7 Space Missions to Watch: August: Crew Dragons, Stars and Stripes, Dream Chaser

Despite the relatively small lineup of confirmed missions, August is still forming a month of viewing time, with several debut launches likely to appear. This summer, the trend of public and private sector cooperation is growing, including an increasing number of international partnerships.

For example, in June, Australian company Gilmour Space made its Elarasat spacecraft bus on SpaceX’s Transporter-14 Rideshare mission and provided scientific tools for the Australian National Agency for Science. August is expected to be based on this momentum. Private companies continue to dominate the launch program, thus catching a glimpse into the appearance of the industry after NASA’s extensive resignation.

Here are seven notable space missions to watch in August:

August 1: SpaceX pushes NASA CREW-11 toward ISS. SpaceX will start this month and will launch the 12th staff mission for NASA. The fleet’s Pacecraft is at its peak on the Falcon 9 rocket and is planned to boost after a one-day weather delay. The mission will transport four astronauts to the International Space Station: NASA’s Zena Cardman and Mike Fincke, Japan’s Kimiya Yui and Roscosmos Cosmonaut Oleg Platonov.

August 4 and August 9: SpaceX conducts two interstellar link releases. Two Falcon 9 rockets will launch large numbers of Starlink satellites from the Vandenberg Space Force in California and the Cape Canaveral Space Station in Florida. Combined, these missions are expected to add more than 50 satellites to SpaceX’s Starlink Megaconstellation, which already includes nearly 7,000 satellites in low-Earth orbit.

August 12: France’s Arianspace launches weather satellite. French launch provider Arianespace is expected to launch satellites for Eumetsat using its Ariane 6 rocket, the European organization that exploits meteorological satellites. The METOP-SG A1 will be the first of six satellite series planned to be launched in 2040.

TBD: SpaceX’s Crew-10 mission, return to Earth. NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, Jaxa astronauts Takuya Onishi and Roscosmos Cosmonaut Kirill Peskov plan to return to Earth on SpaceX’s crew, Dragon Endurance. After four months on the International Space Station, crew members are expected to splash off the California coast earlier this month.

TBD: ULA launches space mission. The United Launch Alliance (ULA) will target the launch window for the USSF-106 mission on the new Vulcan Centauri rocket this month. If successful, it would be the first of more than twenty space forces launches awarded under a national security contract. The mission is scheduled to evacuate from Cape Canaveral, although a confirmed date has not been determined.

TBD: ULA launches the Dream Chaser aircraft from Sierra Space. Ula is also expected to launch Sierra Space’s Dream Chaser Space Plane on the Vulcan Centaur Rockets. The mission was developed in partnership with NASA and will be the first time a commercial organic-winged spacecraft visit to the ISS. Dream Chaser is designed to be reused and capable of transporting crew and cargo to low-Earth orbit.

TBD: Northrop Grumman launches weather satellites for U.S. space force. Northrop Grumman will launch a weather satellite built on a regular atomic IV rocket at the U.S. Space Force Base in California. The mission is part of a $45.5 million contract that will test the military uses of commercial weather imaging technology. The satellite is expected to operate in orbit for three years.