A look at the record-breaking rocket launches scheduled in the next 24 hours

It is going to be an exciting day for space enthusiasts. Wondering why? Five rocket launches are scheduled over the next 24 hours. SpaceX, Blue Origin and Roscosmos – the Russian space agency – have lined up their liftoff today, February 4. Now, let us take a deep dive into the missions.

SpaceX

The first launch, by the Elon Musk-led company, has taken place. The flight took off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

Sharing the update on X (formerly Twitter), the company said, “Falcon 9 delivers 21 Starlink satellites to the constellation, including 13 with Direct to Cell capabilities.”





SpaceX will also launch two Maxar Technology WorldView Legion satellites into orbit on a Falcon 9 rocket from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

These Earth-observation satellites will complete a six-satellite constellation for imaging rapidly changing areas. The launch is set for 6:07 p.m. EST (2307 GMT), with a live stream available on SpaceX's X page from 5:50 p.m. ET (2250 GMT).

Blue Origin

Blue Origin aims for liftoff at 11:00 a.m. EST (1600 GMT) for its suborbital New Shepard rocket, carrying out the NS-29 uncrewed research mission.

The Jeff Bezos-owned company has also issued a statement. It said, “NS-29 is a research flight that carried 30 science payloads, 29 of which will test moon-related tech. In a first for Blue Origin, the payloads will experience two minutes of simulated lunar gravity, which the New Shepard capsule will induce by spinning at a rate of 11 revolutions per minute.”

Roscosmos

Roscosmos is set to liftoff an unknown payload from its rarely used Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northwest Russia, reported Space.com.

The classified payload will take off from Site-43 on a Soyuz 2.1V/Volga rocket, which has a modified, stronger central booster and no side boosters. The launch is scheduled for 10 p.m. EST (0300 GMT on February 5), the report added.

Rocket Lab

Rocket Lab, which was slated to launch its IoT 4 You and Me mission, has decided to delay its plan due to the COLA (Collision On Launch Avoidance/Assessment) report.

The company, in a statement, said, “Electron is ready for lift-off, but the latest COLA report is in and it rules out our single instantaneous launch opportunity for tomorrow’s launch. We have plenty of backup launch opportunities in the coming days that meet customer requirements, so these five satellites will be in orbit in no time.”

FAQs:

Where to watch the launches?
SpaceX will stream the launch of its two missions live on its X profile. The NS-29 mission will be available to watch on Space.com’s homepage and Blue Origin’s YouTube channel. The IoT (Internet of Things) mission will also be streamed on Space.com.

What will happen if the launches go as planned?
If these launches proceed as scheduled, it will mark the highest number of launches in a single day