As May transitions into June, a European Space Agency (ESA) mission to study the Earth’s clouds and aerosols as well as a Russian cargo ship to resupply the International Space Station (ISS) were both on this week’s docket of launches. Two Starlink and three Chinese satellite launch missions were also scheduled, as well as the repeatedly delayed Boeing Starliner crewed flight test (CFT) mission. What’s more, North Korea attempted a launch early this week, however, the launch ultimately failed.
Starlink 6-60 from Cape Canaveral launched successfully on Tuesday, May 28, followed by EarthCARE from California. The two Falcon 9 launches were followed by a Ceres 1S from a platform just off the coast of China, then the Progress MS-27 flight from Baikonur, Kazakhstan. A Chang Zheng-3B from China, another Starlink launch, and another Ceres launch from China preceded the Starliner CFT mission, which had been scheduled to fly on Saturday, June 1 but has now scrubbed. The “PREFIRE and Ice” cubesat mission on an Electron from New Zealand had been scheduled to fly on June 1 also but was scrubbed as well.