With summer and winter for the Northern and Southern Hemispheres now in full swing, the halfway point of 2025 is fast approaching, and the worldwide launch manifest continues to be as busy as ever. SpaceX has launched four Falcon 9 missions this week, with a private crewed mission to the International Space Station and three Starlink missions.
Two Rocket Lab Electron flights from New Zealand were also on the cards, with a Blue Origin crewed suborbital launch and the swan song of the Japanese H-IIA following suit.
Axiom Space has returned crew to the International Space Station (ISS) following the launch of Axiom Mission 4 (Ax-4) on Wednesday, June 25 at 2:31 AM EDT (06:31 UTC) from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The launch of the company’s fourth private mission was originally slated to occur toward the start of June, but had been postponed a number of times for various reasons, such as a propellant leak in the first stage of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and an investigation into repairs made on the Station’s Zvezda service module after the discovery of a small air leak.
Falcon 9 booster B1094 successfully launched the Ax-4 mission on its second flight, flying on a northeast trajectory and then conducting a return-to-launch-site landing at Landing Zone 1 (LZ-1). The Crew Dragon spacecraft separated from the rocket’s upper stage nine minutes and 40 seconds after launch, beginning its journey to the ISS which culminated in a docking to the space-facing port of the Harmony module at 6:31 AM EDT (10:31 UTC).
The commander of Ax-4 is Peggy Whitson, a former NASA astronaut and current director of human spaceflight at Axiom Space. This will be her second commercial mission, having previously commanded Dragon during Axiom Mission 2 (Ax-2) in May 2023. Joining her for the flight are Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla, serving as pilot, and two mission specialists in Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski of Poland and Tibor Kapu of Hungary.
Whitson currently holds the record for the longest cumulative time spent in space by an American astronaut across her missions for NASA and Axiom Space, and that record will continue to grow with this flight. For Shukla, Uznański-Wiśniewski, and Kapu, Ax-4 will be their first flights into space. It will also mark the second human spaceflights for the nations of India, Poland, and Hungary since 1984, 1978, and 1980, respectively.
Ax-4 is the seventh private astronaut mission to be flown on a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft, as well as the 18th crewed launch for SpaceX in total.
The crew of Axiom Mission 4. From left to right: Tibor Kapu, Shubhanshu Shukla, Peggy Whitson, and Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski. (Credit: SpaceX/Axiom Space)
The mission marks the debut of Crew Dragon C213, now named Grace by the crew. SpaceX has indicated that this will be the last Crew Dragon capsule to be manufactured, completing a fleet of five spacecraft. The vehicle will remain docked at the ISS for up to 14 days while the crew conducts numerous scientific studies and experiments focusing on human health, plant and microbial biology, and the effects of microgravity.
After completing its stay at the Station, Grace and its crew will undock and splash down off the coast of California to be recovered by one of SpaceX’s recovery vessels.
Falcon 9 | Starlink Group 10-16
SpaceX launched its first Starlink mission of the week from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCSFS) in Florida on Wednesday, June 25, with liftoff occuring towards the end of a four-hour window at 3:54 PM EDT (19:54 UTC).
The booster, Falcon 9 B1080-20, launched on a northeast trajectory and safely landed on the Just Read the Instructions droneship in the Atlantic Ocean. The second stage continued on to orbit after stage separation, transporting a batch of 27 Starlink v2 Mini satellites into low-Earth orbit (LEO).
This mission marked the 79th launch of a Falcon 9 rocket in 2025, as SpaceX continues to push towards a goal of completing 170 orbital flights this year, which would far surpass the 134 launches the company conducted in 2024.
Electron | Get The Hawk Outta Here
Rocket Lab continued its record-setting cadence with the launch of the 67th Electron mission from Launch Complex 1A (LC-1A) at the company’s Māhia launch facility in New Zealand. Liftoff occurred on Friday, June 27 at 5:28 AM NZST (17:28 UTC on Thursday, June 26), with Electron flying on a southerly trajectory. The company later announced the mission was successful, having deployed all payloads into a 520 km low-Earth orbit.
In a rather unexpected move, “Get The Hawk Outta Here” was moved ahead of another Electron flight, “Symphony In The Stars,” after it was postponed from its original Tuesday, June 24 date to allow for additional checkouts to be completed. The latter mission is now slated to launch on Electron’s 68th flight.
Mission patch design for Electron’s 67th flight. (Credit: Rocket Lab)
The 67th launch of Electron was a dedicated mission for geospatial analytics provider HawkEye 360 as part of a multi-launch contract. Four satellites made up the payload, with a trio of Cluster 12 microsats that will map radio frequency emissions and a single Kestrel-0A spacecraft serving as a technology demonstrator. This satellite differs from HawkEye’s prior offerings, as it has a larger form factor and an Iridium satellite transceiver for communications via the Iridium constellation.
This was Rocket Lab’s second launch for Hawkeye 360, following the successful launch of Cluster 6 on the “Virginia is for Launch Lovers” mission from Launch Complex 2 (LC-2) at the Wallops Flight Facility in January 2023.
Falcon 9 | Starlink Group 10-34
SpaceX’s record-setting pace continued with another Starlink mission, which launched from SLC-40 at Cape Canaveral in Florida no earlier than Saturday, June 28, at 12:26 AM EDT (04:26 UTC) within a four-hour launch window. The launch took place two days, eight hours, and 31 minutes after Starlink Group 10-16 flew from the same pad, thus setting a new pad turnaround record for SpaceX at SLC-40 by just over 28 minutes.
Like Starlink Group 10-16, Falcon 9 booster B1092-5 launched on a northeast trajectory, and managed to touch down softly on the A Shortfall of Gravitas droneship stationed downrange in the Atlantic. The second stage will carry a batch of 27 Starlink v2 Mini satellites to LEO.
This launch went into the books as the 80th Falcon 9 flight of 2025.
Electron | Symphony In The Stars
On the heels of successfully launching the “Get The Hawk Outta Here” mission on Electron from LC-1A, Rocket Lab completed two flights from its Māhia launch facility in less than 48 hours. The 68th Electron mission lifted off from Launch Complex 1B (LC-1B) on Saturday, June 28 at 7:08 PM NZST (07:08 UTC).
“Symphony for the Stars” was originally manifested for Electron Flight 67, but was postponed and subsequently moved in favor of the “Get The Hawk Outta Here” mission, thus giving the Rocket Lab team time to complete additional checkouts. The ability to quickly flex a launch manifest to meet customer demand is one of many unique capabilities that the company offers.
Interestingly, not much has been revealed about the payload for this mission, except that it consists of a single spacecraft to be operated by a confidential commercial customer & deployed in a 650 km circular Earth orbit. Based on the design of the mission patch, the mission codename, and the orbital altitude, a possible candidate could be an Echostar Lyra Block 1 satellite, of which 4 are planned to launch. However, there is no other surrounding evidence that points to this being the payload.
Mission patch design for Electron Flight 68. (Credit: Rocket Lab)
Rocket Lab states that a second dedicated launch on Electron meeting the same mission requirements is on the manifest, with launch scheduled before the end of the year. The company hopes to meet its goal of over 20 launches in 2025 and 100% mission success across all flights.
The 50th and final mission for the H-IIA rocket successfully took flight on Sunday, June 29 at 1:33 AM JST (16:33 UTC on Saturday, June 28) from the LA-Y1 launch pad at the Tanegashima Space Center. Liftoff had previously been pencilled in for Monday, June 23, but was delayed due to an issue found in a second stage electrical system.
The vehicle launched on a southerly trajectory out of Tanegashima, carrying the GOSAT-GW Earth observation payload to a Sun-synchronous orbit (SSO). The satellite is designed to monitor greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide and methane, and will measure the total amount of water on Earth’s surface and in the atmosphere.
The final H-IIA vehicle undergoing processing before launch. (Credit: MHI)
Of course, this mission will be the only flight of the H-IIA rocket in 2025, as the vehicle is being phased out in favor of its successor in the H3 family. Across its career, the H-IIA has successfully flown 48 out of 49 missions, launching a number of notable payloads like the “Hope” Emirates Mars Mission and the XRISM observatory.
Falcon 9 | Starlink Group 15-7
The third Starlink launch of the week took place from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) at the Vandenberg Space Force Base (VSFB) in California on Saturday, June 28, with liftoff occurring within a four-hour window from 10:13 AM PDT (17:13 UTC).
Falcon 9 B1088-8 flew a southeast trajectory, hugging the Baja California coastline before successfully landing on the Of Course I Still Love You droneship in the Pacific Ocean. Meanwhile, the second stage delivered a payload of approximately 26 Starlink v2 Mini satellites to LEO.
This mission marked the 81st launch of a Falcon 9 this year.
Blue Origin launched its fifth New Shepard mission of 2025 on Sunday, June 29, at 9:39 AM CDT (14:39 UTC). The suborbital flight launched from Launch Site One in West Texas and carried a crew of six passengers to just above the Kármán Line, where they enjoyed a short period of microgravity before descending back to Earth.
The crew of New Shepard NS-33. (Credit: Blue Origin)
NS-33 marked the thirteenth crewed flight of the New Shepard launch system. The six-person crew consisted of Allie and Carl Kuehner, Leland Larson, Freddie Rescigno, Jr., Owolabi Salis, and James (Jim) Sitkin.
New Shepard is a two-stage launch vehicle, featuring a reusable booster stage powered by a single BE-3 engine that uses liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen propellants. After ascent and stage separation, the booster returned to land using its engine and retractable landing legs to perform a soft touchdown on a concrete landing pad. The second stage of New Shepard is the crew capsule, which descends under parachutes and uses a retropropulsive braking system to further soften its landing.
(Lead image: Falcon 9 launches from Florida. Credit: Julia Bergeron for NSF)
