mission was initially assigned to launch aboard a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Vulcan rocket but was later reassigned to Falcon 9. Consequently, the GPS IIIF-1 satellite, originally slated to fly atop a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket, will now launch on Vulcan.
Falcon 9 B1092 liftoffed from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, flying on a northeasterly trajectory and placing the payload into a medium-Earth orbit. Following launch and stage separation, the first stage booster landed downrange on the autonomous Just Read The Instructions droneship. The Falcon second stage for this mission carried the gray stripe used for propellant temperature management on longer duration missions.
SpaceX Falcon 9 booster B1092 was flying for the fourth time, having previously flown Starlink Group 12-13, NROL-69, and CRS-32. Its first flight was on February 27, 2025.
LAUNCH! SpaceX Falcon 9 B1092-4 launches GPS III SV08 from SLC-40.
Overview:https://t.co/WpGxXpyK0k
Live on X and YT:https://t.co/eAmA062q7p pic.twitter.com/ZHkH70xZIB
— NSF – NASASpaceflight.com (@NASASpaceflight) May 30, 2025
GPS III is a military and civil Global Positioning System constellation, built by a Lockheed Martin-led team and operated by the United States Space Force.
Space Force held a press conference on May 28, during which officials said that launch planning for GPS III SV-08 commenced in February, with Lockheed Martin receiving a formal request on February 21 and SpaceX following on March 7 — just under three months ahead of liftoff. This is remarkably fast, given that a national security launch typically takes 18 to 24 months from contract award to liftoff.
Dr. Walt Lauderdale, Chief of Falcon Systems and Operations within the Space Systems Command Assured Access to Space Organization, said “Since our first launch with SpaceX in December of 2018, we’ve grown in our partnership, continuing to refine our methods to effectively evaluate build, test, and flight data in support of the Space Force’s independent mission assurance responsibilities. The volume of data for the Falcon launch system allows us to focus our attention on the most critical areas and confirm acceptable flight risk. This experience over time allows us to leverage SpaceX’s commercial tempo, optimize our own review timelines, and utilize previously flown hardware.”
Blue Origin launched the fourth New Shepard mission of 2025 on Saturday, May 31, at 9:39 AM EDT (13:39 UTC). The suborbital flight lifted off from Launch Site One, West Texas, in Texas and flew the six crew members to just above the Kármán Line, where they enjoyed a short period of microgravity before the capsule descended.
This was the twelfth crewed flight of New Shepard. The six-person crew consisted of Aymette (Amy) Medina Jorge, Dr. Gretchen Green, Jaime Alemán, Jesse Williams, Mark Rocket, and Paul Jeris.
The New Shepard rocket has two stages. The first is a reusable booster powered by a single BE-3PM engine using liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen propellants. After ascent, and stage separation, the booster returns to land using the engine to perform a soft touchdown on retractable legs. The second stage is the crew capsule which descends under parachutes and uses a retro-propulsion brake to further soften the landing.
Falcon 9 | Starlink Group 11-18
A second Starlink Group 11 mission, Starlink Group 11-18, launched on Saturday, May 31, at 1:20 PM PDT (20:10 UTC) from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) at the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. A batch of 27 Starlink v2 Mini satellites were placed into LEO.
LAUNCH! SpaceX Falcon 9 B1071-25 (the third booster to reach 25 flights) launches Starlink 11-18 from SLC-4E, Vandenberg.
Overview:https://t.co/WpGxXpyK0k
Live: https://t.co/9iZHKY0J2C pic.twitter.com/IoOn5Cw2vW
— NSF – NASASpaceflight.com (@NASASpaceflight) May 31, 2025
The booster, B1071, landed on SpaceX’s west coast droneship, Of Course I Still Love You, which was stationed downrange in the Pacific Ocean. B1071 was flying for the 25th time, having previously flown NROL-87, NROL-85, SARah 1, Starlink Group 3-2, Starlink Group 4-29, SWOT, Starlink Group 2-6 & ION SCV009, Starlink Group 2-8, Transporter 8, Starlink Group 6-15, Starlink Group 7-2, Transporter 9, Starlink Group 7-8, Starlink Group -13, Starlink Group 7-18, NROL-146, Starlink Group 9-4, Starlink Group 9-6, Starlink Group 9-7, Starlink Group 9-12, Bandwagon-2, NROL-153, Starlink Group 11-10, and NROL-192 (USA-499 to 520). Its first flight was on February 2, 2022.
This was the 500th SpaceX mission, and the 66th of 2025.
Falcon 9 | Starlink Group 12-9
SpaceX planned to launch another batch of 23 Starlink satellites on Monday, June 2, at 12:57 AM EDT (04:57 UTC). This launch was scrubbed and will now take place on Tuesday, June 3, at 12:42 AM EDT (04:42 UTC).
Falcon 9 will launch from SLC-40 at Cape Canaveral and fly on a southeasterly trajectory to LEO.
The booster for this flight will be B1077, flying for the 21st time.
The autonomous droneship Just Read The Instructions will support the mission.
(Lead image: Falcon 9 launches from Florida. Credit: Julia Bergeron for NSF)
