
With only two weeks left in the year, the global launch schedule is crammed with 9 launches, including the flights of new launch vehicles by Russia and India and an unprecedented effort by SpaceX to recover a first-stage for reuse.
Below are the highlights.
Dec. 18. GSLV Mk.3: India will conduct the first test flight of its new medium-lift GSLV Mk. 3 launch vehicle. This will be a suborbital launch that will carry a prototype of a human spacecraft. Satish Dhawan Space Centre
Dec. 19. SpaceX CRS-5: SpaceX will send a Dragon freighter on the company’s fifth commercial resupply mission to the International Space Station. The company will attempt to recover the first stage of the Falcon 9 booster for reuse by landing it on a barge. Cape Canaveral Air Force Station
Dec. 25. Angara 5: Russia will conduct its first test of its new Angara 5 heavy-lift booster, which will send a dummy payload into orbit. The launch follows the suborbital flight of the smaller Angara 1.2, which tested the core stage for this new family of boosters. Plesetsk Cosmodrome
The table below shows flights scheduled for the rest of the year. Schedule subject to change without notice.
UPDATES: The GSLV launch was successful. Russia has delayed the Strela flight to Dec. 19, and SpaceX has rescheduled the Falcon 9 launch to no earlier than Jan. 6.
DATE | LAUNCH VEHICLE | PAYLOAD | LAUNCH SITE | NATION |
Dec. 18 | GSLV Mk.3 | CARE | Satish Dhawan | India |
Dec. 18 | Strela | Kondor E1 | Baikonur | Russia |
Dec. 18 | Soyuz | O3b F3 | Kourou | Russia |
Dec. 19 | Falcon 9 | CRS 5 | CCAFS | USA |
Dec. 24 | Soyuz | Lotus S | Plesetsk | Russia |
Dec. 25 | Angara 5 | Dummy payload | Plesetsk | Russia |
Dec. 26 | Soyuz | Resurs P2 | Baikonur | Russia |
Dec. 28 | Proton | ASTRA 2G | Baikonur | Russia |
December | Long March 3A | Fengyun 2G | Xichang | China |
Source: Spaceflight Now