Jonathan's Space Report
No. 856 draft 2026 May 13 Somerville, MA, USA
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Update:
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Construction on my new Space Library near London is finally proceeding.
Updates at https://www.gofundme.com/f/fund-jonathans-space-report-library-transition
ISS
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Expedition 74 continues.
On May 15 SpaceX launched Dragon CRS-34, with capsule C209. The trunk carries CLARREO Pathfinder and STP-H11.
CRS-34 docked with ISS IDA-2 at 1037 UTC May 17.
Starship Flight 12
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Starship flight 12, with Super Heavy booster 19 and Ship 39, was launched on May 22 at 2230:20 UTC.
It was the first version 3 Starship, with Raptor 3 engines.
Super Heavy ascent went nominally, but after hot-staging the boostback burn failed and
the booster crashed in the Gulf of Mexico downrange instead of near the launch site.
One of the six Raptors on the Ship did not ignite, and the Ship performed a contingency profile
which involved losing some altitude prior to SECO to build up velocity. Ship engine cutoff was
around T+9m15s and left the vehicle in an approximately -7 (+/-8) x 194 km x 28 deg orbit.
Near apogee, 20 dummy Starlink V3 simulators were deployed in addition to two 'Dodger Dog' modified
V2 satellites with cameras, which returned images of the deployment. A planned Ship Raptor restart
was cancelled. Reentry and splashdown of the vehicle in the Indian Ocean appears to have gone
according to plan, and the flight lasted 1h 6m.
Starlink launches
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Starlink Group 17-42 (24 Ku sats) was launched on May 20 from Vandenberg.
Starlink Group 10-31 (29 Ku sats) was launched on May 21 from Canaveral.
Chinese commercial launches
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On May 14 Landspace launched Zhuque-2E flight Y5, introducing a new stretched version of this methalox launch
vehicle. It placed a 2800 kg dummy payload in orbit.
On May 15 CAS Space launched a Lijian 1, flight Y13, and placed five payloads in orbit.
On May 17 China Commercial Rocket launched a Chang Zheng 8 from Hainan with 18 Qianfan internet satellites.
SMILE
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The ESA/Chinese SMILE mission was launched on May 19 by Vega-C to low orbit. It will use
onboard propulsion to reach a high apogee orbit. It carries instruments to study solar-terrestrial
interactions, and an X-ray telescope to study solar wind charge exchange (SWCX).
SMILE mass is 2300 kg wet 707 kg dry
Varda
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Varda's W-6 capsule landed at Koonibba range in South Australia on May 19.
Landing time was probably around 0603 UTC but an exact time was not given.
Meanwhile Varda has reported the W-4 mission has been completed; it appears from tracking data
to have attempted a failed reentry on May 10.
Rocket Lab
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Another Synspective (Tokyo) StriX radar satellite was launched by Electron from Mahia on May 22.
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
May 1 1806 Starlink Group 10-38 Falcon 9 Canaveral LC40 Comms 99 259 x 259 x 53.2
May 3 0700 CAS-500 Rideshare Falcon 9 Vandenberg SLC4E Tech 100 501 x 509 x 97.4
May 6 0359 Starlink Group 17-29 Falcon 9 Vandenberg SLC4E Comms 101 264 x 266 x 97.3
May 11 0013 Tianzhou 10 Chang Zheng 7 Wenchang Cargo 102A 374 x 385 x 41.5
May 12 0213 NROL-172 (USA 586 to ?) Falcon 9 Vandenberg SLC4E Unknown 103
May 12 1158 Qianfan Digui 09 Chang Zheng 6A Taiyuan Comms 104
May 14 0300 Dingzhihua Shiyan Zaihe Zhuque-2E Jiuquan Test 105A
May 15 0433 Taijing 3-05A Lijian-1 Jiuquan Imaging 106
Taijing 3-06B Imaging 106
Youxi Imaging 106
Dianjian-1 Imaging 106
Jilin-1 GF03D55 Imaging 106
May 15 2205 Dragon CRS-34 Falcon 9 Canaveral LC40 Cargo 107A
May 17 1442 Qianfan Xingzuo 09 Chang Zheng 8A Hainan CLS1 Comms 108
May 19 0352 SMILE Vega-C Kourou ELV Science 109A
May 20 0246 Starlink Group 17-42 Falcon 9 Vandenberg SLC4E Comms 110
May 21 1004 Starlink Group 10-31 Falcon 9 Canaveral LC40 Comms 111
May 22 0933 StriX-7 Electron Mahia LC1B Radar 112A
May 22 2230 Ship 39 Starship Starbase OLP2 Test U02 -7? x 194 x 28
Starlink simulators (20)
Starlink Dodger-Dog 1 and 2
Table of Recent Suborbital Launches
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Date UT Payload/Flt Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission Apogee/km Target
May 12 RV Sarmat Yasniy Test 1000? Kura
May 14 1923 FOXSI-5 Black Brant 9 Poker Flat Solar X 270? Poker Flat
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| Jonathan McDowell | |
| Somerville MA 02143 USA | inter : planet4589 at gmail |
| and | twitter: @planet4589 |
| Bromley, UK |
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