Three rockets launched this week, despite stormy weather causing scrubs and delays. SpaceX succeeded in launching a mission for Amazon’s Project Kuiper missions, but United Launch Alliance’s launch of a navigation technology demonstrator and a classified Space Force payload atop the most powerful configuration of the company’s new Vulcan rocket to date has now been delayed until next week.

Internationally, in New Zealand, Rocket Lab continued its rapid launch cadence with the launch of an Electron carrying an Earth observation satellite. China has launched a Jielong-3 mission from its coastal waters.

Electron | The Harvest Goddess Thrives

The first launch of the week was scheduled for Tuesday, Aug. 5, at 03:45 UTC, however, Electron experienced a hold in the countdown 11 minutes and 16 seconds before liftoff. No reason for the hold was provided, but Rocket Lab launched Electron successfully at 05:10 UTC.

Electron launched a 100 kg payload towards a low Earth orbit (LEO) from Launch Complex 1B (LC-1B) at the company’s launch facility on the Mãhia Peninsula in New Zealand. This was Electron’s 11th mission of 2025, and the 69th Electron mission in total.

LAUNCH! Rocket Lab Electron launches QPS-SAR-12 ("The Harvest Goddess Thrives") from LC-1B, Māhia Peninsula, New Zealand.

Overview:https://t.co/LFq6ndNxzt

RL Stream:https://t.co/6MD6bFbFJjpic.twitter.com/9J59xlkeH2

— NSF – NASASpaceflight.com (@NASASpaceflight)August 5, 2025

This mission, the fourth of eight for Japanese Satellite company iQPS, will deploy a single Q-shu Pioneers of Space – Synthetic Aperture Radar (QPS-SAR) satellite. The mission is named “The Harvest Goddess Thrives,” or KUSHINADA-I, for the Japanese goddess of harvest and prosperity. Electron delivered QPS-SAR-12 to a 575 km circular Earth orbit, where it will become part of the QPS-SAR constellation, providing high-resolution synthetic aperture radar images and Earth monitoring services globally.

Electron is a two-stage rocket with an optional kick stage. The first stage features nine Rutherford sea-level engines, each producing 21 kN of thrust at liftoff and peaking at 25 kN (5,600 lbf) in flight. The second stage includes a Rutherford vacuum engine that produces 25.8 kN (5,800 lbf) of thrust. Both variants of Rutherford are powered by electric pumps instead of traditional gas turbines. The kick stage utilizes an unspecified bi-propellant fuel-powered Curie engine. Both the Rutherford and Curie engines are largely 3D-printed, and the two main stages are of a carbon-composite construction.

Jielong-3 | Geely Constellation Group 04

The launch of a Jielong -3 rocket took place from The Oriental Spaceport Launch Ship (Area 1), stationed in Chinese Coastal Waters in the Yellow Sea, on Friday, August 8, at 16:30 UTC.

The payload aboard this flight was 11 LEO satellites for the Chinese car manufacturer Geely Automotive for use with autonomous vehicles. The satellites also carry ocean observation instruments.

The Jielong-3 rocket consists of four solid-fueled rocket stages. It is 31.8 m tall with a diameter of about 2.65 m. The payload fairing is 3.35 m in diameter and gives the rocket its very front-heavy shape. Of the 145 t of mass at liftoff, about 71 t is the solid motor of the first stage.

In contrast to other solid rockets of China, such as Chang Zheng 11 (Long March 11), this rocket is not “cold launched” from the barge. Cold launched means that the rocket is expelled from a launch tube on the barge, and then ignited in the air. For Jielong-3, the ignition happens on the barge itself. It produces 2,000 kN of thrust at liftoff. It is launched on a grid, directly over the sea, so the water of the ocean is used as a suppression system for the launch vehicle.

Falcon 9 | Project Kuiper (KF-02)

Te Project Kuiper KF-02 mission was scheduled to launch on Thursday, Aug. 7, at 10:17 AM EDT (14:17 UTC) from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCSFS) in Florida. The countdown was held briefly, but the launch attempt was scrubbed to an unspecified vehicle issue.A second launch attempt was made on Saturday, August 9,  at 9:45 AM EDT (13:45 UTC), but this attempt was scrubbed due to unsuitable weather for launch. A further launch opportunity was scheduled for Sunday, Aug. 10, at 9:13 AM EDT (13:13 UTC), but this launch was also scrubbed at the last minute, this time due to poor weather conditions in the recovery zone.

A fourth launch attempt on Monday, Aug. 11, at 8:35 AM EDT (12:35 UTC) succeeded.

The SpaceX Falcon 9 delivered another batch of 24 Project Kuiper internet satellites into LEO, marking the second launch by Falcon 9 for Project Kuiper.

The first Project Kuiper mission launched in October 2023 with two prototype satellites launching aboard a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V. Seventy-eight production satellites have since launched aboard both Atlas V and Falcon 9 rockets.

You never forget your first landing.

B1091: Future Falcon Heavy center core in a Falcon 9 costume, touchdown!https://t.co/vY1zVG6kQdpic.twitter.com/Kbc97gidFV

— NSF – NASASpaceflight.com (@NASASpaceflight)August 11, 2025

A new Falcon 9 booster, B1091, was supporting this mission. Following stage separation, the booster landed on one of SpaceX’s east coast droneships,A Shortfall of Gravitas. B1091 is in fact a Falcon Heavy centre core that has been converted to single stick use until it required for a Falcon Heavy mission.

This was SpaceX’s 100th mission of 2025 and the 120th landing onA Shortfall of Gravitas.This was also the first Falcon Heavy centre core to land successfully on a droneship.

Falcon 9 is a 3.9 m diameter, 70 m tall two-stage rocket. Nine Merlin 1D engines power the first stage booster, while the second stage utilizes a single vacuum-optimized Merlin engine. Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy are the first and only reusable orbital rockets in service today, with one Falcon booster having flown 29 flights. The two payload fairings are also recovered and reused after flight.

(Lead Image: Falcon 9 launches from Florida. Credit: Julia Bergeron for NSF)

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