SpaceX dominates this week’s launch manifest with four missions aboard Falcon 9 vehicles, one of which was the first expendable mission for the rocket since January.
International missions include a classified payload lofted from China aboard a Chang Zheng 5. An optical stereo mapping satellite flew from Xichang at the weekend, when Japan also launched the maiden flight of a launcher variant and of the spacecraft on board. The HTV-X cargo supply vehicle made its debut aboard an H3 rocket with four solid boosters – a configuration which also flew for the first time.