Launch Preview: Falcon Heavy to launch Roman telescope, Falcon 9 to launch Starlink satellites

5 min read · reported by NASASpaceflight

This week will see five orbital launches from China, the United States, and French Guiana. SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy is expected to return to deliver NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope to Lagrange Point 2, with an additional two Falcon 9 Starlink missions expected. Internationally, China’s Chang Zheng 6C is expected to launch an unknown payload, and Ariane 62 will launch the MTG-I2 payload from French Guiana.

Chang Zheng 6C | Unknown Payload

The first launch of the week is an unknown payload atop a Chang Zheng 6C, scheduled to launch from Launch Complex 9A (LC-9A) at the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in China on Tuesday, August 25. The 20-minute window opens at 03:20 UTC. The rocket will fly on a southerly trajectory to deliver the payload to an unknown orbit.

Chang Zheng 6C is a 43-m, two-stage medium lift vehicle capable of delivering 2,400 kg to low-Earth orbit (LEO). The first stage is powered by two YF-100 engines fueled by kerosene (RP-1) and liquid oxygen (LOX). The second stage features a single YF-115 engine that also uses RP-1 and LOX as propellants. The vehicle has a maximum thrust at liftoff of 2,376 kN.

This mission will be the second overall flight of Chang Zheng 6C and the first of 2026.

Falcon 9 | Starlink Group 10-49

The first SpaceX launch of the week is a Falcon 9 from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCSFS) in Florida on Tuesday, August 25. Launch is expected at the end of a four-hour window at 5:33 AM EDT, with the window closing at 05:49 AM EDT.

Falcon 9 will launch on a northeasterly trajectory into a LEO inclined by 53 degrees. The vehicle will deliver 29 Starlink v2 Mini satellites for the company’s Starlink internet constellation. The first-stage booster, B1067, will be on its 37th flight, with SpaceX expected to land the booster downrange on the autonomous droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas . B1067 is the current fleet leader, having previously completed 36 missions, including the Crew-3, Crew-4, and 25 Starlink missions.

Falcon 9 is a two-stage partially reusable launch vehicle that uses nine Merlin 1D sea-level engines on its first stage, fueled by RP-1 and LOX, and a single Merlin 1D vacuum engine on its second stage, fueled by the same propellants. This mission will be the 100th Falcon 9 mission of 2026.

Falcon 9 | Starlink Group 15-22

Falcon 9 is expected to launch the Starlink Group 15-22 mission from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on Wednesday, August 26. The four-hour window opens at 02:27 AM PDT.

Falcon 9 will launch on a southeasterly trajectory into a LEO inclined by 70 degrees, delivering 27 Starlink v2 Mini satellites to the constellation’s Group 15 shell. SpaceX’s droneship Of Course I Still Love You will serve as the landing location for the first stage booster, B1082, downrange in the Pacific Ocean. This mission will mark B1082’s 24th mission, previously supporting the USSF-62, NROL-145, and 20 Starlink missions.

The mission will be Falcon 9’s 684th mission overall and its 101st mission of 2026.

Ariane 62 | MTG-I2

Next up is the MTG-I2 mission on an Ariane 62, expected to launch from Ensemble de Lancement Ariane 4 (ELA-4) at the Guiana Space Centre in French Guiana on Thursday, August 27. A 150-minute launch window opens at 20:10 UTC, with the rocket expected to launch on an easterly trajectory to geostationary transfer orbit.

The MTG-I2 satellite will complete the Meteosat Third Generation system of Earth observation satellites. Instruments onboard include the Flexible Combined Imager, which was built to provide near real-time monitoring of Earth’s atmosphere. Another instrument is the Lightning Imager, designed to detect light pulses produced by different types of lightning. These instruments will work in tandem to provide more accurate and faster weather forecasting for Europe and Africa.

Ariane 62 is a two-stage medium-lift launch vehicle developed by ArianeGroup. This Ariane 6 configuration features two P160C boosters fueled by hydroxyl-terminated polybutadiene, ammonium perchlorate, and powdered aluminum. The first stage, the LLPM, is powered by one Vulcain 2.1 engine fueled by LOX and liquid hydrogen (LH2). The second stage, the ULPM, is powered by a single Vinci engine fueled by the same propellants. The vehicle has a maximum thrust of 8,370 kN at liftoff.

The mission will serve as the fourth Ariane 6 launch of 2026 and the ninth overall.

Falcon Heavy | Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope

The final launch of the week is expected from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Sunday, August 30. SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy is scheduled to launch NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope at 7:26 AM EDT during an instantaneous launch window. Falcon Heavy will follow an easterly trajectory to send Roman to the Sun-Earth Lagrange Point 2 (L2).

The two side boosters, an unknown booster and B1072, will perform return-to-launch-site landings at SpaceX’s Landing Zone 2 (LZ-2) and Landing Zone 40 (LZ-40) at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The center core booster, currently unknown, will be expended to give Falcon Heavy the additional performance needed to launch the 10,150 kg telescope.

Roman is expected to answer some of the biggest questions about our universe. The Wide Field instrument onboard is 100 times more powerful than the one on the Hubble Space Telescope, even though the 2.4-meter primary mirror on the telescope is the same size as Hubble’s. Roman is designed to potentially answer what dark energy is and to use a microlensing technique in the Inner Milky Way galaxy to discover more than 2,600 new exoplanets. In addition to the primary Wide Field instrument, Roman features a Coronagraph instrument that will perform high-contrast imaging and spectroscopy of nearby exoplanets.

Falcon Heavy is a two-stage super heavy-lift launch vehicle that utilizes a core Falcon 9 first stage accompanied by two side boosters. Each booster is equipped with nine Merlin 1D engines, with a total of 27 engines at liftoff. The vehicle, measuring 70 m in height, is capable of delivering up to 63,000 kg to LEO, with a total liftoff thrust of 22,819 kN.

The mission will be the second Falcon Heavy launch of 2026, and the 13th overall. This mission will also serve as the 206th overall orbital launch attempt worldwide in 2026.

Reported by NASASpaceflight. Reproduced unedited by Everything Space. View the original →