The new Blue Origin Shepard vehicle is located on the launch pad in view of the NS-29 mission on February 4, 2025. The same type of vehicle will be used for the next crew flight NS-33. Credit: Blue Origin
Highlights Mission: Axiom 4 delayed
The launch of Axiom Mission 4 (AX-4) was postponed for the second time. This delay derives from a pressure loss in the Russian Zvezda Service module aboard the International Space Station (ISS), following the previous problems relating to the time and a liquid oxygen loss in the Falcon 9 rocket. Starting from June 12, NASA reported that the repaired section of the Zvezda module is retaining the pressure and delay will give the teams the time to determine if a further resolution is needed. The latter obstacle underlines the complexities of the coordination of international missions and the maintenance of ISS infrastructures. NASA and Axiom have yet to declare a new launch date for the AX-4 mission. NASA has declared that a new launch date “will be provided once available”.
NS-33: Blue origin set for the 13th Crew New Shepard Flight
On June 21, 2025, the new Shepard suborbital vehicle of Blue Origin should be launched at 8:30 EDT from the launch site Uno near Van Horn, Texas. This will be the 33rd overall mission of the program and the 13th crew flight. The NS-33 crew includes six civil passengers of different extraction: Environmental Supports Allie and Carl Kuehner, former Transport Manager and Filantropo Leland Larson, entrepreneur and amateur archaeologist Freddie Rescigno, Jr., lawyer and author Owolabi Salis and rendered work considered Jim Sitkin. While the mission is suborbital, offering only a few minutes of absence of gravity, highlights the range of people who now participate in the commercial space flight and the wide range of personal motivations – from environmental defense to dreams for all the life of space travel – which attract people to the margins of space. Look at the live launch.
Other missions this week
Project Kuiper (Ka-02) It was originally scheduled for the launch on June 13, then reprogrammed for June 16 at 13:25 EDT aboard an Atlas Alliance V 551 rocket of United Launch Alliance V 551 by Cape Canaveral. However, the launch was delayed again due to an engineering observation of the high purge temperatures inside the Booster engine. Ula is evaluating the hardware and has not yet announced a new launch date. The mission, once flew, will distribute broadband satellites as part of Amazon’s Kuiper Constellation project 3.236-Satellite aimed at providing global internet connectivity with a low terrestrial orbit.
Starlink Group 15-9 It will be launched on June 16 at 20:51 EDT from the Vandenberg Space Force base in California aboard a Block 5 Falcon 9. This mission will expand the Spacex Starlink network with further V2-Mini satellites to improve its broadband service.
Starlink Group 10-18 It is established on June 18th at 1: 38 EDT from Cape Canaveral, deploying another lot of Starlink V2-Mini satellites aboard a Block 5 Falcon 9 to strengthen the second generation internet constellation of Spacex.
Cosmos (unknown payload) EDT will be launched on June 18th at 23:00 using an Angara A5/Briz-M rocket of the Pasetsk Cosmodrome. The mission will bring a classified Russian military payload.
Starlink Group 10-23 It is scheduled for June 20 at 2:32 EDT by Cape Canaveral, with another Block 5 Falcon 9 that launches further Starlink V2-Mini satellites to grow the Global Spacex internet coverage.
CASC along March 3B/E It is scheduled for the launch on June 20 at 8:35 EDT from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in China. While the details of the payload are not public, the mission will continue the orbital expansion of China.
Transporter 14 It will come on June 20 at 5:19 pm from the Vandenberg Space Force base aboard a Falcon 9 Block 5, which offers smaller satellites to a sun synchronous orbit as part of Spacex’s Resthare Smallsat program.
Looking to the future
The launch activity slows down the week of 23 to 29 June, with a single mission currently confirmed on the calendar. The Japanese Gosate-GW climatic monitoring satellite is scheduled to launch on board a Falcon 9 from the Vandenberg Space Force base on June 25 at 17:00 EDT. Developed by Jaxa in collaboration with the Ministry of the Environment and the Japanese NASA, the satellite will monitor greenhouse gases and water cycles to support research on climate change and the response to catastrophes.
