Summer is almost here and it is packed with exciting space launches. The maiden crewed flight of Boeing (BA)’s Starliner spacecraft—a rival of SpaceX’s Crew Dragon—didn’t happen in May but this long-awaited liftoff is now scheduled for June 1. Elon Musk’s SpaceX is also gearing up for the fourth orbital test flight of Starship. Meanwhile, Richard Branson’s space tourism company Virgin Galactic is expected to launch its second mission of this year, which will include a suborbital spaceplane. Overseas, China is teaming up with France to launch a science satellite atop a Chinese-operated Long March rocket. The payload is an X-ray telescope satellite built to study massive star explosions.
Here are five exciting space missions to watch in June:
- June 1: Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner crewed test flight. June 2024 kicks off with a historic mission. The launch of the Boeing Starliner Crewed Flight Test (CFT) makes an important milestone for NASA. Pushed back from its previous launch date of May 6 after multiple previous delays, this mission is now scheduled for June 1, pending no further complications. NASA astronauts Commander Barry Eugene “Butch” Wilmore and Pilot Sunita “Suni”’ Williams will depart for the International Space Station at 12:55 pm EDT from Florida’s Florida’s Kennedy Space Center. The Starliner spacecraft will launch atop a ULA Atlas V booster.
- June 5: SpaceX’s fourth orbital Starship test flight. SpaceX is scheduled to test launch its Mars-colonizing spaceship for the fourth time on the morning of June 5 from the company’s Starbase facility in Boca Chica, Texas. The launch window opens from 8:00 a.m to noon (EDT). The giant two-stage spacecraft last attempted orbital flight in March and the upper stage broke apart upon re-entering Earth’s atmosphere. The primary goal of the upcoming test is “getting through max reentry heating,” Musk said in an X post on May 20.
- June 8: Virgin Galactic (SPCE)’s “Galactic 07” suborbital flight. Virgin Galactic has confirmed it will launch its second spaceplane flight of 2024 on June 8, though no specific launch time has been announced. The crew on the “Galactic 07” mission will include Virgin Galactic’s VSS Unity Commander Nicola Pecile and pilot Jameel Janjua. The mission will depart from Spaceport America in Sierra County, New Mexico and will carry research payloads from Purdue University and UC Berkeley.
- June 15: The European Space Agency launches the Ariane 6 rocket for the first time. After being delayed for four years, French aerospace company Arianespace is finally slated to get its Ariane 6 rocket off the ground. Scheduled for June 15 from a launch complex in French Guiana, the rocket will carry a group of small satellites, including two from NASA.
- June 24: China launches a research satellite in partnership with France. The China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) is preparing to send up a Space Variable Objects Monitor (SVOM) satellite into low Earth orbit as part of a dual mission between China and France. This small X-ray telescope satellite will study massive star explosions, analyzing gamma-ray bursts. The mission is scheduled for June 24 at 6 am (EDT) from China’s Xichang Satellite Launch Center using a Chinese-operated Long March 2C rocket.