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SpaceX Plans Three Starlink Launches as China Schedules Reusable-Booster Test and Chang’e 7 Lunar Mission

The week of Aug. 17-23 will feature three SpaceX Starlink launches alongside China’s second test flight of the partially reusable ZhuQue-3 launcher and the robotic Chang’e 7 lunar mission. The schedule marks China’s return to launch activity after the previous week’s Chang Zheng 7A failure.

Discovered 2026-08-17T12:13:09.075724-07:00 | 2026-08-17T12:13:09.075724-07:00

Briefing

What Hype is tracking

The planned cadence puts three Starlink missions alongside two significant Chinese milestones, underscoring the continuing pace of commercial constellation deployment and launch-vehicle testing.
China’s ZhuQue-3 test and Chang’e 7 mission follow a Chang Zheng 7A failure, making the week an important near-term indicator of launch reliability and progress toward partially reusable systems and robotic lunar exploration.

Reported By

NASA Spaceflight astronomy.com