2025 is here, and it won’t take long for the Eastern Range to open its new year for the facility: SpaceX plans to launch the Thuraya 4-NGS satellite for UAE based Yahsat on Friday evening, while preparations for Blue Origin to the fly New Glenn on its maiden launch continue apace, with a target date of early Monday morning.
Quick Glance At The Year To Come
There were 93 launches from KSC and Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in 2024, with the bulk of those launches being SpaceX / Falcon 9 missions. In 2025, Elon Musk said “Probably [greater than] 180 Falcon launches in 2025” and the bulk of those will be from here on the Space Coast.
United Launch Alliance CEO Tory Bruno said ULA has 20 missions on its 2025 manifest. Payload readiness will be the apparent limiting limiting factor, according to Bruno, and like Falcon 9, the bulk of those missions will launch from the company’s Eastern Range launch pad at Space Launch Complex 41.
Blue Origin will also add to the launch count, with several New Glenn missions slated to lift off from LC-36 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The current target for the year has not been stated by the company, and much depends on the success of the first flew flights of the new rocket.
All in all, it is fair to say that like 2024, the record for the number of launches from Florida will be broken come year’s end.
SpaceX
SpaceX has two launches on the schedule for this weekend.
- Thuraya 4-NGS – Friday 3 January – 08:27 PM – 12:53 AM EST
- Starlink 6-71 – Sunday 5 January – 12:10PM – 4:41 PM EST
Thuraya 4
Thuraya 4-NGS is a communication satellite built by Airbus UAE-based Al Yah Satellite Communications Company P.J.S.C. (Yahsat). It is built on the all-electric Airbus Eurostar-Neo Platform and will incorporate a large 12-meter L-band antenna and a payload capable of processing providing 3200 channels over a large number of spot beams.
Thuraya is the mobile satellite services subsidiary of the UAE-based Al Yah Satellite Communications Company P.J.S.C. (Yahsat), a public company and subsidiary of Mubadala Investment Company. Established in 1997, Thuraya is the UAE’s first home-grown satellite operator.
Formed in 2008 and publicly traded on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange, Yahsat serves customers in 150 countries across Europe, the Middle East, Africa, South America, Asia and Australia. They offer voice, data, video and internet services for broadcast, Internet, and VSAT users for both private and government organizations.
Thuraya 4 will be aboard Falcon 9 and launch from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
Starlink 6-71
SpaceX plans to add to its ever-growing Starlink constellation with the Starlink 6-71 mission. There are around 6,800 Starlink satellites in orbit currently, with several thousand more planned. The mission will carry another batch of 20-23 Starlink Mini V2 units to join the company’s Group 6 band of satellites.
Falcon 9 will be again be the workhorse for this mission, also planned to launch from SLC-40 on Sunday afternoon, with the window opening at 12:10 PM EST.
Neither launch has been officially announced by SpaceX, so stay tuned.
Blue Origin
After completing its integrated vehicle hotfire test and wet dress rehearsal successfully, Blue Origin appears to be planning to launch New Glenn from Launch Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in the wee hours of Monday morning with the launch window opening at 01:00 AM EST on January 6th.
Photo: Blue Origin
Following the hotfire, Blue Origin’s prime investor and driving force, Jeff Bezos said succinctly, “Next stop launch.”
This will be the first flight of the 320-foot tall rocket for the company. Aboard will be test components for Blue Ring.
Despite the late (or early?) hour that Blue Origin plans to launch New Glenn, this is likely one of the launches of the year from the Eastern Range. That’s because New Glenn is large, and mighty with 3.8 million pounds of thrust coming from seven Blue Origin BE-4 engines. This promises to be a loud rocket, and one well worth watching.
The launch window extends from 01:00 AM EST (0600Z) to 04:45 AM (1045Z) the same day.