The Weekly Rocket Report #21
04/07/2025-04/13/2025
Ricky Whitmore
Space Writer
Hello my friends, and welcome back, to the Weekly Rocket Report. Let’s get started shall we?
The week starts off with (Surprise!) a Starlink Mission. Monday morning saw a Falcon 9 blasting off on the Mission Starlink Group 11-11. The 27 satellites were deployed successfully, and the rocket’s booster landed back down range on the drone ship “Of Course I Still Love You”.
In the early morning hours of Tuesday, we got to watch a set of astronauts head to the International Space Station. A Soyuz 2.1a lifted off from Baikonur Cosmodrome carrying NASA’s Johnny Kim, as well as Sergey Ryzhikov and Alexey Zubritsky of Roscosmos. The crew of Soyuz MS-27 and their capsule docked to the station shortly after launch.
The Crew of Soyuz MS-27, from left to right, Johnny Kim, Sergey Ryzhikov, and Alexey Zubritsky. Photo Credit: NASA.
Moving to Thursday, China launched a Long March 3B/E, carrying TJSW-17. The satellite, claimed to be a communication satellite, was deployed successfully to Geostationary Transfer Orbit.
Next up is another launch of Falcon 9, this time carrying NROL-192. The mission consisted of multiple payloads, though that remains all the information available. The booster returned to Earth after separation, landing on the drone ship “Of Course I Still Love You”.
Last but not least we end the week where we began, with a Starlink Mission. Starlink Group 12-17 roared off pad 39-A at the Cape Saturday evening carrying the 21 Starlink satellites to orbit. Following stage separation, the booster flew back down to Earth, landing on the drone ship “A Shortfall of Gravitas”.
Falcon 9 launches Starlink Group 12-17. Photo Credit: SpaceX.
Well that’s all the launches for the week. Always neat to see missions with Astronauts flying, and next week will actually give us another opportunity with a Blue Origin flight. Next week looks to have lots of variety, with launches from New Shepard, Alpha, and a very infrequent sight, Minotaur. I’ll be back here next week to break it all down, on the Weekly Rocket Report!
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)