There have been a number of rocket launches since our last show, including three on April 29, and Starlink and Chinese launches on the weekend of the 30th. Starlink launches are fairly routine but there was a milestone of sorts set with this one: SpaceX broke their own record for Falcon 9 booster turnaround time: 21 days after its previous flight on the Ax-1 crewed mission on April 8.
We haven’t talked a lot about Russian launches lately, but it is worth noting that over the weekend of April 30, Russia conducted the first orbital launch of an Angara 1.2 rocket. It has been in development since 1992. Unlike the Angara A5, the Angara 1.2 has no boosters. It launched a military payload that has been designated Kosmos 2555, the details of which were, of course, not disclosed.
Another unique launch that took place over the weekend was the third launch of a Long March 11 from an ocean barge. On April 30, it delivered five spacecraft in the Jilin-1 series of high-resolution optical satellites to orbit. Overall, the Long March 11 has launched thirteen times, including three ocean launches.
More Information
Starlink 4-16 mission page (SpaceX)
Russia launches first orbital Angara 1.2 rocket with military payload (NASA Spaceflight)
Angara is born in the wreckage of USSR (Russian Space Web)
CASC press release
