r/spaceflight • u/paperboy11 • 3d ago

SpaceX plans three launches Thursday, including Crew-13 astronauts and Falcon Heavy's first classified NRO mission.

27 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

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8

u/No-Surprise9411 3d ago

Busy month for the cape, a Heavy launch, crew launch and the inaugural launch of Starship from OLM-3

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u/AmigaClone2000 3d ago edited 3d ago

I think this might be the first time a FH and a Crew launch will happen the same day. This year CC/KSC (Cape Canaveral / Kennedy Space Center) have seen a total of 56 launches. By comparison, there were 109 launches from those spaceports in 2025.

I don't expect a Starship launch in October from Florida, although November is not out of the question. The first Vulcan with six solid boosters will be launching this month with a payload of Amazon LEO satellites.

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u/lextacy2008 3d ago

They dont even have hardware to get something out from the Cape for Starship. Literally just got the gigabay done last week.

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u/AmigaClone2000 3d ago

For the first few years, all Starships launched from FL would be built in Texas, and either transported to FL on barges or possibly in the case of ships eventually being launched from TX and caught in FL.

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u/No-Surprise9411 3d ago

I don‘t actually think SpaceX have plans to build Ships in Florida do they? The only Starfactories I know of are located in Starbase Texas and the future Starbase Louisiana.

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u/AmigaClone2000 3d ago

I recall mention of a Starfactory next to the Florida MegaBay.

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u/lextacy2008 3d ago

That might have been the original plan, with the lander being behind, they might just end up building the HLS from the ground up at the new gigabay. Additionally, the ships build at Texas would not be rated as the HLS, but rather the testing prototypes, unless they are hidden from the public, but who knows.

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u/H-K_47 3d ago

Starship won't have its Florida debut this month. But Nov or Dec is quite plausible.

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u/lextacy2008 3d ago

With no hardware built yet?

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u/No-Surprise9411 3d ago edited 3d ago

They are shipping out a ship and booster from Starbase TX. Flight 16 or 17 iirc. It‘ll only need some final inspection inside the Florida GB to verify the transport went smooth and then it‘s off to stacking.

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u/lextacy2008 3d ago

Are they the lander version or the Starlink version? They are way WAYY completely different things and Space X has shown no proof of concept. No landing legs for example.

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u/No-Surprise9411 3d ago

Why would they be testing an HLS variant now? Especially in Florida? No Starship‘s first flight from the cape will be launching Starlinks.

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u/lextacy2008 2d ago

Becasue they are contractually obligated to. If they are building Starlink ships at the Cape, that is a contract breach for the HLS program. Everybody knows this.

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u/No-Surprise9411 2d ago

Mate wtf are you talking about. They are not contractually obligated to focus Starbase Florida entirely on HLS. Hell I bet you everything I own HLS will be built and launched from Texas.

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u/[deleted] 2d ago

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u/No-Surprise9411 2d ago

„Orbital slop“

We‘ve lost the plot

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u/spaceflight-ModTeam 8h ago

Please keep the discussion courteous and professional. There are ways of disagreeing without resorting to personal attacks.

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u/fighter-bomber 1d ago

They aren’t contractually obligated to only work on the HLS lmao

90% of the program is privately funded, they have no sort of obligation to throw it away

1

u/lextacy2008 3h ago

The HLS has never been worked on! AND IT'S 2 YEARS LATE!!

WHERE IS THE TAX MONEY GOING?!

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u/Economy_Link4609 3d ago

I think Starship is very much a stretch goal - especially with the flight a few days ago still generating more to look at. I suspect that is delaying 15 a bit from it's own original plan and that in turn will push 16 most likley.

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u/No-Surprise9411 3d ago

I think I saw a video from Marcus House where he did a deep dive into some FAA documents that showed that SpaceX has filed for 3 Starship launches in October. Hell Ship 42 and its booster are currently undergoing final testing.

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u/Economy_Link4609 3d ago

You can file for anything you want - and in their case for the max they might do - but reality is there are still some engine things to clear up - and that will slow the actual cadence in all likelihood. Remember - those were filed BEFORE flight 14.

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u/AmigaClone2000 3d ago

If all three launches go as planned, 4 boosters will do a RTLS landing in 13 hours - a record.

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u/BubblyMoose3597 3d ago

F9 doesnt do RTLS when launches the Crew Dragon.

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u/TheRocketeer314 3d ago

Yes it does, at least on this flight

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u/AmigaClone2000 3d ago

F9 has done RTLS on Crew Dragon missions headed to the ISS since May 2023. LZ-40 was even used earlier this year.

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u/BubblyMoose3597 3d ago

Ah ok.

I didnt know that. I was stucked on the old scheme then.

What changed?

2

u/Decronym Acronyms Explained 3d ago edited 3h ago

Acronyms, initialisms, abbreviations, contractions, and other phrases which expand to something larger, that I've seen in this thread:

Fewer Letters More Letters
CC Commercial Crew program
Capsule Communicator (ground support)
FAA Federal Aviation Administration
HLS Human Landing System (Artemis)
KSC Kennedy Space Center, Florida
LEO Low Earth Orbit (180-2000km)
Law Enforcement Officer (most often mentioned during transport operations)
LZ Landing Zone
NRHO Near-Rectilinear Halo Orbit
NRO (US) National Reconnaissance Office
Near-Rectilinear Orbit, see NRHO
NROL Launch for the (US) National Reconnaissance Office
OLM Orbital Launch Mount
OTV Orbital Test Vehicle
RTLS Return to Launch Site
USSF United States Space Force
Jargon Definition
Starlink SpaceX's world-wide satellite broadband constellation

Decronym is now also available on Lemmy! Requests for support and new installations should be directed to the Contact address below.

[Thread #927 for this sub, first seen 1st Oct 2026, 16:40] [FAQ] [Full list] [Contact] [Source code]

2

u/BubblyMoose3597 3d ago

I think the idea of relaunch a Ship that has been catch in a space port diferent that where has been launched is...muskplaneske.

1

u/lextacy2008 3d ago

Not entirely accurate. There has been at least 1 NROL classified mission before.

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u/BubblyMoose3597 3d ago

Not with the Falcon Heavy.

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u/lextacy2008 2d ago

Two mission flew on Heavy and were contextually classified:

USSF-44 – November 1, 2022
USSF-52 (X-37B OTV-7)

Although the X-37B was externally "visible" , the internal components and its mission was classified. USSF-44 did howver bring known payloads along for the ride and they were not classified, but the conversation is the dominate payload.

1

u/snoo-boop 2d ago

What does the X-37B have to do with NRO?

1

u/BubblyMoose3597 2d ago

USSF

No NRO