The Weekly Rocket Report #67
03/02/2026-03/08/2026
Ricky Whitmore
Space Writer
Hello my friends and welcome to this weeks installment of The Weekly Rocket Report. Not a super busy week this week, only four launches to discuss, but as always there is still some interest and intrigue from the week. Let’s discuss shall we:
The week got off to a late start, with the first rocket being sent to orbit on Wednesday from the Cape. Falcon 9 launched the 29 satellites of Starlink Group 10-40 to orbit. Following stage separation the rocket’s booster flew back to the Atlantic Ocean where it touched down on its drone ship “A Shortfall of Gravitas”.
Jellyfish created by Falcon 9 on the launch of Starlink Group 10-40. Photo Credit: SpaceX.
Later Wednesday evening came something rocket people had been looking forward to, the third launch of KAIROS. The rocket was carrying 5 satellites on this flight, however, like the others, this flight failed to achieve orbit. About a minute into flight a small explosion could be seen. Following this the rocket spun and tumbled for a good while before eventually the entire stack was destroyed. With flights in a row all failing to even reach stage separation, it
KAIROS prior to the launch of Flight 3. Photo Credit: Space One.
For flight 3 of the week, Rocket Lab launched an Electron from the Mahia Peninsula on Thursday evening, on a mission called “Insight At Speed Is A Friend Indeed”. The payload was an Earth Observation satellite, launched on behalf of BlackSky.
Electron launches “Insight At Speed Is A Friend Indeed”. Photo Credit: Rocket Lab.
The final flight of the week belongs to Falcon 9, and the Starlink program. Starlink Group 17-18 blasted off from Vandenberg Sunday morning, carrying another 25 Starlink satellites to orbit. Following staging the booster flew back to Earth and touched down on the drone ship “Of Course I Still Love You”.
And there we have another week in launches everyone. I should note that TWS has started another weekly series, regarding space news, outside of the realm of launches. For people who have read my stuff before, I usually try and mention big time highlights in space if there are any. But now TWS has a dedicated weekly series to discuss just that, you should really check it out. The first article can be found here: https://www.theweeklyspaceman.com/articles/space-weekly.
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)