The Weekly Rocket Report #48
10/20/2025-10/26/2025
Ricky Whitmore
Space Writer
Hello everyone it is that time again! What time you say..? Time for the Weekly Rocket Report! This week was a bit slow to get going, but once it started it really took off (Get it!)
The first launch of the week was Wednesday morning when Falcon 9 blasted off from Vandenberg carrying the 28 satellites of Starlink Group 11-5. Payloads were all deployed successfully, and the rocket’s first stage returned to Earth, landing on the drone ship “Of Course I Still Love You”.
Next up we have Long March 5 taking to the skies carrying TJSW-20. The payload is a classified satellite said to be for communication technology testing purposes.
Long March 5 launches TJSW-20. Photo Credit: https://x.com/CNSpaceflight.
Back to Falcon 9, another lifted off Thursday evening carrying SPAINSAT New Generation II, a huge military communication satellite built by Airbus. A rarity for Falcon 9, following staging the rocket’s booster was not recovered, all of its fuel being burned to get this large payload to the target orbit and the booster was expended after 22 flights.
Skipping ahead to Saturday, which was quite a busy day, 3 launches, by 3 different countries. The first of these was Falcon 9 launching Starlink Group 11-12. The first stage of the rocket returned to Earth, landing on the drone ship “Of Course I Still Love You”. The 28 payloads from the mission were deployed successfully.
Next up was the maiden launch of Japan’s H3 rocket. This specific variation of the MHI designed rocket was H3-24W, and launched HTV-X 1. The rocket itself performed flawlessly on its first ever mission. The payload, another first is an orbital transfer vehicle, designed to bring cargo to the International Space Station. The vehicle docked to the ISS Sunday morning.
H3 launches HTV-X. Photo Credit: Mainichi Photography.
The last launch Saturday was a Long March 3B/E, carrying Gaofen-14 02. This is a stereo mapping satellite, another in the long line of Chinese Civilian Earth Observation Satellites.
The final launch for the week was Sunday morning when Falcon 9 lifted off from the Cape carrying the 28 satellites of Starlink Group 10-21. Following stage separation the rocket’s booster flew back to Earth, landing on the drone ship “A Shortfall Of Gravitas”.
Falcon 9 launches Starlink Group 10-21. Photo Credit: SpaceX.
There it is everyone, all the excitement from the week. Great to see H3 and HTV-X get off the ground. Looking at next week I see more Falcons, 2025’s first flight of LVM-3 and a Shenzhou launch. Plenty to keep us rocket nerds busy. I will of course be back to discuss it all with you 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)