#^Launch Preview: Russia to debut Soyuz-5; Falcon 9 and Atlas V to launch internet satellites
The United States, Russia, China, New Zealand, and Norway are all set to host launches during another busy week of spaceflight. SpaceX is set to launch three missions from its Florida and California launch facilities, while the United Launch Alliance is scheduled to launch Amazon Leo satellites on its Atlas V rocket toward the end of the week.
Internationally, two Chinese rockets are expected to launch from Taiyuan and Jiuquan with unknown payloads. Isar Aerospace looks to launch its Spectrum rocket on its second mission from Norway, and Rocket Lab is expected to continue its regular launch cadence with an Electron from New Zealand on Wednesday. Lastly, Roscosmos is scheduled to launch the first Soyuz-5 rocket from Baikonur on Friday.
Falcon 9 | Starlink Group 17-17SpaceX is expected to conduct the week’s first launch, Starlink Group 17-17, on Tuesday, March 24, at 4:03 PM PDT (23:03 UTC on Wednesday). Falcon 9 will liftoff from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) at the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, flying on a southern trajectory to place 25 Starlink v2 Mini satellites into a Sun-synchronous orbit (SSO).
Falcon booster B1081 will support the mission, flying for the 23rd time following a 38-day turnaround. Following launch and stage separation, the booster will land atop SpaceX’s west coast droneship,
Of Course I Still Love You, which will be stationed downrange in the Pacific Ocean. B1081 has previously supported the Crew-7, CRS-29, PACE, Transporter 10, EarthCARE, NROL-186, Transporter 13, TRACERS & Others, NROL-48, CSG-3, and 12 Starlink missions.
Falcon 9 is a two-stage partially reusable launch vehicle capable of lofting 22,000 kg to LEO and 8,300 kg to geostationary transfer orbit. Standing 70 m tall and 3.7 m in diameter, Falcon 9’s reusable first stage features nine Merlin engines, while the second stage features a single vacuum-optimized Merlin engine.
Electron | Daughter Of The StarsRocket Lab’s busy 2026 is set to continue on Wednesday, March 25, when an Electron rocket launches two Celeste demonstration satellites for the European Space Agency (ESA). Electron is scheduled to launch from Launch Complex 1A (LC-1A) on the Māhia Peninsula in New Zealand at 09:14 UTC, flying on a southern trajectory to a 510 km low-Earth orbit (LEO).
The two Celeste satellites are two of 10 satellites planned for ESA’s Celeste Low Earth Orbit Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (LEO-PNT) demonstration mission. Once completed, the 10 satellites will test how navigation signals vary across frequency bands in orbit and how a constellation of navigation satellites in LEO can assist other global navigation satellite systems, such as Galileo and EGNOS.
Electron is a three-stage, 18 m-tall small satellite launch vehicle that has been flying since 2018. The first stage features nine Rutherford engines, while the second stage utilizes a single, vacuum-optimized Rutherford engine; both stages use liquid oxygen (LOX) and kerosene (RP-1) propellants. The optional Curie third stage uses monopropellant to power its engine.
This mission will mark Electron’s sixth mission of 2026 and 85th overall since its debut in 2017.
Spectrum | Onward and UpwardGerman spaceflight company Isar Aerospace is expected to launch its Spectrum rocket on its second mission on Wednesday, March 25, at 20:00 UTC. Spectrum will liftoff from the Orbital Launch Pad at the Andøya Rocket Range in Norland, Norway, on a northwestern trajectory.
Onboard Spectrum will be six payloads from the European Space Agency’s Boost! program. These payloads include: CyBEEsat from Technical University Berlin, TriSat-S from the University of Maribor, Platform-6 from EnduroSat, FramSat-1 from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology; SpaceTeamSat1 from Technical University Wien, and Let It Go from Dcubed.
This mission will mark the second launch for Spectrum, which first launched on the failed Going Full Spectrum mission in March 2025. Shortly after liftoff, the first stage engines experienced an anomaly, causing the rocket to lose thrust and fall into the sea adjacent to the launch pad.
Utilizing propane and LOX propellants, Spectrum’s first stage uses nine Aquila engines while the second stage uses a single vacuum-optimized Aquila engine. Spectrum is capable of carrying 1,000 kg to LEO and 700 kg to SSO. While currently launching from Andøya, Isar has negotiated to also launch Spectrum from the Guiana Space Center in South America.
Spectrum at the Orbital Launch Pad in Norway ahead of its second flight. (Credit: Isar Aerospace)
Chang Zheng 2C | Unknown PayloadThe first of two Chinese launches this week is expected to liftoff on Wednesday, March 25, at 22:50 UTC from Launch Complex 9 (LC-9) at the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in China. The Chang Zheng 2C (CZ-2C) will follow a southern trajectory out of Taiyuan to place an unknown payload in LEO. The launch window lasts until 23:05 UTC.
Developed and managed by the Chinese Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC), the CZ-2C is a two-stage launch vehicle that first flew in 1982. Standing 42 m tall and 3.35 m in diameter, the CZ-2C is capable of carrying 2,850 kg to LEO and 1,000 kg to a geostationary transfer orbit (GTO). The first stage uses four YF-21C engines, while the second stage uses a single YF-24E engine. Both stages use hypergolic propellants.
This mission will mark the third CZ-2C mission of 2026 and the 87th overall.
Falcon 9 | Starlink Group 10-44Falcon 9 will launch a batch of 29 Starlink v2 Mini satellites on Thursday, March 26, at 7:22 AM EDT (11:22 UTC) from Space Launch Complex 30 (SLC-40) at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCSFS) in Florida. The launch window lasts for four hours, ending at 11:22 AM EDT (15:22 UTC). Falcon 9 will follow a northeastern trajectory into LEO, where the Starlink satellites will be deployed and eventually move into the constellation’s Group 10 shell.
Booster B1067 will support this mission, flying for the 34th time — setting a new flight record for Falcon boosters. Following stage separation, B1067 will land on SpaceX’s
Just Read the Instructions droneship, which will be stationed downrange in the Atlantic. B1067 first flew in June 2021 on the CRS-22 mission, and has since supported the Crew-3, Türksat 5B, Crew-4, CRS-25, Hotbird 13G, O3b mPOWER 1 & 2, Satria, HTS-113BT, Galileo FOC FM26 & FM32, Koreasat 6A, and 22 Starlink missions.
Kinetica 1 | Unknown Payload Chinese commercial company CAS Space is expected to launch its Kinetica 1 rocket on Friday, March 27, at 04:10 UTC from Site 130 at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in China. Kinetica 1 will follow a southern trajectory out of Jiuquan, deploying an unknown payload to LEO.
The Kinetica 1 is a four-stage, all-solid rocket that debuted in 2022. Standing 31 m tall, it is capable of lofting 2,000 kg to LEO and 1,500 kg to GTO. This mission will mark the 12th Kinetica 1 mission and the first in 2026.
The Soyuz-5’s first stage RD-171MV engine ahead of flight. (Credit: Roscosmos)
Soyuz-5 | Demo FlightRoscosmos is set to launch the new Soyuz-5 rocket on its debut flight on Friday, March 27, at 11:00 UTC from Site 45/1 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The mission will mark the first flight from Site 45/1 since the final launch of the Russian Zenit rocket in December 2017, which Soyuz-5 is intended to replace.
For this demonstration mission, Soyuz-5 will simply carry a mass simulator to LEO to prove the rocket’s design and functionality. As mentioned, Soyuz-5, also known as Irtysh, is intended to replace the Zenit family of rockets. The rocket’s first stage is also expected to be used on the first stage of Russia’s upcoming Yenisei super-heavy-lift launch vehicle.
Soyuz-5 is a two-stage launch vehicle powered by RP-1 and LOX. The first stage utilizes a single RD-171MV engine while the second stage uses a single RD-0124MS engine. An optional third stage, the Blok DM-SLB, will also be available for future launches and will utilize a single RD-58MF engine. Soyuz-5 stands 63.7 m tall, and is capable of lofting 17,000 kg to LEO and 5,000 kg to GTO.
Atlas V | Amazon Leo (LA-05)The United Launch Alliance (ULA) is expected to launch a batch of 29 Amazon Leo internet satellites atop an Atlas V on Sunday, March 29, at 3:53 AM EDT (07:53 UTC). Atlas V — flying in its 551 configuration with five solid rocket boosters, a five-meter fairing, and one RL-10 engine on the Centaur upper stage — will liftoff from Space Launch Complex 41 (SLC-41) at CCSFS, flying on a northeastern trajectory to LEO.
Amazon Leo, formerly known as Project Kuiper, is a direct competitor to SpaceX’s Starlink internet constellation and is expected to provide worldwide broadband internet access using a constellation of 3,236 satellites. Once completed, the constellation will span 98 orbital planes in three orbital layers at varying orbital altitudes.
Debuting in 2002, the Atlas V has served as ULA’s workhorse rocket for over two decades. In its 551 configuration, the rocket comprises two stages and stands 62.2 m tall and 3.81 m wide. The first stage, accompanied by five GEM 63 solid rocket boosters, features two Russian RD-180 engines and is powered by LOX and RP-1. The second stage, the Centaur III, utilizes a single RL-10 engine and LOX and liquid hydrogen propellants. With Vulcan, the Atlas V’s replacement, now flying, ULA is set to retire the Atlas V after it launches three additional Amazon Leo missions and six missions to the International Space Station with Boeing’s Starliner capsule.
This mission will serve as the first Atlas V mission of 2026, the 107th overall Atlas V mission, and ULA’s second launch of 2026.
Falcon 9 | Transporter 16The final mission of the week will see Falcon 9 launch the Transporter 16 rideshare mission to SSO. Falcon 9 is scheduled to liftoff from SLC-4E at Vandenberg on Sunday, March 29, at 3:10 AM PDT (10:10 UTC) during a two-hour launch window that ends at 05:10 AM PDT (12:10 UTC). The rocket and its rideshare payloads will fly on a southern trajectory out of Vandenberg.
Transporter missions are part of SpaceX’s SmallSat Rideshare Program, which provides small satellite operators with regularly scheduled rideshare missions to SSO at costs much lower than those for a dedicated mission. SpaceX’s Bandwagon missions serve a similar purpose, but instead launch payloads to mid-inclination orbits.
The booster for this mission is currently publicly unknown. Following liftoff and stage separation, the booster will land on
Of Course I Still Love You downrange in the Pacific.
This mission will be Falcon 9’s 40th of 2026 and the 623rd overall. Furthermore, this mission will mark the 73rd orbital launch attempt worldwide in 2026.
(Lead image: Falcon 9 launches from Florida. Credit: Julia Bergeron for NSF)
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Launch Preview: Russia to debut Soyuz-5; Falcon 9 and Atlas V to launch internet satellites appeared first on
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