Space Race Heats Up: Satellite Launch Blitz, Bold Missions, and a Shuttle’s Surprise Move (Aug 6–7, 2025)
On Aug 7, SpaceX launched 24 Amazon Kuiper satellites on a Falcon 9 from Cape Canaveral at 10:01 a.m. EDT, increasing the operational Kuiper fleet from 78 to 102 and with the first-stage booster landing on the drone ship A Shortfall of Gravitas. Rocket Lab’s Aug 5 Electron launch deployed the QPS-SAR-12 “Kushinada-I” SAR satellite into a 575 km orbit from Launch Complex 1, marking Rocket Lab’s 69th Electron flight and the fifth dedicated iQPS mission. China’s Long March 12 from Wenchang on Aug 4 launched 18 low-orbit internet satellites for GalaxySpace, the seventh batch in eight days, bringing GalaxySpace
