Six Launches in Six Days: China Completes Space Station, Falcon Heavy Returns and More

China completed construction of its first permanent space station, SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket made a successful return after more than three years, and four other rockets were launched from spaceports around the world.

Tiangong Expands

A Long March 5B rocket launched the Mengtian science module to the Tiangong space station on Oct. 31. The module docked with the station the following day where it was met by three three Shenzhou-14 taikonauts who have been aboard for five months.

The launch completes initial construction of the space station, which is in a “T” configuration with the Tianhe core module and the Wentian science module. Additional modules could be added at a later date.

The crew of Shenzhou-15 is set to join the three Shenzhou-14 taikonauts aboard the station for a handover of the station in late November. The Shenzhou-14 crew will be at the end of a six-month mission that began on June 5.

The Tianzhou-5 mission will carry at least five secondary payloads that will be deployed either during launch or from the space station.

Tianzhou 5 Secondary Payloads

The launch of Mengtian caused considerable concern worldwide. The rocket’s core stage — about 30 meters (100 ft) long with an empty mass of 21.6 metric tons (23.8 tons) — entered a low orbit and tumbled out of control until it reentered Earth’s atmosphere over the Pacific Ocean. There were no reported injuries or property damage from debris that survived reentry.

China also launched the ChinaSat-19 geosynchronous communications satellite on a Long March 3B/E from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center on Nov. 5.

Falcon Heavy

SpaceX launched the first Falcon Heavy rocket since June 2019 for the U.S. Space Force (USSF) from the Kennedy Space Center on Nov. 1.

USSF payloads included a pair of space tugs, a military communications satellite, and a microsatellite named TETRA-1 built by Millennium Space Systems. There were also four payloads from Lockheed Martin and Universal Space Network.

Falcon Heavy Payloads

Millennium said TETRA-1 “created for various prototype missions in and around geosynchronous earth orbit.” The company added that it designed, manufactured, assembled and integrated TETRA-1 “60 percent faster than previous missions” to demonstrate to USSF the speed at which new satellites could be developed.

Millennium might have built the satellite quickly, but its ride to space has been long in coming. The company’s press release extolling completion of the satellite is dated April 21, 2020.

Lockheed Martin’s payloads — LINUSS stands for Lockheed Martin In-space Upgrade Satellite System — are designed to get the company into the business of satellite servicing and life-extension in geosynchronous orbit.

The functions of the two Universal Space Network satellites are unknown. Wikipedia describes the company as a U.S. subsidiary of Swedish Space Corporation that specializes in the “tracking, telemetry, and control of spacecraft.”

SpaceX also launched the Eutelsat’s Hotbird 13G geosynchronous communications satellites on a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on Nov. 3.

Other Launches

Rocket Lab completed its record ninth launch of 2022 by orbiting the Mesospheric Airglow/Aerosol Tomography and Spectroscopy (MATS) satellite for the Swedish National Space Agency. The satellite utilizes space-borne limb imaging in combination with tomographic and spectroscopic analysis to obtain data on gravity waves.

Rocket Lab’s attempt to capture the Electron’s first stage in mid-air using a helicopter failed when controllers lost contact with the booster during reentry and descent. The maiden attempt to capture the booster also failed on May 2.

Orbital Launches
Oct. 31 – Nov. 6 2022

Russia launched a EKS-6 missile early warning satellite from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome on Nov. 2.

Orbital Launches to Date

The United States continues to lead with the world with 74 launches. SpaceX’s 51 launches exceeds the entire output of China’s launch sector. Other U.S. providers have launched 23 times, which is more than the 20 missions launched by Russia. Two of those 23 flights failed, while another one was a partial failure.

Orbital Launches
Through Nov. 6, 2022

Launch attempts for the year total 153, with 147 successes, five failures and one partial failure. In 2021, there were 146 orbital launches, with 135 successes, 10 failures and one partial failure.