Jonathan's Space Report
No. 854 (draft) 2026 Feb 15 Somerville, MA, USA
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ISS
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Expedition 74 continues.
Progress MS-32 made an orbit raise burn on Feb 19 at 0057 UTC, with a delta-V of 0.9m/s.
Cargo ship Dragon CRS-33 undocked from IDA-2 at 1705 UTC Feb 26. CRS-33
made its deorbit burn around 0652 UTC Feb 27, and jettisoned the Boost
Trunk at about 0710 UTC. The Trunk reentered over the Pacific near 127W
25N at ca. 0725-0730 UTC and the CRS-33 capsule splashed down near
117.7W 32.6N (off San Diego) at 0744UTC.
The SSRMS Canadarm-2 unberthed the cargo ship HTV-X1 from Harmony nadir at 1923 UTC Mar 5
and released it into orbit at 1700 UTC Mar 6. On Mar 11, HTV-X1 deployed the 6U cubesat Tenkoh-2
from its H-SSOD deployer.
Starlink launches
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Starlink Group 6-103 (29 Ku sats) was launched on Feb 16 from Canaveral.
Starlink Group 10-36 (29 Ku sats) was launched on Feb 20 from Canaveral.
Starlink Group 17-25 (25 Ku sats) was launched on Feb 21 from Vandenberg.
Starlink Group 6-104 (28 Ku sats) was launched on Feb 22 from Canaveral.
Starlink Group 6-110 (29 Ku sats) was launched on Feb 24 from Canaveral.
Starlink Group 17-26 (25 Ku sats) was launched on Feb 25 from Vandenberg.
Starlink Group 6-108 (29 Ku sats) was launched on Feb 27 from Canaveral.
Starlink Group 17-23 (25 Ku sats) was launched on Mar 1 from Vandenberg.
Starlink Group 10-41 (29 Ku sats) was launched on Mar 2 from Canaveral.
Starlink Group 10-40 (29 Ku sats) was launched on Mar 4 from Canaveral.
Starlink Group 17-18 (25 Ku sats) was launched on Mar 8 from Vandenberg.
Other Falcon 9 missions
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On Mar 10 SpaceX launched the Echostar XXV comms satellite. The satellite was built
for Echostar by Lanteris using the model 1300 bus and had a launch mass around 6800 kg.
It carries a Ku-band television broadcasting payload. The satellite was deployed
in subsynchronous transfer orbit.
SpaceOne
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SpaceOne launched the third Kairos rocket from Kii, Japan on Mar 5. Once again,
the rocket failed during stage 1 burn. The range safety destruct was activated
1m18s after launch at an altitude of 29 km.
Rocket Lab
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Rocket Lab launched an Electron from Mahia on Mar 5 with a BlackSky Global imaging satellite
(although the identity of the payload was not actually announced at the time).
Firefly Alpha
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Firefly Aerospace launched Alpha rocket FLTA0007 from Vandenberg on Mar 12. It carried a Lockheed
Martin test payload, and demonstrated a successful upper stage restart.
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
Feb 13 1015 Dragon Crew-12 Falcon 9 Canaveral LC40 Spaceship 31A 208 x 241 x 51.6
Feb 15 0200 Starlink Group 17-13 Falcon 9 Vandenberg SLC4E Comms 32 242 x 255 x 97.3
Feb 16 0759 Starlink Group 6-103 Falcon 9 Canaveral LC40 Comms 33 259 x 267 x 43.0
Feb 20 0141 Starlink Group 10-36 Falcon 9 Canaveral LC40 Comms 34 258 x 270 x 53.2
Feb 21 0904 Starlink Group 17-25 Falcon 9 Vandenberg SLC4E Comms 35 244 x 258 x 97.3
Feb 22 0347 Starlink Group 6-104 Falcon 9 Canaveral LC40 Comms 36 261 x 270 x 43.0
Feb 24 2304 Starlink Group 6-110 Falcon 9 Canaveral LC40 Comms 37 258 x 268 x 43.0
Feb 25 1417 Starlink Group 17-26 Falcon 9 Vandenberg SLC4E Comms 38 240 x 255 x 97.3
Feb 27 1216 Starlink Group 6-108 Falcon 9 Canaveral LC40 Comms 39 257 x 267 x 43.0
Mar 1 1010 Starlink Group 17-23 Falcon 9 Vandenberg SLC4E Comms 40 242 x 255 x 97.3
Mar 2 0256 Starlink Group 10-41 Falcon 9 Canaveral LC40 Comms 41 254 x 265 x 53.2
Mar 4 1052 Starlink Group 10-40 Falcon 9 Canaveral LC40 Comms 42 252 x 261 x 53.2
Mar 5 0210 Tatara-1R Kairos Kii Tech F04 -6378 x 29 x 97.5
HErO Tech F04 -6378 x 29 x 97.5
SC-Sat-1a Tech F04 -6378 x 29 x 97.5
NUTSAT-3 Tech F04 -6378 x 29 x 97.5
AETS-1 Tech F04 -6378 x 29 x 97.5
Mar 5 2353 BlackSky Global-34? Electron Mahia LC1A Imaging 43 467 x 476 x 42.0
Mar 8 1100 Starlink Group 17-18 Falcon 9 Vandenberg SLC4E Comms 44 245 x 258 x 97.3
Mar 10 0419 Echostar 25 Falcon 9 Canaveral LC40 Comms 45A 264 x 22015 x 26.9
Mar 11 0934 Tenkoh-2 HTV-X1, LEO Tech 25-241C
Mar 12 0050 LM-400 Test? Alpha Vandenberg SLC2W Tech 46A
Table of Recent Suborbital Launches
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The HASTE launch on Feb 28 used an Electron variant with live stage 1, inert stage 2, and no kickstage
to place the DART-AE scramjet on a transatmospheric trajectory. It is unclear whether or not the apogee exceeded
my 80 km boundary.
Many exoatmospheric ballistic missiles have been launched as part of the Iran war which started on Feb 28.
In previous recent conflicts Iran has used Emad, Ghadr-110, Shahab-3, and Kheibar Shekan ballistic missiles.
The mix of missiles launched from Iran on Feb 28 onwards is not known. The US Army has launched PrSM missiles
against Iran from an unknown location; these missiles are likely exoatmospheric, unlike most of the
missiles used by US and Israel in the conflict.
Feb 10 1019 GNEISS 1 Black Brant 9 Poker Flat Auroral 319 Poker Flat Range
Feb 10 1019 GNEISS 2 Black Brant 9 Poker Flat Auroral 320 Poker Flat Range
Feb 11 0300 Mengzhou Abort Chang Zheng 10A-S1 Wenchang LC301 Test 105 S China Sea
Feb 28 0000 Cassowary Vex HASTE Wallops LA0C Hypersonic 45? Atlantic
Feb 28 HE warheads [many missiles] Iran Weapon 100? Israel
Feb 28 HE warheads Kheihbar Shekan Iran Weapon 100? Israel
Feb 28 HE warheads Qiam-1? Iran Weapon 100? Doha
Feb 28 HE warheads [many missiles] Iran Weapon 100? Dubai
Feb 28 HE warheads Fateh-360? Iran Weapon 100? Bahrain
Feb 28 HE warheads [many missiles] Iran Weapon 100? Kuwait
Feb 28 HE warheads [many missiles] Iran Weapon 100? Jordan
Mar 1 onward HE warheads [many missiles] Iran Weapon 100? Israel etc.
Mar 1 HE warheads PrSM Persian Gulf area? Weapon 100? Iran
Mar 4 0701 GT255GM Minuteman 3 Vandenberg Test 1300? Kwajalein
Mar 5 Warhead Khorramshar-4 Iran Weapon 100? Israel ?
Mar 10 REXUS 35 Imp. Orion Kiruna Microgravity 80? ESRANGE
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| Jonathan McDowell | |
| Somerville MA 02143 USA | inter : planet4589 at gmail |
| and | twitter: @planet4589 |
| Bromley, UK |
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