Launch Preview: Flights from South Korea, China, USA planned for this week

On the heels of an impactful few days of launches from SpaceX, this week shapes up to be less busy, but with a more international set of flights. SpaceX does have two flights scheduled from California, but South Korea and China also plan launches this week.

South Korea is planning to launch its KSLV-2 rocket from a site on the country’s southern coast, while China is planning to launch a Chang Zheng 12 from Hainan Island. The launch week ends with a Falcon 9 Starlink launch from California, with the Tranche 1 Transport Layer A flight also moving into this week following a launch delay.

The Tranche 1 Transport Layer A payload before encapsulation in its payload fairing. (Credit: SpaceX)

Falcon 9 | Tranche 1 Transport Layer A

SpaceX is now planning to fly the Tranche 1 Transport Layer A mission from Vandenberg Space Force Base (VSFB) no earlier than Tuesday, Oct. 6, at 1:17 AM PDT (08:17 UTC), following an early scrub Monday morning.

The launch from Space Launch Complex 4E (SLC-4E) was halted just after T-1:00 minute, when the vehicle entered startup. No reason was given, but the vehicle and payload are healthy as the company goes into another attempt. The launch window is instantaneous.

The payload, also known as T1TL-A, was developed by Northrop Grumman for the U.S. Space Force’s Space Development Agency (SDA). T1TL-A is part of the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture constellation, providing low-latency data connections for the Armed Forces worldwide. There are 21 satellites on this launch.

Flying its sixth mission, booster B1103 will take a southerly trajectory to place the satellites in a polar orbit, then return to Landing Zone 4 (LZ-4) next to SLC-4E for a return-to-launch-site landing. The booster began its career on the Starlink Group 17-35 flight and has flown two other Starlink missions, as well as the NROL-179 and Tranche 1 Transport Layer E missions.

This flight is the 111th Falcon 9 mission of 2026.

15 satellites prepared for launch aboard a KSLV-2 with the payload fairing in the background. (Credit: KARI)

KSLV-2 | NeonSat 2 – 6 & Others

Next is the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) KSLV-2 flight from Launch Complex 2 (LC-2) at the Naro Space Center in South Korea. Launch is scheduled for Wednesday, Oct. 7, at 03:23 UTC, with the window closing at 04:23 UTC.

The three-stage KSLV-2, measuring over 47 m in height, will follow a southward trajectory from Naro, suitable for payloads bound for a Sun-synchronous orbit. For this flight, the KSLV-2, also known as Nuri F5, will carry five satellites for the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology’s NeonSat constellation along with 10 rideshare payloads.

The NeonSat constellation is intended for real-time, high-frequency disaster monitoring of the Korean Peninsula and surrounding maritime areas, and each 100 kg satellite is equipped with optical systems that can achieve up to one meter in resolution in black and white or four meters in resolution in color.

Nuri lifts off on its maiden flight. (Credit: KARI)

In addition to the 500 kg multi-satellite NeonSat payload, this flight carries 10 cubesats for South Korean universities, companies, and local governments. These satellites have diverse applications ranging from ionosphere research and hyperspectral imaging to monitoring marine debris, space debris, space weather, and fine dust, as well as technology development.

This flight will deploy 15 satellites in total, which is a record for the KSLV-2. This is the first and likely only KSLV-2 flight of 2026, and it is the fifth overall mission for the launcher. The flight is also KARI’s eighth mission overall, and KSLV-2’s next flight, featuring NeonSat 7 through 11, is scheduled for no earlier than 2027.

CZ-12 transported at the Hainan Commercial Space Launch Center (Credit: Hainan International Commercial Aerospace)

Chang Zheng 12 | Unknown Payload

The next flight currently scheduled for this week is a Chinese Chang Zheng 12 (CZ-12). The CZ-12 is scheduled to fly on Friday, Oct. 9, at 19:25 UTC, with the launch window ending at 19:49 UTC, from Commercial LC-2 at the Wenchang Space Launch Site on Hainan Island, just south of mainland China.

The two-stage, 59 m-tall CZ-12, a medium-lift launcher using liquid oxygen and kerosene as propellants, will follow a southeast trajectory after liftoff from Wenchang. The payload is not known with certainty, but all of this year’s CZ-12 flights from Wenchang have launched SatNet LEO broadband low-Earth orbit communications satellites. These satellites, known as Xingwang Digui, are for the Guowang constellation, China’s competitor to SpaceX’s Starlink.

This flight is the fifth CZ-12 mission of the year. The CZ-12 family consists of the base CZ-12 plus the CZ-12A and CZ-12B developments; the CZ-12A and CZ-12B plan to support partial reuse in the future.

Falcon 9 | Starlink Group 15-25

The final scheduled launch of the week is a Falcon 9 from VSFB in California. Starlink Group 15-25 is scheduled to fly out of SLC-4E on Saturday, Oct. 10, at 4:00 PM PDT (23:00 UTC). The launch window will last until 8:00 PM PDT (03:00 UTC on Sunday, Oct. 11).

Booster B1088, flying for the 20th time, will take a southeast trajectory after liftoff from SLC-4E and land atop SpaceX’s autonomous droneship Of Course I Still Love You in the Pacific. The mission will carry 27 Starlink v2 Mini satellites into a low-Earth orbit inclined at 70.01 degrees to the equator.

The booster’s career began with the NROL-126 mission, and it has also flown the Transporter 12, SPHEREx & PUNCH, NROL-57, and USSF-366 missions, along with 14 Starlink flights to date.

This flight is the 112th Falcon 9 mission of 2026 as SpaceX begins a slow winding down of Falcon 9 operations. Starship began operational Starlink v3 deployments during Flight 14 on Sept. 28, and no further Falcon 9 Starlink missions are planned from Florida. It remains to be seen how much longer Falcon 9 Starlink flights from VSFB will last. This mission will mark the 240th worldwide orbital launch attempt in 2026.

(Lead image: Falcon 9 launch streak from Florida. Credit: Julia Bergeron for NSF)

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