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NASA APOD:
New Comet SWAN25B over Mexico
A newly discovered comet is already visible with binoculars. The comet, C/2025 R2 (SWAN) and nicknamed SWAN25B, is brightening significantly as it emerges from the Sun's direction and might soon become visible on your smartphone -- if not your eyes. Although the brightnesses of comets are notoriously hard to predict, many comets appear brighter as they approach the Earth, with SWAN25B reaching only a quarter of the Earth-Sun distance near October 19. Nighttime skygazers will also be watching for a SWAN25B-spawned meteor shower around October 5 when our Earth passes through the plane of the comet's orbit. The unexpectedly bright comet was discovered by an amateur astronomer in images of the SWAN instrument on NASA's SOHO satellite. The comet is currently best observed in southern skies but is slowly moving north. The featured image was captured at sunset three days ago just above the western horizon in Zacatecas, Mexico.
The Launch Library:
Upcoming Launches You Don't Want to Miss
SatNet test satellites
Launch Date:
9/16/2025, 1:06:00 AM
Launch Vehicle:
Long March 2C/YZ-1S,
China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation
Location:
Launch Area 4 (SLS-2 / 603),
Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China
Overview:
Officially described as "Satellite-Internet Technology Demonstration Satellite(s)".
Probably test satellites for the Chinese state-owned LEO communication satellite constellation SatNet.
Starlink Group 17-12
Launch Date:
9/17/2025, 3:41:00 PM
Launch Vehicle:
Falcon 9,
SpaceX
Location:
Space Launch Complex 4E,
Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA
Overview:
A batch of 24 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.
Starlink Group 10-61
Launch Date:
9/18/2025, 9:30:00 AM
Launch Vehicle:
Falcon 9,
SpaceX
Location:
Space Launch Complex 40,
Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA
Overview:
A batch of 28 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.
NS-35
Launch Date:
9/18/2025, 1:00:00 PM
Launch Vehicle:
New Shepard,
Blue Origin
Location:
West Texas Suborbital Launch Site/ Corn Ranch,
Corn Ranch, Van Horn, TX, USA
Overview:
NS-35 is the 35th flight for the New Shepard program. This flight will fly more than 40 scientific and research payloads to space and back, including 24 experiments from NASA’s TechRise Student Challenge and payloads for Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, Oklahoma State University, University of Florida, Carthage College, University of Centr...
Starlink Group 10-27
Launch Date:
9/21/2025, 9:20:00 AM
Launch Vehicle:
Falcon 9,
SpaceX
Location:
Space Launch Complex 40,
Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA
Overview:
A batch of 28 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.
SatNet test satellites
Launch Date:
9/16/2025, 1:06:00 AM
Launch Vehicle:
Long March 2C/YZ-1S,
China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation
Location:
Launch Area 4 (SLS-2 / 603),
Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China
Overview:
Officially described as "Satellite-Internet Technology Demonstration Satellite(s)".
Probably test satellites for the Chinese state-owned LEO communication satellite constellation SatNet.
Starlink Group 17-12
Launch Date:
9/17/2025, 3:41:00 PM
Launch Vehicle:
Falcon 9,
SpaceX
Location:
Space Launch Complex 4E,
Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA
Overview:
A batch of 24 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.
Starlink Group 10-61
Launch Date:
9/18/2025, 9:30:00 AM
Launch Vehicle:
Falcon 9,
SpaceX
Location:
Space Launch Complex 40,
Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA
Overview:
A batch of 28 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.
NS-35
Launch Date:
9/18/2025, 1:00:00 PM
Launch Vehicle:
New Shepard,
Blue Origin
Location:
West Texas Suborbital Launch Site/ Corn Ranch,
Corn Ranch, Van Horn, TX, USA
Overview:
NS-35 is the 35th flight for the New Shepard program. This flight will fly more than 40 scientific and research payloads to space and back, including 24 experiments from NASA’s TechRise Student Challenge and payloads for Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, Oklahoma State University, University of Florida, Carthage College, University of Centr...
Starlink Group 10-27
Launch Date:
9/21/2025, 9:20:00 AM
Launch Vehicle:
Falcon 9,
SpaceX
Location:
Space Launch Complex 40,
Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA
Overview:
A batch of 28 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.
API Data brought to you by The Space Devs
Space Industry & Godot (2022):
Help wanted: LunCo Space
Recently, I was invited to join the team at LunCo where we plan to create a space simulation game that features industry real world applications. While similar to games like Kerbal Space and No Man's Sky, LunCo will be feature two game styles - digital twin mode for engineers, and story mode for casual enthusiasts. We also plan to allow user generated content (space crafts, trajectories, factories, etc.) and integration with professional tools like CAD, FEA, MBSE, and more.
For story mode, you are playing as a CEO & Founder of a Lunar exploration company in the near future. You will collect resources, build factories, and manufacture robots to create a sustainable lunar base. From there, it's up to you to turn the Moon into a stepping stone and launch past the stars!
Rocket Lab Special Event (2021):
Rocket Lab ($RKLB) goes public
On Wednesday, August 25th of 2021, Rocket Lab began trading on the Nasdaq, becoming the latest space company to close a merger with a special purpose acquisition company and go public. They closed the first day down slightly at $10.45 per share, under the ticker $RKLB.
“We are super excited to bring a high-quality space asset to the market” Rocket Lab CEO Peter Beck told CNBC. “I don’t think it will take long for investors to differentiate between the company that’s consistently delivering and the ones that have aspirations to deliver sometime in the future” he later added.
Astra Special Event (2021):
Astra ($ASTR) goes public
On Wednesday, June 30th of 2021, Astra became the first launch company to be traded publicly on NASDAQ. Trading under the ticker $ASTR, with shares previously listed under the special purpose acquisition company Holicity, the announcement expects to bring in around $500 million in proceeds. Astra's idea is to use the funding to continue to develop their rockets - with a goal of launching as many of it's 40ft tall rockets as it can, aiming to launch one per day by 2025.
“Now we have a space company that everyone can invest in on the public markets,” Astra CEO Chris Kemp told CNBC. “The same kinds of things you do to make a rocket great are the same behaviors that you have to invest in to make a company great. You don’t want any inefficiencies.”
About Rocket Downrange
Breaking boundaries, setting standards and transforming humanity for the better. Space has always been the final frontier that keeps on giving. This site serves to be a side project that informs and inspires the next generation of explorers.
Rocket Downrange is an independent hobby project by a guy learning Vue. No endorsements or partnerships exist between Rocket Downrange and the included organizations.
Contact Rocket Downrange
If you love the site or think something needs changed - we want to know! Questions, comments, suggestions and more can be sent below. If you know of any free and interesting API's we should include in the site - include information about where to find necessary documentation and we'll get to it!