February 24 – March 2, 2025 / Vol 44, No 8 / Hawai`i Island, USA

Significant SpaceX Launches on the Horizon: Starship, IM-2 to the Moon, NASA Science Sats, Transporter-13

Working at an all-time record pace, Starbase General Manager Kathy Lueders notes SpaceX is aiming for 25 Starship launches in 2025. So far, SpaceX has launched 21 Falcon 9s and 1 Starship this year (as of this publishing). Starship 8 test flight is planned NET February 26 from Boca Chica TX, using Booster 15 and Ship 34. On February 26, the 4-day window opens for the second lunar mission for Intuitive Machines, launching on a Falcon 9 from KSC FL. This launch comes ~1 year after the first Intuitive Machines Nova C Odysseus lander launched in 2024 [15 February]. Assuming things go as smoothly as the first mission, the IM-2 Athena lander should separate from the launch vehicle, perform up to 3 trajectory adjustment maneuvers and reach lunar orbit about 1 day before landing on March 6. From Vandenberg on Feb 28, SpaceX is set to launch another Falcon 9 with the NASA Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer (SPHEREx) & Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere (PUNCH) satellites to study cosmic origins and the Sun. The Mar 3 Transporter-13 launch from Cape Canaveral FL will see a Falcon 9 carry the dedicated SSO rideshare mission of many dozens of satellites for government and commercial customers. (Image credits: SpaceX, NASA, IM)

MONDAY

☆ Feb 24 — International Space Station, ~415-km LEO: Expedition 72 seven-member crew to receive new experiments and supplies this week with planned Progress 91P arrival, will become 14-member crew with Crew-10 launch planned for mid-March; will oversee undocking of Progress 89P on Tuesday.

☆ Feb 24 — Tiangong Space Station, ~390-km LEO: Shenzhou 19 three-member crew surpass mid-way point of mission; crews for Shenzhou 20 and 21 have been selected and will be announced ~1 day before missions launch in May and November, respectively.

● Feb 24 — Arizona State University, Scottsdale AZ: February 2025 Thinking Beyond – Before the Big Bang; webinar series features renowned physicists Paul Davies, Sara Walker and Maulik Parikh.

● Feb 24 — NASA, Online / Houston TX: NASA Briefings for Next International Space Station Crew Missions.

☆ Feb 24 — Aten Asteroid 2025 BT1: Near-Earth Flyby (0.052 AU)

TUESDAY

★ Feb 25 — Blue Origin, Launch New Shepard / NS-30, Corn Ranch, Van Horn TX: Taking 6 humans on 10th such suborbital flight; live from T-35, launch window opens 09:30 CST.

o Feb 25 — Japan Cabinet Office Space Development Strategy Promotion Secretariat, Tokyo, Japan: 10th National Space Policy Symposium on Ensuring the Safe and Sustainable Use of Outer Space.

● Feb 25 — NSF-NASA-DOE Astronomy and Astrophysics Advisory Committee, Online / Alexandria VA: Committee Meeting; to provide recommendations on issues within astronomy and astrophysics that are of mutual interest and concern to the agencies; 12:00-16:00 EST.

☾ = Moon activity, ★ = Space and… ☆ = International space / astro events in local time unless noted.

Moon Week: 4 Robotic Missions in Progress

Intuitive Machines prepares for February 26 launch of its IM-2 mission on same Falcon 9 as water-hunting Lunar Trailblazer orbiter. IM-2 Athena lander heads to Mons Mouton, ~160 km from Moon South Pole. March 6 landing begins 9-day operation for resource prospecting and use of first Moon cellular network, Nokia 4G, in preparation for Artemis missions. On the Moon concurrently will be another commercial lander, Blue Ghost Mission 1 of Firefly Aerospace, arriving NET 03:45 EST March 2. Live coverage begins 02:30 with co-hosts NASA / Firefly. Target is ~18°N, Mons Latreille in Mare Crisium, taking 10 NASA payloads. Blue Ghost is now orbiting the Moon. Japanese commercial lander RESILIENCE has completed 5 of 10 mission milestones, is now looping past the Moon to ~1.1 M km from Earth, will have lunar orbit insertion NET May. Landing site is Mare Frigoris, ~60°N. Commercial payloads include water electrolyzer, food production experiment and UNESCO memory disk. Blue Origin may launch NET March on New Glenn its Mark 1 robotic version of Blue Moon Mark 2 crewed lander being developed for NASA Human Landing System, although late Spring more likely. Rep. Brian Babin, chair of US House committee on space, said Moon is critical, but “I fear that when US Astronauts return to the Moon they will find a ‘No Trespassing’ sign written in Mandarin.” Maybe he needn’t worry. (Image credits: ispace, Firefly Aerospace, Intuitive Machines)

● Feb 25 — National Space Society Iowa, Online / Clive IA: Zoom presentation and discussion Red Moon: Will the Next ‘Sputnik Moment’ Be Made in China? with editors of Ad Astra magazine; email NSS Iowa for Zoom info; 17:30 CST.

● Feb 25-27 — NASA, Outer Planets Assessment Group (OPAG), Tucson AZ and Online: OPAG Annual Meeting 2025; this meeting has been postponed or cancelled.

☆ Feb 25 — Mercury: 1.44° NNW of Saturn, 00:00.

☆ Feb 25 — Apollo Asteroid 2023 RW3: Near-Earth Flyby (0.019 AU)

WEDNESDAY

★ NET Feb 26 — SpaceX, Launch Starship (8th Flight), Starbase, Boca Chica TX: Starship Flight Test 8 with Booster 15 and Ship 34 from launch pad A.

★ Feb 26 — SpaceX, Launch Falcon 9 / Intuitive Machines IM-2 NOVA-C Athena Lander / PRIME-1, LC-39A, Kennedy Space Center FL: IM second lander to launch to Mons Mouton, 84.6° S, with PRIME-1 drill and MSolo, Micro-Nova Hopper, private payloads: York Space Systems, Nokia 4G/LTE system, Spaceflight Sherpa Orbital Transfer Vehicle and Lunar Trailblazer orbiter secondary payload; 17:17 EST.

☆ Feb 26 — Arianespace, Launch Ariane 6-2 / CSO-3, Launch Area 4, Guiana Space Centre, French Guiana: 2nd launch of rocket to carry Composante Spatiale Optique-3 (CSO-3) reconnaissance satellite for French military to SSO.

o Feb 26-27 — Singapore Space & Technology Limited, Singapore: 17th Global Space Technology Convention & Exhibition (GSTCE 2025); highlighting AI and its shaping of space and technology; at Marina Bay Sands Convention Centre, SGD 1,299-1,799.

● Feb 26-27 — American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Houston TX: ASCENDxTexas; collaborations emphasized: political, strategic, acquisitional, mission-driven; keynote speakers Joel Montalbano, Amit Kshatriya, Chirag Parikh; at South Shore Harbour Resort, US$199-449.