Launch week: October 12 - 18, 2026
Three dated launches fill the October 12-18 UTC week — two Falcon 9 flights from Vandenberg and NASA's 35th Dragon cargo run from the Cape — plus India's next navigation satellite, whose reported window overlaps the week without a fixed date.
Three launches are firmly dated inside the October 12 – 18, 2026 UTC week, and a fourth may fall in it: two Falcon 9 flights from Vandenberg Space Force Base, a Dragon cargo flight for NASA from Cape Canaveral, and India's next navigation satellite, whose reported window overlaps these seven days. The last dated window closes early Friday morning, and the weekend is empty. 12
The entry to re-check before setting an alarm is the Indian one, because no agency has fixed its date. All times below are Coordinated Universal Time (UTC).
NET marks a target that has not been fixed, meaning no earlier than; TBD marks a field nobody has announced yet.Quick schedule
| UTC date and window | Mission and vehicle | Operator | Launch site and pad | Payload and destination | Status and webcast |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 13, 00:11 Window opens Oct 12, 23:00; closes Oct 13, 03:00 | Starlink Group 15-25 Falcon 9 Block 5 | SpaceX | Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, SLC-4E | 27 Starlink V2-mini satellites to low Earth orbit; booster B1088 flies for the 20th time and lands on the droneship Of Course I Still Love You | On schedule, after slipping from September 30, October 10 and October 11. Live webcast on SpaceX's mission page from about 00:01 UTC, ten minutes before liftoff. 234 |
| Oct 13, 10:33 Fixed time; backup Oct 14, 10:08 | CRS SpX-35 Falcon 9 Block 5 and Cargo Dragon C211 | SpaceX for NASA | Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida, SLC-40 | More than 6,300 pounds (about 2,900 kilograms) of supplies, science and hardware for the International Space Station, including the final set of station Roll-Out Solar Arrays; Dragon docks at the station on October 15 | On schedule. Booster B1096 flies for the eighth time and lands at Landing Zone 40. NASA coverage from 10:15 UTC on NASA+; SpaceX webcast about 20 minutes before liftoff. 567 |
| Oct 15, 23:44 Window opens 23:44, closes Oct 16, 03:44 | USSF-481 Falcon 9 Block 5 | SpaceX for the U.S. Space Force | Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, SLC-4E | Classified payload to a polar low Earth orbit; booster B1081 flies for the 28th time and lands on the droneship Of Course I Still Love You | On schedule. Backup opportunity on October 16 at 23:35 UTC. Live webcast on SpaceX's mission page from about ten minutes before liftoff. 8910 |
| Window Oct 15 – 20 No fixed time | NVS-03 (IRNSS-1L) GSLV Mk II (GSLV-F18) | ISRO | Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota, India, Second Launch Pad | A roughly 2,250-kilogram navigation satellite for India's NavIC regional constellation, to a geosynchronous transfer orbit | Date not fixed; the window overlaps this week. Times of India reports a target of October 15 to 20; RocketLaunch.Live lists October 13 at 17:00 UTC; ISRO has published no launch notice. No webcast announced. 111213 |
Mission cards
CRS SpX-35: a Dragon, the last solar array set, and a landing at the Cape
SpaceX targets 10:33 UTC on Tuesday, October 13 for Dragon's 35th Commercial Resupply Services flight to the International Space Station, lifting off from SLC-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. A backup opportunity falls on Wednesday, October 14 at 10:08 UTC. 614
Dragon C211 flies for the fourth time, after CRS-26, CRS-29 and CRS-33. It carries more than 6,300 pounds of supplies, science and equipment, among it the final set of International Space Station Roll-Out Solar Arrays. 56
The Falcon 9 first stage, booster B1096 on its eighth flight, comes back to land at Landing Zone 40 rather than a droneship. Its earlier missions were KF-01, IMAP, NROL-77, GPS III-9, CRS-34, NROL-95 and one Starlink flight. 614
Dragon docks on Thursday, October 15 at about 15:00 UTC, at the space-facing port of the station's Harmony module, after a flight of roughly 52 hours. NASA's launch coverage begins at 10:15 UTC on October 13, and its arrival coverage at 13:15 UTC on October 15. 56
USSF-481: a four-hour window and a booster's 28th flight
A four-hour window opens at 23:44 UTC on Thursday, October 15 for a Falcon 9 from SLC-4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base. The window closes at 03:44 UTC on October 16, and a backup opportunity is available on October 16 at 23:35 UTC. 89
The payload is classified. Next Spaceflight reads the ascent-stage drop zones as pointing to a batch of Starshield satellites on a polar trajectory, the same bus SpaceX builds for government customers, but no payload list has been published. 810
Booster B1081 makes its 28th flight. Its earlier missions include Crew-7, CRS-29, PACE, Transporter-10, EarthCARE, NROL-186, Transporter-13, TRACERS, NROL-48, COSMO-SkyMed Second Generation FM3, USSF-153 and 16 Starlink flights. This time it lands on the droneship Of Course I Still Love You in the Pacific, and SpaceX warns that Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo and Ventura counties may hear sonic booms. 910
Starlink Group 15-25: three slips, then a four-hour window
SpaceX opens a window at 23:00 UTC on Monday, October 12 — 4 p.m. local time at Vandenberg — that runs to 03:00 UTC on Tuesday, with liftoff targeted for 00:11:47 UTC. The flight had already slipped three times, from September 30, October 10 and October 11. 23
Twenty-seven Starlink V2-mini satellites fly from SLC-4E. Booster B1088 makes its 20th flight, after NROL-126, Transporter-12, SPHEREx, NROL-57, USSF-366 and 14 earlier Starlink missions, and lands on the droneship Of Course I Still Love You. The satellites deploy a little over an hour after liftoff. 34
The webcast opens about ten minutes before liftoff. Residents of Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo and Ventura counties may hear sonic booms from the booster's return. 4
NVS-03: India's next navigation satellite, without a date
India's next launch is the one entry here that no one has dated. Times of India reported on September 21 that ISRO is targeting October 15 to 20 for NVS-03 on a GSLV Mk II from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, with the first stage already stacked after a launch campaign that began on September 14. The same report said all efforts were aimed at October 15. 11
The trackers disagree on the day. RocketLaunch.Live lists October 13 at 17:00 UTC, while Next Spaceflight and Wikipedia give October with no day, and no webcast has been announced. ISRO's own launch-missions table still lists completed flights only. 12131516
The satellite matters to what is left of the constellation. NVS-03 weighs about 2,250 kilograms and goes to a geosynchronous transfer orbit as the third spacecraft of the second-generation NavIC series. India has three operational NavIC satellites after NVS-02 failed to raise its orbit following its January 2025 launch, and basic positioning needs four. A fourth satellite meets that minimum, which the constellation cannot currently provide. 1113
The window is the reason this launch belongs in a weekly list: it overlaps the week without being locked. October 15 to 18 is the part inside it, and ISRO's own channels are where a date will appear. 1115
Watch priorities
- CRS SpX-35's booster return, October 13 at about 10:41 UTC. The first stage lands at Landing Zone 40 about seven minutes after liftoff, on land at the Cape rather than on a droneship. 6
- Dragon's docking, October 15 at about 15:00 UTC. NASA's arrival coverage opens at 13:15 UTC, and the capsule docks autonomously at the Harmony module's space-facing port. 5
- USSF-481's landing, October 15 at about 23:52 UTC. The 28th flight of B1081 ends on a droneship in the Pacific eight minutes after liftoff. The payload itself is classified. 9
- NVS-03, once ISRO dates it. This would be India's second GSLV flight of 2026 and its first launch since GSLV-F17 on September 4, carrying a satellite the country's navigation service needs. 1315
Operator tracking notes
- NASA. Its own flight inside the window is CRS SpX-35 on October 13, described above, with countdown updates on the station blog. Once this week is over, the next mission NASA supports is JAXA's Martian Moons eXploration, on an H3 from Tanegashima at 19:41 UTC on October 19, just outside the window. 25
- ESA. Nothing is dated inside the window. The next European flight is still Amazon Leo LE-04 on an Ariane 64 from ELA-4 at the Guiana Space Centre, listed for October without a day, followed by MetOp-SG B1 on an Ariane 62 in November and a Vega C flight with IRIDE satellites in December. 17
- SpaceX. Three launches fall inside the window, two from Vandenberg and one from the Cape. Next Spaceflight counts CRS-35 as the 113th Falcon 9 mission of 2026 and SpaceX's 119th launch of the year. Bandwagon-5 and Starship Flight 15 remain listed with no dates, in October and November. 141819
- Rocket Lab. Nothing is dated. Its next mission is Aspera for NASA from Launch Complex 1 on the Māhia Peninsula, listed for 2026 without a date. 20
- Blue Origin. Nothing is dated, and there is no date to offer. New Glenn has not flown since NG-3 on April 19; the NG-4 vehicle and its upper stage were destroyed in a static-fire explosion at Launch Complex 36 on May 28, which damaged the pad and left every future date
TBDwhile the site is rebuilt. RocketLaunch.Live still names a Eutelsat mission as the next New Glenn flight with no date, while Wikipedia lists the first Amazon Leo batch, so the two disagree about the payload. 2122 - ISRO. Its only candidate inside the window is NVS-03, covered above. The agency's published table lists completed flights only, most recently GSLV-F17 with EOS-05 on September 4; the uncrewed Gaganyaan-1 test flight is listed for November, and an SSLV flight with AayulSAT-1A for October with no day. 115
- Suborbital. Nothing is dated inside the window. The nearest entry is a NASA Black Brant IX flight from Poker Flat Research Range, listed for October with no day. 16
References
- 1Next Spaceflight - current launch manifest
nextspaceflight.com
- 2Spaceflight Now - Launch schedule
spaceflightnow.com
- 3Next Spaceflight - Starlink Group 15-25
nextspaceflight.com
- 4SpaceX - Starlink Mission
spacex.com
- 5
- 6SpaceX - CRS-35 Mission
spacex.com
- 7
- 8Next Spaceflight - USSF-481
nextspaceflight.com
- 9SpaceX - USSF-481 Mission
spacex.com
- 10Space Launch Now - SpaceX launch schedule
spacelaunchnow.app
- 11Times of India - ISRO gears up for NVS-03 launch between October 15 and 20
timesofindia.indiatimes.com
- 12RocketLaunch.Live - NVS-03 (IRNSS-1L)
rocketlaunch.live
- 13Next Spaceflight - NVS-03 (IRNSS-1L)
nextspaceflight.com
- 14Next Spaceflight - CRS SpX-35
nextspaceflight.com
- 15ISRO - Launch Missions
isro.gov.in
- 16
- 17European Spaceflight - European rocket launch schedule 2026
europeanspaceflight.com
- 18Space Launch Schedule - upcoming launches
spacelaunchschedule.com
- 19RocketLaunch.Live - Launch schedule
rocketlaunch.live
- 20Rocket Lab - Launches
rocketlabusa.com
- 21Wikipedia - List of New Glenn launches
en.wikipedia.org
- 22RocketLaunch.Live - Blue Origin schedule
rocketlaunch.live
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