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This is the draft of the NEXT issue of JSR. WARNING: Information on this page is up to date but not well checked, and may include wild rumours and downright nonsense. For the CURRENT issue of JSR, click HERE


Jonathan's Space Report
No. 862 draft                                                            2026 Nov 6    Bromley, UK
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Update:
-------

Construction on my new Space Library near London is now near completion.
The books have arrived and I am unpacking; as of today, the internet and the plumbing are working. Hooray!
Still need a few weeks to get the ventilation system up and running, the fire alarms installed
and some electrical and painting work; and several months of sorting the books on the shelves.
Updates at https://www.gofundme.com/f/fund-jonathans-space-report-library-transition
(further donations welcome)

International Space Station
----------------------------

Expedition 75 is underway.


On Nov 5 astronauts Kutryk and Menon carried out spacewalk US EVA-101. They moved the 3B IROSA
array from the MBS POA to the installed location on the S6 truss mod kit. The array was then deployed.

Starship 
---------

Starship flight 15 was launched on Nov 13. The booster landing was diverted to just offshore and the
booster was destroyed just above the water. Ship reached orbit and deployed 26 V3 Starlink satellites.
It remained in orbit for one day. The 50 m/s deorbit burn at 2023 UTC Nov 14 was followed by
a successful tower catch landing at Starbase at 2120 UTC.


Falcon 9 launches
------------------

On Nov 7 SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 with the USSF-432 (SBST R-4) mission, thought to be 23 comms sats 
for the US Space Force.

On Nov 12 SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 with the USSF-627 (SBST R-5) mission, thought to be 23 comms sats 
for the US Space Force.


CALT launches
--------------

On Nov  5 CALT launched a CZ-2C from Xichang with three Yaogan 51 sigint sats.


SAST launches
---------------

On Nov 8 SAST launched a CZ-12 from Hainan with the Xingwang 29 batch of internet sats.

On Nov 11 SAST launched a CZ-2D from Jiuquan with the Tanluzhe (Pathfinder) mission for the
Chinese Academy of Sciences' Origins Exploration Program. The main payload was Tanluzhe A
with a variety of science experiments. A second payload is a cluster of three
small radio astronomy sats, Tanluzhe B, C and D, which will separate from A as a single
unit and then later separate from each other.  The CZ-2D was a modified version
with no stage 1 tail fins and a lighter stage 2 structure using a composite material
payload adapter.

Commercial Chinese launches
----------------------------

On Nov 3 CAS Space launched a Lijian-2 with eighteen Qianfan internet satellites

On Nov 6 Xinghe Dongli (Galactic Energy) launched a Gushenxing-2 (Ceres-2) with the Guanlan Shiyan
lidar satellite for Laoshan Lab, the YY1-28 GNSS-RO meteorology sat for Yunyao, the Juntian 1-06A
radar sat for Juntian, and the Zhongbei Daxue 1 sat for North Univ. of China.

Rocket Lab
----------

On Nov  2 Rocket Lab launched a QPS-SAR radar satellite for iQPS.

On Nov 14 Rocket Lab launched another QPS-SAR radar satellite for iQPS; it was the 100th Electron launch.

Russian launches
-----------------

Russia launched a Glonass navigation sat on Nov 7. Launch was sometime around 1320 to 1330 UTC;
Robert Christy reported on X that he computes the time as 1322 UTC.

Russia launched a Soyuz/Fregat from Vostochniy on Nov 14 with the KOEN and Kinosputnik imaging
sats and an unknown number of rideshare passengers.

Table of Recent Orbital (and near-Orbital) Launches
---------------------------------------------------

Date UT       Name			          Launch Vehicle	 Site		 Mission  INTL.  Catalog  Perigee Apogee  Incl	 Notes

Nov  2 1641   QPS SAR 20                             Electron              Mahia            Radar   247
Nov  3 0015   Qianfan Group 21                       Lijian-2              Jiuquan          Comms   248
Nov  5 1558   Yaogan 51 07-09                        Chang Zheng 2C        Xichang          Sigint  249
Nov  6 2337   Guanlan Shiyan Xing                    Gushenxing-2          Jiuquan          EO Sci  250
              Yunyao 1-28                                                                   Met-RO 
              Juntian 1-06A                                                                 Radar
              Zhongbei Daxue 1                                                              Tech
Nov  7 0048   USA 726 to 748                         Falcon 9              Vandenberg       Comms?  251
Nov  7 1325?  Kosmos-2621? (Glonass)                 Soyuz-2-1b/Fregat     Plesetsk         Nav     252
Nov  8 2024   Xingwang Group 29                      Chang Zheng 12        Hainan           Comms   253
Nov 11 1141   Tanluzhe A                             Chang Zheng 2D        Jiuquan          Sci     254
              Tanluzhe B/C/D                                                                Sci     254
Nov 12 0436   USA 749 to 771                         Falcon 9              Vandenberg       Comms?  255
Nov 13 2247   Ship 42                                Starship V3           Starbase OLP2    Test    256
              Starlink Group 31-2                                                           Comms   256
Nov 14 0116   KOEN                                   Soyuz 2-1b/Fregat     Vostochniy       Imaging 257
              Kinosputnik                                                                   Imaging 257
              Unknown rideshare sats
Nov 14 0530   QPS-SAR-19                             Electron              Mahia LC1A       Radar   258


Table of Recent Suborbital Launches
-----------------------------------

Date UT       Payload/Flt Name Launch Vehicle      Site                  Mission    Apogee/km    Target

Oct 28        RV                Bulava           K553, Sea of Okhotsk    Test           1000?    Chiza

.-------------------------------------------------------------------------.
|  Jonathan McDowell                 |                                    |
|  Bromley, UK                       |  inter : planet4589 at gmail       |
|                                    |  twitter: @planet4589              |
|                                                                         |
| JSR: https://www.planet4589.org/jsr.html                                |
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| JSR is no longer available by email                                     |
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