The Weekly Rocket Report #38
08/11/2025-08/17/2025
Ricky Whitmore
Space Writer
Welcome back my friends to the Weekly Rocket Report! What a week we have had so lets get right into the launches!
The week began Monday with the much delayed launch of KF-02. Falcon 9 blasted off from the Cape carrying 24 Kuiper satellites to orbit. Following stage separation the first stage, which is actually a Falcon Heavy center core, landed back on the drone ship “A Shortfall of Gravitas”.
Tuesday evening was a big one, starting with the launch of Ariane 6. Ariane 6 was carrying METOP-AG A1, a weather satellite. The launch caused a big stir as most of the US east coast witnessed the bright spiral shaped light in the sky as the rocket’s second stage dumped its remaining fuel before re-entry.
Ariane 6 launches METOP-AG A1. Photo Credit: ESA.
Shortly after came the launch of ULA’s Vulcan Centaur from Cape Canaveral. This was Vulcan’s first national security mission, specifically it was carrying USSF-106. The two payloads were a navigation satellite and a classified space force payload.
Vulcan Centaur launches USSF-106. Photo Credit: ULA.
Early Wednesday morning saw the launch from Long March 5B, carrying SatNet LEO Group 08. There have been quite a few SatNet launches recently, supplying the constellation that will eventually be comprised of 13,000 satellites.
Long March 5 launches SatNet LEO Group 08. Photo Credit: https://x.com/CNSpaceflight.
Speaking of internet satellites, Thursday saw back to back morning launches from Falcon 9. The first of these was Starlink Group 17-4. This launch took 24 satellites to orbit and the Falcon’s first stage landed back down range on the drone ship “Of Course I Still Love You”.
The next of these was Starlink Group 10-20. Falcon 9launched 28 satellites to orbit and the first stage booster returned to Earth, landing downrange on the drone ship “Just Read The Instructions”.
Falcon 9 launches Starlink Group 10-20. Photo Credit: SpaceX.
Later Thursday saw an interesting launch from China. ZhuQue 2 took off carrying an, as of now, unknown payload. However at some point during the launch something went wrong, and the rocket fell apart before reaching space. As with the payload, the cause of this failure is unknown.
ZhuQue-2 launches Unknown Payload. The launch ended in failure. Photo Credit: https://x.com/CNSpaceflight.
Moving to Sunday we stay in China for two launches. The first of these was a Long March 4C launching Shiyan 28 B-02. Very little is known about this payload, other than the Chinese describe it as a “space environment detection” satellite.
The final launch of the week is a Long March 6A which launched SatNet LEO Group 09, another group of satellites added to the ever growing SatNet constellation.
That is the last week in launches, so sorry for getting this out late, it has been an unbelievably busy week. A lot to look forward to next week, including a Starship launch, and the launch of the Space Force’s X-37B space plane. I will be back to break it all down next week 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)