Jonathan's Space Report
No. 858 draft 2026 Jul 1 Bromley, UK
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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.
Progress MS-34 reboosted the ISS orbit with a 568s, 1.1m/s burn at 2039 UTC Jul 1.
On Jul 2 the Kibo RMS extracted NRCSD-30 from the JEM airlock, and the
NRCSD ejected six university cubesats: Proves-Alcyone (Columbia) and
Proves-Atlas (Northeastern) at 0850 UTC; HUCSat (Harvard) at 0900 UTC;
Coconut (ASU) and LeopardSat (Cincinnati) at 1030 UTC; Proves-Electra
(Santa Cruz) at 1140 UTC. (these deployment times are not yet confirmed).
Megaconstellation launches
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Starlink Group 17-46 (24 Ku sats) was launched on Jul 2 by Falcon 9 from Vandenberg
Amazon Leo LA08 (29 sats) was launched on Jul 2 from Canaveral on ULA Atlas V 551 flight AV-114.
Starlink Group 10-50 (29 Ku sats) was launched on Jul 5 by Falcon 9 from Canaveral.
Transporter 17
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On Jul 7 the Transporter 17 rideshare mission was launched by Falcon 9 from Vandenberg.
After deploying rideshare payloads in a 600 km orbit, the Korean CAS500-4 was delivered to a 900 km orbit.
SAST launches
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On Jul 1 SAST launched a CZ-4B with the HY2-05 oceanographic satellite to a 937 x 958 km sun sync orbit.
At about 0018 UTC Jul 2 the CZ-4B upper stage made a perigee lowering burn to 649 x 934 km.
On Jul 4 SAST/CGWIC launched a CZ-6A with the Group 13 cluster of Qianfan internet satellites.
CALT launches
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On Jul 5 CALT/CASC Commercial Rocket launched an upgraded CZ-8A from Hainan with twenty Qianfan satellites (Group 15).
LINK
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On Jul 3 the L-1011 Stargazer aircraft N140SC took off from Kwajalein runway 06/24 at 0739 UTC
and at 0836 UTC dropped its cargo, a Northrop Grumman Pegasus rocket, over about 166W 7N.
The three-stage Pegasus delivered the 430 kg NASA/Katalyst Space LINK spacecraft to low orbit.
LINK's mission is to rendezvous and dock with NASA's SWIFT space observatory and boost it
to a higher orbit.
Asteroids
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On Jul 4 China's Tianwen-2 probe matched orbit with (469219) Kamo'oelawa at a distance of about
20 km, in preparation for a sample return attempt.
On Jul 5 at 0930 UTC Japan's Hayabusa-2 flew past (98943) Torifune at a distance of about 1 km.
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
Jun 28 1609 Starlink Group 17-40 Falcon 9 Vandenberg SLC4E Comms 147 255 x 265 x 97.3
Jun 29 0225 SXM-11 Falcon 9 Canaveral LC40 Comms 148A 219 x 19617 x 27.0
Jul 1 2346 Haiyang 2-05 Chang Zheng 4B Jiuquan Rem.Sen. 149A 928 x 946 x 99.3
Jul 2 0258 Starlink Group 17-46 Falcon 9 Vandenberg SLC4E Comms 150 255 x 271 x 97.3
Jul 2 0430 Amazon Leo LA-08 Atlas V 551 Canaveral LC41 Comms 151 450 x 465 x 51.9
Jul 2 0850 Proves-Alcyone ISS, LEO Tech 98067
Proves-Atlas Tech 98067
Jul 2 0900 HUCSAT ISS, LEO Tech 98067
Jul 2 1030 LeopardSat ISS, LEO Tech 98067
Coconut Tech 98067
Jul 2 1140 Proves-Electra ISS, LEO Tech 98067
Jul 3 0836 LINK Pegasus L-1011, Pacific Tech 152A 362 x 393 x 20.6
Jul 4 0930 Qianfan Group 13 Chang Zheng 6A Taiyuan Comms 153
Jul 5 1050 Starlink Group 10-50 Falcon 9 Canaveral LC40 Comms 154 240 x 250 x 53.2
Jul 5 1343 Qianfan Group 15 Chang Zheng 8A Hainan LC1 Comms 155
Jul 7 0712 Transporter 17 Falcon 9 Vandenberg SLC4E Rideshare 156 590 x 598 x 97.8
CAS500-4 Imaging 156 884 x 897 x 99.0
Table of Recent Suborbital Launches
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Date UT Payload/Flt Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission Apogee/km Target
Jun 24 0930 Rocksat/RockOn Terrier I.Mal. Wallops Student 119? Atlantic
Jun 26 1711 SHORTSTOP Castor IVBXL Wallops Hypersonic? 300? Atlantic
Jul 6 0401 RV JL-2 Type 094 Sub?,Bohai Test 1000? Pacific
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| Jonathan McDowell | |
| Bromley, UK | inter : planet4589 at gmail |
| | twitter: @planet4589 |
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| JSR: https://www.planet4589.org/jsr.html |
| Back issues: https://www.planet4589.org/space/jsr/back |
| JSR is currently no longer available by email |
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