The Weekly Rocket Report #20

03/31/2025-04/06/2025

Ricky Whitmore

Space Writer 

Hello all and welcome back to the Weekly Rocket Report!  Let’s jump right into the action shall we?

The week began with lots of excitement as Falcon 9 took Fram2 to orbit.  The launch took place Monday night and took 4 astronauts, Chun Wang, Jannicke Mikkelsen, Rabea Rogge, and Eric Phillips, to a polar orbit.  This is the first time that humans have been sent in a polar orbit.  The dragon capsule landed safely back on Earth Friday.  

Falcon 9 launches Fram2. Photo Credit: SpaceX.

Moving to Tuesday, there was a launch of China’s Long March 2D, carrying 4 SatNet test satellites.  SatNet is one of China’s LEO communication satellite constellations.  

Staying in China, Wednesday saw the launch of Tianping-3A-02.  The Long March 6 took the payload, which is a target for ground based surveillance, to low earth orbit.

And of course we close out the week with 2 Starlink Missions.  First, Thursday, Falcon 9 took the 27 payloads of Starlink Group 11-13 to orbit, with its booster landing back down range on the drone ship “Of Course I Still Love You”.  The second mission took off Saturday night carrying the 28 satellites of Starlink Group 6-72 to orbit, with its first stage landing down range on the drone ship “Just Read The Instructions.  

Falcon 9 launches Starlink Group 6-72. Photo Credit: SpaceX.

In other launch news, the US Space Force recently announced it had awarded nearly $14 billion in launch contracts for 84 future national security launches.  These launches will be split between SpaceX’s Falcon 9, and Falcon Heavy, ULA’s Vulcan Centaur, and Blue Origin’s New Glen.  

That's all for the week everyone.  Already looking forward to a great week next week with 3 astronauts flying Soyuz to the ISS, and the launch of an Atlas V.  

As always feel free to write to me at rickyew2112@gmail.com, or find me on X @Rickyew2112

Sic Itur Ad Astra

(Thus They Journey to the Stars)