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NASA Spaceflight • Justin Davenport

Nine launches this week — SLS, Falcon 9, Atlas V and Soyuz lead packed global manifest

Nine orbital launches are scheduled this week from Florida, California and Russian ranges, including NASA's SLS and missions on Falcon 9, Atlas V and Soyuz vehicles. The packed manifest highlights a global spike in launch cadence across government and commercial providers.

2026-03-30T14:10:37.015965-07:00

Spaceflight Now

Falcon 9 to attempt record 34th flight on Starlink 10-44 from Cape Canaveral

2026-03-30T13:05:26.761301-07:00

European Spaceflight

ESA seeks commercial partner to deliver NILS2 lunar instrument, preferring European operators

2026-03-30T07:26:04.934686-07:00

Space.com

X1.4 Solar Flare Sparks Radio Blackouts and Fast CME Days Before Artemis II; NASA Says Mission Unconcerned

2026-03-30T05:10:23.148235-07:00

News Timeline

NASA Spaceflight

Nine launches this week — SLS, Falcon 9, Atlas V and Soyuz lead packed global manifest Nine orbital launches are scheduled this week from Florida, California and Russian ranges, including NASA's SLS and missions on Falcon 9, Atlas V and Soyuz vehicles. The packed manifest highlights a global spike in launch cadence across government and commercial providers.

2026-03-30T14:10:37.015965-07:00

Nine launches this week — SLS, Falcon 9, Atlas V and Soyuz lead packed global manifest

Spaceflight Now

Falcon 9 to attempt record 34th flight on Starlink 10-44 from Cape Canaveral SpaceX will attempt a record 34th flight of a single Falcon 9 booster on the Starlink 10-44 mission, launching 29 broadband satellites from SLC‑40 at Cape Canaveral. Liftoff is targeted at the 5:15 window opener Monday, with weather a potential factor.

2026-03-30T13:05:26.761301-07:00

Falcon 9 to attempt record 34th flight on Starlink 10-44 from Cape Canaveral

SpaceNews.com

Varda completes sixth reentry mission, flies navigation payload and tests heat shield Varda completed its sixth reentry mission, flying a navigation payload and conducting heat‑shield tests during atmospheric reentry. The flight combined a navigation demonstration with thermal‑protection trials to assess payload performance and reentry hardware under flight conditions as part of the company's iterative commercial recovery program.

2026-03-30T11:52:22.296293-07:00

Varda completes sixth reentry mission, flies navigation payload and tests heat shield

SpaceNews.com

CAS Space's Kinetica-2 maiden flight places Qingzhou cargo prototype and two rideshares into orbit CAS Space's Kinetica-2 completed a successful maiden flight Monday, placing a prototype Qingzhou cargo spacecraft into orbit alongside two small rideshare satellites. The mission marks the debut of the Kinetica-2 launcher and the Qingzhou cargo demonstrator's first orbital test.

2026-03-30T08:58:00.406112-07:00

CAS Space's Kinetica-2 maiden flight places Qingzhou cargo prototype and two rideshares into orbit

European Spaceflight

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ESA seeks commercial partner to deliver NILS2 lunar instrument, preferring European operators The European Space Agency has launched a tender seeking a commercial partner to deliver its NILS2 scientific instrument to the Moon, explicitly favoring European operators. The procurement establishes a commercial route for lunar payload delivery and signals a preference for European industrial participation.

2026-03-30T07:26:04.934686-07:00

ESA seeks commercial partner to deliver NILS2 lunar instrument, preferring European operators

Payload

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SpaceX's Transporter‑16 deploys 119 smallsats to sun‑synchronous LEO from Vandenberg SpaceX launched its Transporter‑16 rideshare mission March 30 from Vandenberg Space Force Base, deploying 119 payloads into sun‑synchronous low Earth orbit. The dedicated small‑sat flight carried commercial microsatellites and tech demonstrations, including AAC Clyde Space and Spanish companies FOSSA Systems and SATLANTIS.

2026-03-30T06:00:23.342270-07:00

SpaceX's Transporter‑16 deploys 119 smallsats to sun‑synchronous LEO from Vandenberg

Space.com

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X1.4 Solar Flare Sparks Radio Blackouts and Fast CME Days Before Artemis II; NASA Says Mission Unconcerned An X1.4-class solar flare produced HF radio blackouts and launched a fast coronal mass ejection just days before the scheduled Artemis II crewed lunar flyby. NASA said the event does not currently threaten the mission, but the eruption underscores near-term space‑weather risks to communications and crewed deep‑space operations.

2026-03-30T05:10:23.148235-07:00

X1.4 Solar Flare Sparks Radio Blackouts and Fast CME Days Before Artemis II; NASA Says Mission Unconcerned

SpaceNews.com

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Starcloud raises $170M Series A at $1.1B to build orbital data centres Starcloud closed a $170 million Series A at a $1.1 billion valuation to develop orbital data centres, pursuing a 'one satellite, one GPU' architecture. The raise underscores strong investor demand and the startup's flight heritage as competition to host AI compute in LEO accelerates.

2026-03-30T04:17:43.219236-07:00

Starcloud raises $170M Series A at $1.1B to build orbital data centres

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Launch Vehicles & Space Transportation News

Nine launches this week — SLS, Falcon 9, Atlas V and Soyuz lead packed global manifest

Falcon 9 to attempt record 34th flight on Starlink 10-44 from Cape Canaveral

ESA seeks commercial partner to deliver NILS2 lunar instrument, preferring European operators

X1.4 Solar Flare Sparks Radio Blackouts and Fast CME Days Before Artemis II; NASA Says Mission Unconcerned

News Timeline