Soyuz Soars, SpaceX will CATCH Superheavy using launch tower, & Virgin Prepares Airlaunch Rocket!
Video from the channel Matt Lowne about Super Heavy, linked on its Above Ten Thousand entry. Duration: 12:02. Language: English. Video type: News.
What's announced
Early 2021 edition of Matt Lowne's weekly "Space This Week" roundup. Among the news is that SpaceX plans to catch the Super Heavy booster with the launch tower, rather than landing it like a Falcon 9 or a Starship. It also covers the launch, on December 29, of a Soyuz operated by Arianespace from French Guiana carrying a French military observation satellite, and progress at Boca Chica: the SN9 prototype, damaged when it fell inside the hangar, is still undergoing cryogenic and RCS testing, and SN10 is nearly complete.
Context
This week's schedule includes a Falcon 9 carrying the Turkish satellite Turksat 5A, whose first stage is making its fourth flight, and Virgin Orbit's LauncherOne. This rocket is launched from a modified 747 and flies again after the May 2020 failure caused by a propellant line. The anniversaries recall Sputnik 1's reentry in 1958, Luna 1's flyby of the Moon in 1959, the landing of the Spirit rover in 2004, and Galileo's observation of the Galilean moons in 1610.
What it means
The host highlights how unprecedented catching a booster with the tower is, and looks ahead to a 2021 that will see the first flight of a helicopter on another world, a rover landing on Mars, and the launch of the James Webb telescope.