Jonathan's Space Report
No. 861 draft 2026 Oct 1 Bromley, UK
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Update:
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Construction on my new Space Library near London is now well under way.
The books have arrived!
Updates at https://www.gofundme.com/f/fund-jonathans-space-report-library-transition
(further donations welcome)
ISS
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Expedition 75 is underway.
Dragon Grace C213.2 was launched on Oct 1 on the Crew-13 mission, carrying Jessica Watkins,
Luke Delaney, Joshua Kutryk, and Sergey Teteryantnikov. It docked with IDA-2 at 2305 UTC Oct 1.
Crew-12 undocked from IDA-3 at 1205 UTC Oct 8 and landed at 1534 UTC the same day off the
coast of Los Angeles near 119.1W 33.7N.
SS Steven R Nagel (Cygnus NG-24) was unberthed from Unity nadir and released by the Canadarm-2 at 1644 UTC Oct 9,
It was deorbited over the South Pacific with reentry at about 1233 UTC Oct 12.
The Dragon CRS-35 cargo mission was launched on Oct 13. It carries two IROSA solar arrays and an EMU spacesuit.
It docked at IDA-3 at 1427 UTC Oct 15.
Starlink Launches
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Starlink Group 15-25 (27 Ku sats) was launched on Oct 13 by Falcon 9 from Vandenberg.
Transporter 18
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The Transporter 18 rideshare mission was launched on Oct 1.
NROL-97
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On Oct 2 SpaceX launched a Falcon Heavy from KSC on the NROL-97 mission with the USA 708 payload, likely to medium
Earth orbit like USA 310 in 2020.
SDA T1TL
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21 Northrop Grumman comms satellites for the Space Development Agency's Tranche 1 Transport Layer
were launched on Oct 10 by Falcon 9.
USSF-481
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The SBST TH-2 set of US Space Force sats (probably 17 of them) was launched on Oct 16 on a Falcon 9 from Vandenberg
on the USSF-481 mission. They are thought to be moving-target-indicator radar satellites.
SAST
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On Oct 9 SAST launched a Chang Zheng 12 from Hainan with another batch of Xingwang sats.
Commercial Chinese launches
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On Oct 14 Landspace launched a Zhuque-2E with eight Xingshidai orbital computing sats for Guoxing
and two Guangshuan lasercom test sats for Landspace subsidiary LandTower.
Errata
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JSR 853: Ariane 6 on Feb 12 was flight VA267, not VA269. Vulcan launched on Feb 12 was V-005, not V-004.
These were already correct in GCAT.
Table of Recent Orbital (and near-Orbital) Launches
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Date UT Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission INTL. Catalog Perigee Apogee Incl Notes
Sep 26 0039 StriX-12 Electron Mahia LC1B Radar 223A 544 x 566 x 37.9
Sep 26 1400 USSF-385 (SBST R-3) Falcon 9 Vandenberg SLC4E Comms? 224
Sep 28 1249 Starlink Group 31-1 Starship V3 Starbase OLP2 Comms 225 262 x 275 x 30.5
Ship 41 Test 225AC
Oct 1 1510 Dragon Crew-13 Falcon 9 Canaveral LC40 Spaceship 226 193 x 230 x 51.6
Oct 1 1832 Transporter 18 Falcon 9 Vandenberg SLC4E Rideshare 227 513 x 517 x 97.4
Oct 2 0354 USA 708 Falcon Heavy Kennedy LC39A Sigint? 228A 11000 x 11000 x 58?
Oct 7 0325 Neonsat-2 to 6 Nuri Naro Imaging 229 563 x 581 x 97.7
SLEDGE Tech 229
Command v1 Tech 229
UEL-U-Sys Tech 229
JACK-007 Tech 229
BEE-1012 Tech 229
Daejon-Sat 1 Tech 229
GBSat Tech 229
CPSat Tech 229
E3 Tester KARI-2 Tech 229
Oct 9 1927 Xingwang Digui 27 Chang Zheng 12 Hainan CLS Comms 230 911 x 927 x 50.0
Oct 10 0739 SDA T1TL-A Falcon 9 Vandenberg SLC4E Comms 231 937 x 950 x 81.5
Oct 13 0028 Starlink Group 15-25 Falcon 9 Vandenberg SLC4E Comms 232 247 x 254 x 70.0
Oct 13 1033 Dragon CRS-35 Falcon 9 Canaveral Cargo 233 206 x 280 x 51.7
Oct 14 1140 Xingshidai 39, 44-50 Zhuque-2E Jiuquan Compute 234 519 x 536 x 97.5
Guangchuan 03, 04 Lasercom 234
Oct 16 0001 USSF-481 (SBST TH-2) Falcon 9 Vandenberg SLC4E Imaging? 235
Oct 19 1941 MMX H3-24L Tanegashima Y2 Mars probe 236A 370 x -93300 x 30.1
Oct 20 1104 Bandwagon-5 Falcon 9 Canaveral LC40 Rideshare 237
Oct 21 0339 Xiguang 4-01 Gushenxing-1 DEFU01?, Rizhao Imaging 238
Oct 23 0711 Hawk 16A/B/C Electron Mahia Sigint 239
Oct 23 1015 Yaogan 50-03 Chang Zheng 6A Taiyuan Radar? 240
Oct 23 1925 Yaogan 53 07/08/09 Chang Zheng 4B Jiuquan Sigint 241
Yaogan 56 19/20/21 Sigint 241
Oct 23 2248 Starlink Group 15-15 Falcon 9 Vandenberg Comms 242
Table of Recent Suborbital Launches
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Date UT Payload/Flt Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission Apogee/km Target
Oct 1 0651 MAPHEUS 17 RK/IM Kiruna Micrograv 290 ESRANGE
Oct 2 2130 RV Hwasong-16Na? Wonsan Test 100 Sea of Japan
Oct 6 RV M51.3 S618, Baie d'Audierne Test 1000? W Atlantic
Oct 10 0743 Mk 21 RV Minotaur I Lite Vandenberg Test 1000? Kwajalein
Oct 20 0707 INFUSE II Black Brant IX Poker Flat UV Astron 270? PFRR
Oct 22 0530 DUST III Black Brant IX Poker Flat Physics 270? PFRR
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| Jonathan McDowell | |
| Bromley, UK | inter : planet4589 at gmail |
| | twitter: @planet4589 |
| |
| JSR: https://www.planet4589.org/jsr.html |
| Back issues: https://www.planet4589.org/space/jsr/back |
| JSR is no longer available by email |
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