Major US Launches this Week: ★ SUN FL Falcon9 / Cygnus cargo to ISS (Stg-1 RTLS, great vids) • THU FL Falcon9 / Starlink (dull, routine night launch) • FRI CA Falcon9 / Starlink ______ Updated: 19 SEP / 1300 (all times US Eastern) Last week
Stuff That’s Hard to Do (7-13 SEP)
Major US Launches this Week: ★ WED CA Falcon9 / SDA Tranche ★ THU FL Falcon9 / Indonesian Comsat • SAT CA Falcon9 / Starlink ______ Updated: 13 SEP / 1410 (all times US Eastern) Last week
Stuff That’s Hard to Do (31 AUG – 6 SEP)
Major US Launches this Week: • SUN FL Falcon9 / Starlink • TUE CA Falcon9 / Starlink • WED FL Falcon9 / Starlink • FRI FL Falcon9 / Starlink (500th launch/landing of an orbital-class rocket) • SAT CA Falcon9 / Starlink ______ Updated: 6 SEP / 1430 (all times US Eastern) Last week Engineering Fun:
Entry Burn.
Why not just do a landing burn only?
Because aft-end aerodynamic heating is an engineering nightmare.
Heating and Drag ~ (air density)x(speed squared) for a given orientation (attitude).
In the upper atmosphere, air density ≈ 0, so heating and drag are small.
Upon entering the middle/lower atmosphere, density becomes more and more significant.
Also, speed has been increasing due to gravity free-fall after reaching ballistic apex.
The entry burn quickly slows the booster’s falling speed before aero heating becomes damaging.
The booster then slows aerodynamically as air density increases and drag > weight.
It’s fun to replay the vid around entry burn and watch the speed numbers.
Sometimes, you can see the speed increase for a few seconds after entry-burn shutdown,
until air density increases enough for drag to start slowing the fall.
Yeah, pretty sure that’s how it works, without a slide rule and tables of data.
Stuff That’s Hard to Do (24-30 AUG)
Major US Launches this Week: ▶︎ SUN FL Falcon9 / Cargo Dragon (Docking) ★ TUE CA Falcon9 / NAOS (nice vids, RTLS*) ● TUE TX Starship (Spectacular!) Commentary • WED FL Falcon9 / Starlink • THU FL Falcon9 / Starlink (first 30-mission booster) - FRI NL** Nordspace /initial suborbital test flight (failure to ignite)• SAT CA Falcon9 / Starlink
Amazing view of Starship landing burn and splashdown on Flight 10 pic.twitter.com/hcr2zqOi9G
— Dima Zeniuk (@DimaZeniuk) August 28, 2025
Stuff That’s Hard to Do (17-23 AUG)
Major US Launches this Week: • MON CA Falcon9 / Starlink 100th mission of the year ★ THU FL Falcon9 / USSF X-37B Space Plane (RTLS) • FRI CA Falcon9 / Starlink (nice vid) - SAT NZ Electron ______ Updated: 23 AUG / 1840 (all times US Eastern) Last week Rocket PrOn: ● SUN 24th 7:30 pm TX Starship
The tenth flight test of Starship is preparing to launch as soon as Sunday, August 24 → https://t.co/UIwbeGoo2B pic.twitter.com/j0YKKgAxAV
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) August 15, 2025
Stuff That’s Hard to Do (10-16 AUG)
Major US Launches this Week: ★ MON FL Falcon9 / Kuiper - TUE FL Vulcan / USSF • THU CA Falcon9 / Starlink • THU FL Falcon9 / Starlink ______ Updated: 15 AUG / 1600 (all times US Eastern) Last week
