SpaceX is scheduled to launch up to three times this week, with each mission planned to deploy internet communications satellites into low-Earth orbit: two for the company’s own Starlink megaconstellation and one for its competitor, Amazon’s Project Kuiper.
China kicked off the week’s launch manifest, for those in UTC, with the launch of its 100th Chang Zheng 2D rocket in the very early hours of Monday morning, when it lofted two satellites for its Shiyan (or “test”) technical demonstration series. This was the second vehicle to reach this milestone, following the Chang Zheng 3B/E, which achieved the same mark last December.