Spaceflight Daily Report, Friday 23rd October 2026

Artemis IV Blue Moon CONOPS. Image credit: NASA.

Launch of "We're Not Hawking Around"

Rocket Lab launched an Electron from Māhia in New Zealand at 0711 UTC, or 2011 local time (NZDT). This mission, named "We're Not Hawking Around", was carrying HawkEye 360 Cluster 16, a batch of three Sun-synchronous radio surveillance satellites for the American company HawkEye 360. This was the 98th flight of Electron. [Source: Rocket Lab]

Launch of Yaogan-50-03

SAST, a subsidiary of China Aerospace (CASC), launched a Long March 6A (Chang Zheng 6A) from Taiyuan in Shanxi at 1015 UTC, or 1815 local time (CST). This was carrying Yaogan-50-03, a military reconnaissance satellite of unclear purpose. Like the previous Yaogan-50 satellites, it launched into a retrograde low-Earth orbit, orbiting in the opposite direction to most satellites. This was the 28th flight of the Long March 6A, and the 45th flight of the Long March 6 family. [Source: SAST]

Launch of 6x Yaogan

SAST launched a Long March 4B (Chang Zheng 4B) from Jiuquan in Gansu at 1925 UTC, or 0325 Saturday morning local time (CST). This was carrying six more Yaogan satellites; Yaogan-53-07, 08, and 09, and Yaogan-56-19, 20, and 21. These are all low-Earth orbit military reconnaissance satellites of unclear purpose. This was the 59th flight of the Long March 4B, and the 120th flight of the Long March 4 family. [Source: SAST]

Launch of Starlink Group 15-15

SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 from Vandenberg in California at 2248 UTC, or 1548 local time (PDT). The mission was delayed three times due to bad weather. It was carrying Starlink Group 15-15, the latest batch of 27 Starlink v2-mini satellites for the constellation. It was the 699th flight of the Falcon 9, and the 36th flight of booster B1063, which successfully landed aboard the droneship Of Course I Still Love You in the Pacific Ocean. [Source: SpaceX]

International Space Station Activities

Pyotr Dubrov (MS-29, Roscosmos), Anna Kikina (MS-29, Roscosmos), and Sergey Teteryatnikov (Crew-13, Roscosmos) studied plasma crystals, serviced radiation detection equipment, carried out AI research, and took blood pressure readings. Jessica Watkins (Crew-13, NASA) tested water quality detectors and a gas flow controller. Luke Delaney (Crew-13, NASA) and Anil Menon (MS-29, NASA) continued their blood vessel bio-printing research. Joshua Kutryk (Crew-13, CSA) swapped research samples in a furnace. The four Western astronauts also held a conference with engineers on the ground regarding their two upcoming spacewalks. [Source: NASA]

Artemis Updates

NASA held a press conference announcing several updates and details regarding the Artemis programme. Artemis III will see the crew of an Orion spacecraft test rendezvous operations in low-Earth orbit with the two candidate Human Landing System (HLS) Moon landers being developed by Blue Origin and SpaceX. NASA revealed the following concept of operations:

• Before Day 0: Blue Moon launches on New Glenn and loiters in orbit.
• Day 0: Orion launches on SLS.
• Day 3: Orion docks with Blue Moon.
• Day 6: Orion undocks from Blue Moon.
• Day 6: Starship launches.
• Day 8: Orion docks with Starship. Undocks after around two hours.
• Day 14: Orion returns to Earth.

Additionally, NASA shared concepts of operations for the Starship propellant transfer demo planned for early 2027, and two potential versions of Artemis IV in 2028; one with SpaceX's Starship HLS, and one with Blue Origin's Blue Moon HLS. In the SpaceX plan, Starship will get to the Moon by refuelling at an orbital depot, to be fuelled by other Starships, and will itself act as the transfer stage for Orion following a rendezvous in Earth orbit. In the Blue Origin plan, Blue Moon will get to the Moon by attaching to a multi-stage transfer stack, and Orion will make its own way to the Moon and rendezvous with it in Lunar orbit. In both plans, two astronauts will descend to the Lunar surface on the HLS while two others will remain aboard Orion in Lunar orbit. [Source: NASA]

Starshield Speed Limit Apparently Not Lifted

Last week, soldiers in Ukraine began reporting that SpaceX's military Starshield service, used to control drones and bolster front line communications, was cutting out when the terminal exceeded 100 mph. US president Donald Trump and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk both denied responsibility for the restriction, though it came amid a public disagreement between Trump and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy over Russian oil exports. Despite Trump's subsequent claim that restrictions have been lifted, Ukrainian drone operators are still reporting speed limits. LEO satellite internet services have become vital infrastructure in the Russian invasion of Ukraine, with SpaceX cutting Russian access to Starlink back in February and both Europe and Russia scrambling to establish their own independent constellations. [Source: BBC]

SpaceX Declines US Government Contracts

SpaceX have reportedly declined three missions for the US Space Force as they phase out the Falcon 9 in favour of Starship, which will focus on the company's in-house projects rather than external contracts. American institutions have allowed SpaceX's dominance of the launch market to become a monopoly, with their competitors nowhere near ready to pick up the slack. Falcon 9 is currently the only rocket keeping US launch capacity ahead of that of China. [Source: Politico]

Other notes

• ESA's Hera probe has performed a braking manoeuvre ahead of its arrival at asteroid 65803 Didymos. Orbital insertion is scheduled for November. [Source: ESA]
• ArianeGroup's Themis hop test vehicle may not fly until 2027, further delaying ESA's already slow development of a reusable successor to the Ariane 6. [Source: European Spaceflight]
• ICEYE and Nokia have signed a letter of intent with Ukraine to bolster the country's sovereign satellite communications amid the Russian invasion. [Source: ICEYE]
• Firefly Aerospace have completed the preliminary design review for their Elytra spacecraft that will deliver NASA's MoonFall mission to the Lunar south pole no earlier than late 2028. [Source: Firefly Aerospace]
• The launches of Starlink Group 15-16 and Group 15-18 aboard Falcon 9 rockets have both been pushed back a day, to the 27th and 30th of October respectively. [Source: SpaceX]