Articles by SpaceAge

May 11-17, 2026 | Vol 45, Week 19 | Hawai`i Island, USA

May 11-17, 2026 | Vol 45, Week 19 | Hawai`i Island, USA

SpaceX’s Plans 5 Flights This Week, Including Starship Version 3, and IPO in June

SpaceX plans 5 launches this week, which would bring 2026 launches to 61, the Falcon 9 rocket flying 59 times, Falcon Heavy once, and Starship once upcoming. Falcon 9s are planned to take the NROL-172 payload from Vandenberg to an unknown orbit on May 11, followed by the  Dragon CRS-2 cargo craft to the ISS from Cape Canaveral on May 12, Starlink and Globalstar satellites later in the week. In April, SpaceX reached 600 successful landings of Falcon 9 first-stage boosters, and on August 5 one will crash into the near side Moon. Falcon 9s have taken 10,000+ Starlink satellites to orbit to date. Although numbers vary, A Falcon Heavy—essentially 3 Falcon 9s strapped together—has now been awarded the mission of launching Europe’s first-ever Mars rover, a life-hunting robot called Rosalind Franklin NET Q4 2028. On May 15, the 1st launch of Starship Version 3 is planned. It will be the 12th launch overall of the vehicle intended to be a reusable ride for Solar System exploration. Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) employees now also work within a million-square-foot (93,000 sq m) factory at Starbase, Texas built specifically for Starship construction. A Raptor engine factory is nearby. The SpaceX IPO, targeted for June 2026, is expected to be one of the largest public offerings ever. (Image Credits: SpaceX)

China's Tianwen-1 Anniversary, Tianwen-3 Launching 2028, and Crewed Mission Targeting 2049 PRC Centennial

Tianwen-1 landing on Mars is celebrated on May 14 since 2021, when Xi Jinping said, ‘On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the Tianwen-1 mission successfully landed.’ Tianwen-3 expects to launch in 2028 to collect and return 500 grams of Mars ~2031. A landing zone most-likely to have traces of life was chosen among 86 candidate sites. The lander’s drill will penetrate 2 meters to collect several grams, and the robotic arm will aim to gather the rest. A robot-armed helicopter may also be included. Chinese Academy of Sciences published its “Roadmap to 2050” in 2010, forecasting a crewed Moon landing around 2030 and crewed Mars exploration around 2050. A crewed Mars mission seems to have broad support in China, including from the Manned Space Engineering Office (CMSE), as a way of celebrating the centennial in 2049 of founding of the PRC in 1949. There are 2 Mars launch windows for crew before 2049 when the 26-month close-approach cycle coincides with an 11-year cycle of increased solar particles, which may limit the impact of more-harmful high energy particles coming from outside the Solar System. An additional benefit occurs every 15–17 years when Mars is at its closest to the Sun, with all 3 conditions occurring in 2033 and 2048. (Image Credits: CNSA)

Humans in Space

☆ International Space Station, ~415-km LEO: Expedition 74 seven members include Chris Williams, Jack Hathaway, Jessica Meir of NASA and Sophie Adenot of ESA, who are growing alfalfa in a Vegetable Production System providing light and nutrients, using a new module for the Cold Atom Lab that chills atoms to near-absolute-zero for insight into their wave functions, and preparing research hardware that will be packed for return to Earth in the Dragon cargo craft expected to arrive this week. Sergey Kud-Sverchkov, Sergei Mikaev and Andrey Fedyaev of Roscosmos unloaded cargo, serviced dehumidifiers.

☆ Tiangong Space Station, ~390-km LEO: Shenzhou-21 three-member crew are expected to be transferring ~6,300 kg of cargo after arrival of Tianzhou-10, having several small altitude adjustments of TSS done ahead of time. The crew is using an electroencephalogram (EEG) machine with virtual-reality glasses to test brain-computer interface and intuitive movements in microgravity, and engaged in training to set goals, plan, focus attention, manage emotions and solve problems, having just completed assessment of their emergency-decision-making capabilities. Shenzhou 21 crew is also maintaining the stationʻs systems and their health.

◐ Lunar Enterprise News: Blue Origin Blue Moon Mk1 “Endurance” lunar lander passes vacuum chamber test. | NASA will increase its spending on Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) for robotic lunar lander missions from $2.6 billion to $4.2 billion, with 13 companies eligible to compete for task orders and special emphasis on rovers in addition to landers in a “shots on goal” agenda. | 12,217 photos released from Artemis II 9-day/2-hour mission. | New Glenn is sidelined. | Intuitive Machines has opened a propulsion testing facility for its lunar lander engine. | The Cislunar Coordination Office has been established with Jaime Stearns appointed to lead it. | Coordination with ~40 ground stations will allow laser Moon transmissions at 260MB per second with 1 Watt, compared with Orion 5Mbps with 20W or Apollo 50KB/second. | Axiom is confident its lunar spacesuits will be ready for 2028 landing.

☄ Near-Earth Objects Close Approaches – Wed May 13: Apollo Asteroid 2001 MS3 (0.053 AU); Fri May 15: Apollo Asteroid 2015 VE65 (0.054 AU); Sat May 16: Apollo Asteroid 2023 VR5 (0.019 AU); Sun May 17: Apollo Asteroid 2026 HC5 (0.018 AU)

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