Read more: Found here This week, China returns to the Moon with the Chang'e-6 mission, making the first-ever attempt to collect samples from a site on the far side, near the lunar South Pole.
SpaceX also plans to keep up its high cadence with the launch of the long-delayed WorldView Legion satellites from Space Launch Complex 4E (SLC-4E) at the Vandenberg Space Force Base (VSFB) in California. Additionally, two further Starlink missions are scheduled to launch this week, with the second Starlink mission possibly completing a record-breaking sub-three-day turnaround for Vandenberg.
Lastly, no launch permit was issued for Gilmour Space's Eris 1 orbital rocket, previously expected to make its maiden flight on May 4, this launch is now on hold.
Originally scheduled to launch from SLC-4E at VSFB on April 17, a Falcon 9 was set to carry two satellites massing a total of 1,500 kilograms into a Sun-synchronous orbit. This first launch attempt was postponed the day before launch and rescheduled for Wednesday, April 24, before being postponed again. SpaceX has not commented on the reason for the delays, but liftoff is now scheduled for Wednesday, May 2, at 11:30 AM PDT (18:30 UTC), at the start of a 54-minute launch window. The booster, which has yet to be confirmed, is expected to return to land on the pad at Landing Zone 4 located around 400 meters away from the launch pad.
The WorldView Legion satellite constellation is Maxar Technologies' next-generation constellation of Earth observation satellites, designed and built in-house at the company's facilities in Palo Alto and San Jose, California. DigitalGlobe, which was later taken over by Maxar, first announced its selection of SpaceX as the launch provider in 2018 when the satellites were initially anticipated to launch in two blocks of six. Hardware-based delays, as well as the complexity of the technology, have caused several setbacks. The planned constellation will now consist of six satellites in total that will be launched in pairs and will orbit in polar and mid-inclination orbits.
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