What a weekend for rocket launches

This weekend was very busy for the rocket launch industry. Four different missions from established companies like SpaceX & RocketLab and emerging startups were carried out in just two days.

Four carriers were scheduled for rocket launches this week alone, so it looks like the space industry is finally taken off hold. On Saturday and Sunday, four separate missions were carried out from different places.

Rocket launch: Who & Where?

United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy was supposed to launch earlier on Thursday 27th August, but due to ground equipment issues, the launch was rescheduled for the next available opportunity on Saturday 29th August, however a technical issue just 3 seconds from launch prevented take off yet again. The launch will be delayed until next week.

The next rocket launch of the week goes to SpaceX’s Falcon9. As usual, the launch took place at Cape Canaveral. This mission carried a SAOCOM 1B satellite and happened at 7:19 p.m. EDT (2319 GMT) on Sunday 30th August, taking the satellite into Polar Orbit.

Within a few hours of the SpaceX launch, RocketLab launched its booster from New Zealand. The rocket launch happened at 11:05 p.m. EDT on Sunday 30th August. This time, Rocket Lab launched an earth observation satellite from an American company Capella Space. It was the first launch from the company since its failed take off on 4th July.

Finally, the emerging space startup Astra, were due to make their debut launch on Sunday after a series of failures and cancellations. This launch from Alaska’s Kodiak Island would be the first orbital mission for the space startup. However at the time of publishing we could not find any official confirmation that this launch went ahead.