Launch Roundup: Falcon 9 to launch three times, Blue Origin to launch crew
SpaceX leads the launch manifest for the first whole week of October with two Falcon 9 missions. Both of these missions will launch satellites into SpaceX’s internet constellation, Starlink.Meanwhile, Blue Origin joined the launch schedule by launching six people to suborbital space on its New Shepard vehicle, and Orienspace launched for the second time using its Yinli-1 rocket.
Falcon 9 | Starlink Group 10-59
To start the week off, SpaceX launched its first of four Starlink missions at 2:46 AM EDT (6:46 UTC) on Tuesday, Oct. 7. Starlink Group 10-59 lifted off from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCSFS) in Florida. 28 Starlink v2 Mini satellites flew on a northeast trajectory to an orbit inclined 53.16 degrees. Then, just over an hour into the flight, the satellites were deployed into low-Earth orbit (LEO).
Booster 1090 launched on its eighth flight following a 44-day refurbishment period. This booster has already completed multiple Starlink missions, as well as the Crew-10, CRS SpX-33, Bandwagon-3, O3b mPower 7 & 8, and O3b mPower 9 & 10 missions. Shortly after launch, B1090 successfully landed on SpaceX’s autonomous droneship,A Shortfall of Gravitas, which was stationed in the Atlantic Ocean.
Falcon 9 | Starlink Group 11-17
The next batch of Starlink satellites headed to low-Earth orbit launched on the Starlink Group 11-17 mission. Falcon 9 lifted off from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) at the Vandenberg Space Force Base (VSFB) in California on Tuesday, Oct. 7, at 8:54 PM PDT (Oct. 8 at 3:54 UTC).
Falcon 9 carried 28 Starlink v2 Mini satellites into LEO. B1071 launched and landed on SpaceX’s west coast droneship,OfCourse I Still Love You, in the Pacific Ocean. This booster has had 28 previous flights and flew after only a 24-day refurbishment period.
Blue Origin launched another six-person crew to suborbital space on New Shepard’s 36th mission. NS-36 was sent up on Wednesday, Oct. 8, at 8:40 AM CDT (13:40 UTC), carrying Jeff Elgin, Danna Karagussova, Dr. Clint Kelly III, Aaron Newman, Vitalii Ostrovsky, and Will Lewis. This flight marked New Shepard’s 15th crewed mission.
Lifting off from Launch Site One in West Texas, New Shepard performed a brief 10-12 minute suborbital hop above the Kármán line. The booster, NS4, attempted a propulsive landing at the North Landing Pad and successfully landed for the 16th time. Additionally, the crew capsule,RSS First Step, landed under parachutes in the Texas Desert, bringing all six crew members back to Earth safely. This marks New Shepard’s eighth mission this year, doubling the total flights carried out in 2024.
A few snapshots from today’s NS-36 mission.pic.twitter.com/qcmrzozKQq
— Blue Origin (@blueorigin)October 8, 2025
On Saturday, Oct. 11, Orienspace launched the second-ever Yinli-1 mission from Chinese coastal waters at the Haiyang Spaceport. While many details about this mission remain unknown, three satellites were known to be flying to sun-synchronous orbit, including an Earth observation satellite, Jilin-1 Wideband-02B-07. This mission was launched on a southern trajectory at 2:20 UTC, within the launch window which opened at 2:10 UTC and closed at 2:32 UTC. The first Yinli-1 mission was successful in all aspects, and this second attempt matches that success.
(Lead image: Falcon 9 launching from Florida. Credit: Julia Bergeron for NSF)
