Spaceflight Daily Report, Monday 2nd November 2026

Electron on the launch pad. Image credit: Rocket Lab.

Launch of "The Sea God Surveys"

Rocket Lab launched an Electron from Māhia in New Zealand at 1641 UTC, or 0541 local time (NZDT). The mission, named "The Sea God Surveys", was carrying QPS-SAR-20, the 10th synthetic aperture radar satellite launched by Rocket Lab for the Japanese company iQPS. This was the 99th flight of Electron. [Source: Rocket Lab]

International Space Station Activities

Today marks the 26th anniversary of Soyuz TM-31's arrival at the International Space Station in 2001, and thus the 26th anniversary of the station's continuous occupation. It was business as usual aboard the station today. Pyotr Dubrov (MS-29, Roscosmos) undertook semiconductor research. Anna Kikina (MS-29, Roscosmos) serviced the ventilation system and worked on Progress MS-35 cargo transfers. Sergey Teteryatnikov (Crew-13, Roscosmos) performed health research, monitoring his circulatory system. Jessica Watkins (Crew-13, NASA) tested a DNA sequencer for genetically analysing bacteria aboard the station. Luke Delaney (Crew-13, NASA) worked on blood vessel bio-printing research. Anil Menon (MS-29, NASA) and Joshua Kutryk (Crew-13, Roscosmos) prepared for their next spacewalk on Thursday, taking place just a week after their previous one. Along with Watkins and Delaney, who will again be assisting from inside the station using Canadarm2, the astronauts called down to mission control and studied procedures for the spacewalk. [Source: NASA]

Other notes

• The launch of "The Mountain God Rises" aboard an Electron has been delayed from the 10th to no earlier than the 14th of November. [Source: iQPS]
• The launch of USSF-432 aboard a Falcon 9 has been scheduled for after midnight UTC and will therefore occur on the 5th of November. [Source: SpaceX]
• The launch of a Ceres 2 has been pushed back from the the 4th to no earlier than the 6th of November. [Source: Next Spaceflight]
• The launch of Starlink Group 15-21 aboard a Falcon 9 has disappeared from SpaceX's schedule. [Source: SpaceX]

Spaceflight Daily Report, Sunday 1st November 2026

The crew of Tiangong at work. Image credit: CMSA.

Tiangong Activities

CMSA have published their weekly video on the activities of the taikonauts aboard the Tiangong space station. Zhu Yangzhu, Zhang Zhiyuan, and Lai Ka-Ying tested how zero-G has affected their senses of perception using VR headsets and EEG monitoring equipment, took and stored blood samples, serviced scientific equipment, replaced the lenses on the observation window covers, replaced old components in the water treatment system, and underwent health exams. [Source: CASC]