Five orbital launches are planned this week, including missions by SpaceX, Russia, and China. SpaceX will launch two Falcon 9 rockets carrying the O3b mPOWER satellites and the USSF-153 payload. A Soyuz 2.1b will deliver the Progress MS-35 spacecraft to the International Space Station, and two Chinese Chang Zheng rockets are scheduled for unspecified payloads.
The first launch is a Chang Zheng 2D/YZ-3 (CZ-2D/YZ-3) scheduled for Wednesday, Sept. 9, from Site 94 at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in China. Liftoff is set for 10:00 UTC within a 21-minute window opening at 9:52 UTC. The three-stage rocket will follow a southeasterly trajectory to deliver an unknown payload to an unspecified orbit. The CZ-2D/YZ-3 is a 40.77-m-tall medium-lift vehicle capable of delivering 3,500 kg to low-Earth orbit (LEO) and 1,200 kg to geostationary transfer orbit. It is powered by YF-21C, YF-24C, and YZ-3 engines using dinitrogen tetroxide (N2O4) and unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine (UDMH). This will be the rocket’s 5th mission of 2026.
A Soyuz 2.1b rocket is set to launch the Progress MS-35 mission to the International Space Station (ISS) from Site 31/6 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome on Sept. 9. The launch window is instantaneous at 16:15 UTC, following a northeasterly trajectory. The Progress MS-35 spacecraft is expected to dock at the ISS’s Poisk zenith port on Sept. 11 at approximately 18:37 UTC, delivering 2,600 kg of cargo. This will be the 188th flight of a Russian Progress vehicle. The Soyuz 2.1b is a 46.3-m-tall, three-stage medium-lift vehicle with a liftoff thrust of 4,550 kN, powered by RD-107A, RD-108D, and RD-0124 engines using kerosene (RP-1) and liquid oxygen (LOX). This will be the sixth mission of 2026 for the Soyuz 2.1b.
The first Falcon 9 mission of the week is expected from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) at the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on Thursday, Sept. 10. The Falcon 9 will launch during a three-hour window beginning at 8:37 AM PDT, following a southeasterly trajectory to LEO and delivering the classified USSF-153 payload for the United States Space Force. Falcon 9’s first stage, B1081, will be on its 27th flight and will be recovered in the Pacific Ocean by SpaceX’s autonomous droneship Of Course I Still Love You (OCISLY).
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