The second week of April not only has a long-awaited total solar eclipse but also orbital launches from Russia and the United States. Besides the long-awaited NROL-70 Delta IV Heavy finale, there was a test flight of the Russian Angara rocket from the Vostochny Cosmodrome in Russia and a handful of Falcon 9 launches. Delta IV Heavy’s final flight with a mission for the National Reconnaissance Office on Tuesday, April 9 has now taken place.
The NROL-70 and Angara flights were both scheduled for Tuesday, April 9 – although the latter scrubbed with a few minutes remaining in the count – while Starlink Group 6-48 flew in the pre-dawn hours of Wednesday, April 10, from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCSFS) in Florida. Another Falcon 9 with the USSF-62/WSF-M1 mission launched on Thursday, April 11, from Vandenberg Space Force Base (VSFB) in California. Yet another Starlink launch — Starlink Group 6-49 — launched on Friday, April 12, from the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida.