{"id":61626,"date":"2026-08-05T00:41:27","date_gmt":"2026-08-04T16:41:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/launch-preview-starlink-ast-spacemobile-and-chinese-missions-fill-launch-manifest\/"},"modified":"2026-08-05T00:41:27","modified_gmt":"2026-08-04T16:41:27","slug":"launch-preview-starlink-ast-spacemobile-and-chinese-missions-fill-launch-manifest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/launch-preview-starlink-ast-spacemobile-and-chinese-missions-fill-launch-manifest\/","title":{"rendered":"Launch Preview: Starlink, AST SpaceMobile, and Chinese missions fill launch manifest"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><!--[CDATA[<img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/IMG_1145-scaled.jpeg\" class=\"attachment-full size-full wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" style=\"float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;\" decoding=\"async\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/IMG_1145-scaled.jpeg 2560w, https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/IMG_1145-350x233.jpeg 350w, https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/IMG_1145-525x350.jpeg 525w, https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/IMG_1145-768x512.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/IMG_1145-1920x1280.jpeg 1920w, https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/IMG_1145-1170x780.jpeg 1170w, https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/IMG_1145-585x390.jpeg 585w, https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/IMG_1145-263x175.jpeg 263w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\" \/--><\/p>\n<p>The first full week of August is shaping up to be another busy period for the global launch industry, with six missions scheduled from Asia and the United States. SpaceX has three Falcon 9 missions lined up this week: two Starlink missions and one mission for the AST BlueBird constellation.<\/p>\n<p>Internationally, China is expected to see three currently unknown payloads fly atop Chang Zheng 8A, Jielong 3, and Chang Zheng 7A rockets.<\/p>\n<p><span id=\"more-114437\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Chang Zheng 8A | Unknown Payload<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>China is expected to begin the week with another flight of the Chang Zheng 8A (CZ-8A), the newest member of the Chang Zheng 8 (CZ-8) family optimized for medium-lift missions to low-Earth orbit (LEO).<\/p>\n<p>Scheduled for Tuesday, Aug. 4, at 08:50 UTC, from Commercial LC-1 at the Wenchang Space Launch Site in China, the mission is believed to be carrying another batch of satellites for one of China\u2019s rapidly expanding broadband constellations. As with many recent Chinese commercial missions, official confirmation of the payload is likely to come only shortly before or after liftoff.<\/p>\n<div style=\"position:relative;width:100%;padding-top:56.25%;overflow:hidden;\"><iframe title=\"Space Coast Live: 24\/7 Views of NASA, SpaceX Falcon 9 Operations, and Starship Pad Construction\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Jm8wRjD3xVA?feature=oembed\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;border:0;\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share; fullscreen\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\" webkitallowfullscreen=\"\" mozallowfullscreen=\"\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p>The CZ-8A consists of two 3.35 m diameter stages, reaching a total height of 50.54 m, and builds upon the CZ-8 by introducing a higher-performance upper stage and improved payload capability. The first stage is assisted by two strap-on liquid-fuelled K2 boosters.<\/p>\n<p>This mission will mark the 10th overall CZ-8A mission and the fourth of 2026.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Falcon 9 | Starlink Group 17-53<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The first of several SpaceX Falcon 9 missions this week is scheduled to liftoff from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) at the Vandenberg Space Force Base (VSFB) in California on Tuesday, Aug. 4, at 7:00 AM PDT (14:00 UTC). A four-hour launch window is available for this mission. Falcon 9 will deliver 24 Starlink v2 Mini satellites to a Sun-synchronous orbit (SSO).<\/p>\n<p>Falcon 9 booster B1063 will support the mission, flying for the 34th time. Previous missions for B1063 have included 24 Starlink launches, Sentinel-6A, DART, Transporter 7, Iridium-9 &amp; OneWeb 19, three NROL missions, Transport &amp; Tracking Layer (Tranche 0B), and NAOS. Following stage separation, the booster will conduct an entry burn and land on the droneship <em>Of Course I Still Love You<\/em>, stationed approximately 640 km south of VSFB in the Pacific.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"100%\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/IMG_3765.jpeg\"><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-112355\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Starlink satellites before deployment in orbit. (Credit: SpaceX)<\/p>\n<p>Falcon 9 is a 3.9 m diameter, 70 m tall two-stage rocket. Nine Merlin 1D engines power the first stage booster, while the expendable second stage utilizes a single vacuum-optimized Merlin engine. Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy are the first orbital rockets to achieve regular reuse, with a Falcon 9 booster having recently flown 36 flights. The two payload fairings are also recovered using recovery vessels and reused after flight.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Jielong 3 | Unknown Payload<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The second mission from China this week is expected to be a Jielong 3 rocket launching from the launch ship <em>Dongfang Hangtiangang<\/em> in the Yellow Sea, just off the coast of the Haiyang Oriental Spaceport in China. Liftoff is scheduled for Wednesday, Aug. 5, at 02:35 UTC. The payload is currently unknown, though its identity and destination will likely be revealed following launch.<\/p>\n<p>Jielong 3 is a sea-launched, four-stage, solid-fueled rocket designed to launch payloads of up to 1,500 kg to LEO. This mission will serve as the 12th overall Jielong 3 mission and fourth of 2026.<\/p>\n<div style=\"position:relative;width:100%;padding-top:56.25%;overflow:hidden;\"><iframe title=\"SpaceX Launches Falcon 9 with Bluebird 11-13\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Bw4Ql3WS0y0?feature=oembed\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;border:0;\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share; fullscreen\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\" webkitallowfullscreen=\"\" mozallowfullscreen=\"\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p><strong>Falcon 9  | BlueBird 11 to 13<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Later on Wednesday, Aug. 5, at 3:42 AM EDT (07:42 UTC), another SpaceX Falcon 9 will launch three BlueBird Block 2 satellites to LEO. Falcon 9 will launch from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at the Cape Canaveral Space Flight Station (CCSFS) in Florida.<\/p>\n<p>Booster B1077 will be flying for the 30th time, having supported over 20 Starlink missions, Crew-5, GPS III, Inmarsat -6 F2, CRS-28, Galaxy 37, CRS NG-20, and Optus-X. The booster will land atop the SpaceX droneship <em>A Shortfall Of Gravitas, <\/em>which will be stationed approximately 640 km northeast of the launch site in the Atlantic Ocean.<\/p>\n<p>AST SpaceMobile\u2019s BlueBird satellites are designed to provide broadband cellular connectivity directly to 4G and 5G smartphones, without requiring any specialized satellite handset or additional hardware. Operating in LEO, the spacecraft use very large phased-array antennas \u2014 among the largest ever deployed commercially in space \u2014 to create powerful cellular beams that connect with existing mobile networks. This mission will deploy satellites FM6, FM7, and FM8, which have a total mass of 13,500 kg.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"ja\" dir=\"ltr\">\uff3c<img decoding=\"async\" width=\"100%\" src=\"https:\/\/s.w.org\/images\/core\/emoji\/17.0.2\/72x72\/1f6f0.png\">\u6253\u4e0a\u3052\u307e\u3067\u3042\u30686\u65e5<img decoding=\"async\" width=\"100%\" src=\"https:\/\/s.w.org\/images\/core\/emoji\/17.0.2\/72x72\/1f680.png\">\/\uff0f<\/p>\n<p>\u672c\u65e5\u306f\u56fa\u4f53\u30ed\u30b1\u30c3\u30c8\u30d6\u30fc\u30b9\u30bf(SRB-3)\u3092\u6a5f\u4f53\u306b\u53d6\u308a\u4ed8\u3051\u308b\u69d8\u5b50\u3092\u304a\u5c4a\u3051<img decoding=\"async\" width=\"100%\" src=\"https:\/\/s.w.org\/images\/core\/emoji\/17.0.2\/72x72\/1f680.png\">#H3\u30ed\u30b1\u30c3\u30c89\u53f7\u6a5f \u306f2\u672c\u306eSRB-3\u3092\u4f7f\u7528\u3057\u307e\u3059<img decoding=\"async\" width=\"100%\" src=\"https:\/\/s.w.org\/images\/core\/emoji\/17.0.2\/72x72\/2728.png\">#H3F9 pic.twitter.com\/0YeSH2bemO<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 JAXA\u7a2e\u5b50\u5cf6\u5b87\u5b99\u30bb\u30f3\u30bf\u30fc (@tnsc_JAXA) August 1, 2026<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><script async=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.x.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><strong>Falcon 9 | Starlink Group 17-38<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The second launch from SLC-4E at Vandenberg this week will be Starlink Group 17-38 atop a Falcon 9. The four-hour launch window opens at 7:00 AM PDT (14:00 UTC). A further 24 Starlink v2 Mini satellites will be added to the Group 17 shell in SSO, launching due south from the California launch site<\/p>\n<p>Booster B1093 will be supporting this mission, making its 16th flight. This booster previously supported 12 Starlink missions, in addition to Transporter 16 and two missions for the Tranche 1 Transport Layer. The booster will return to land atop <em>Of Course I Still Love You<\/em>, stationed downrange in the Pacific Ocean.<\/p>\n<p>This mission will serve as the 675th Falcon 9 mission and the 92nd of 2026.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Chang Zheng 7A | Unknown Payload<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>A Chang Zheng 7A (CZ-7A) is scheduled to launch on Sunday, Aug. 9, at 11:00 UTC, from the Wenchang Space Launch Site in China. The vehicle is expected to fly due east following launch. Although the payload has yet to be officially identified, it is expected to support China\u2019s expanding national satellite network.<\/p>\n<p>This mission will mark the 187th orbital launch attempt worldwide in 2026.<\/p>\n<p><em>(Lead Image: An Atlas V 551 lifts another mission for Amazon LEO. Credit: Sawyer Rosenstein for NSF)<\/em><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"100%\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Starship_Flight_13_Patch_v1_Forum_Banner-scaled.png\"><\/p>\n<p>The post Launch Preview: Starlink, AST SpaceMobile, and Chinese missions fill launch manifest appeared first on NASASpaceFlight.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The first full week of August is shaping up to be another busy period for the global launch industry, with six missions scheduled from Asia and the United States. SpaceX has three Falcon 9 missions lined up this week: two Starlink missions and one mission for the AST BlueBird constellation. Internationally, China is expected to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":61627,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-61626","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61626"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61626"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61626\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61627"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61626"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61626"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61626"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}