Space Missions to Watch in August: SpaceX’s Busy Month With Starship and Polaris Dawn

SpaceX has seven missions planned for August.

As the summer nears its end, August expects a number of high-profile space missions, including several from Elon Musk’s SpaceX. Notably, SpaceX is scheduled to launch the fifth test mission of Starship, the giant rocket designed to colonize Mars one day. Polaris Dawn, a private crewed SpaceX mission, is also expected to launch in August after multiple delays. Elsewhere in the world, China plans to launch a batch of satellites as part of a broadband constellation project similar to SpaceX’s Starlink. And Russia is expected to send a supply mission to the International Space Station.

Here are the top space missions to watch in August 2024:

• Aug. 5: China launches G60 Starlink megaconstellation. The first mission of China’s G60 megaconstellation will carry 18 satellites from Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in northern China. The satellites are manufactured by Shanghai Spacecom Satellite Technology, which announced in February that it had raised 6.7 billion yuan ($943 million) for the construction of the constellation. Space News reported the mission will likely use a Long March 6A rocket. The megaconstellation project, aiming to provide global internet coverage, is part of China’s ambition to establish itself as a leader in the global space race.
• Aug. 15: Russia sends a cargo mission to the ISS. Russia’s state space agency, Roscosmos, will send a Progress MS-28, an automated and uncrewed cargo spacecraft, on a Soyuz 2.1a rocket to the ISS from Kazakhstan. The spacecraft will carry supplies and fuel as part of a regular ISS mission series that began in 1978. Roscosmos typically launches several Progress resupply missions each year. 
• Aug. 18: SpaceX launches the Crew-9 mission for NASA. From Florida’s Kennedy Space Center, SpaceX will send cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov and three NASA astronauts, Zena Cardman, Nick Hague, and Stephanie Wilson, to the ISS for a six-month stay. The flight will be SpaceX’s ninth crewed mission for NASA as part of the Commercial Crew Program, started in 2020. The launch will use SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon spacecraft. 
• TBD: SpaceX test launches Starship for the fifth time. The Starship will embark on its next Starship test in August following four increasingly successful launches, including a test flight in June where SpaceX achieved a soft landing for both the Starship and its Super Heavy booster in the ocean. SpaceX’s long-term goal for the rocket, the largest and most powerful rocket ever built, is to achieve a rapidly reusable design where it can land back at the launch pad and be ready for another mission within days. The August launch will be the first attempt to catch the Super Heavy booster on the launch pad—rather than in water—using the launch tower’s “chopstick” arms to grab and secure the booster.
• TBD: SpaceX launches delayed Polaris Dawn. A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch a Crew Dragon spacecraft commanded by the billionaire Jared Isaacman. Isaacman will be joined on the all-private mission by pilot Scott “Kidd” Poteet and SpaceX employees Sarah Gillis and Anna Menon for up to five days in orbit. The mission aims to achieve the highest Earth orbit ever flown, conduct the first private spacewalk using SpaceX-designed EVA suits, and test Starlink laser-based communications in space. The crew will also perform various health-related research in collaboration with several research institutions to advance human health knowledge for future long-duration spaceflights. The Polaris Dawn mission has been delayed several times since 2022. Recent delays were due to prioritizing the launch of Crew-9 and a liquid oxygen leak that caused technical malfunctions in a Falcon 9 rocket. 
• SpaceX has several more Falcon 9 missions scheduled throughout August. On Aug. 15, a Falcon 9 will launch satellites for the European Space Agency, UK Space Command, iQPS, and Planet Labs, followed by another Falcon 9 on Aug. 18 to send Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus cargo freighter to the ISS. Additionally, two more Falcon 9 launches are expected, one for Maxar Technologies’ WorldView Legion satellites and the other for Space Norway’s Arctic Satellite Broadband Mission.