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Gunter Krebs

@skyrocket.de
411 followers 103 following 63 posts

Spaceflight Historian & Analyst, Nerd, Physicist and Editor of Gunter's Space Page (space.skyrocket.de)

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Gunter Krebs @skyrocket.de · 28/09/2026
Starship in Orbit: Ship 41 seen from one of the deployed Starlink v3 satellites.
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Gunter Krebs @skyrocket.de · 28/09/2026
SpaceX has for the 1st time launched Starship to orbit. Ship-41 & Booster-21 lost 1 Raptor engine each on ascend. 26 Starlink v3 sats were deployed. Then successful deorbit burn. Booster made water landing off coast of Texas & Ship near Hawaii. Congratulations to SpaceX.
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Gunter Krebs @skyrocket.de · 16/09/2026
Top Pentagon officials confirm the US operates “on-orbit space control weapons” (definition unclear) to defend against attacks - the clearest admission yet. China & Russia slam it as escalation. We have not yet identified the satellites related to this although there are suspects.
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Gunter Krebs @skyrocket.de · 05/09/2026
Isar Aerospace (Germany) has successfully conducted the 2nd launch of the Spectrum launch vehicle from Andøya Spaceport, Norway. It deployed some CubeSats. It marks the 1st orbital launch of a German rocket & 1st successful orbital launch from western Europe. space.skyrocket.de/doc_lau/spec...
space.skyrocket.de
Spectrum
Spectrum is a small liquid fueled orbital launch vehicle, which is being developed by Isar Aerospace, Germany.
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Gunter Krebs @skyrocket.de · 31/08/2026
A Falcon Heavy has launched NASA's Roman Space Telescope to the L2 point. It's a space telescope with a 2.4m primary mirror inherited from a defunct spy satellite program. It'll in IR survey vast regions of the Universe, probe dark energy & search for exoplanets. space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/wfi...
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Gunter Krebs @skyrocket.de · 25/08/2026
@SpaceX announced that today’s Starlink launch (Group 10-49) was the last planned Falcon 9 Starlink mission from Cape Canaveral. Future East Coast Starlink launches will use Starship, while Falcon 9 continues launching Starlinks from Vandenberg.
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Gunter Krebs @skyrocket.de · 19/08/2026
NASA and Katalyst have abandoned plans to boost the aging Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory after an attitude-control issue with the LINK servicer. LINK will still attempt rendezvous and proximity operations, gathering valuable data for future in-space servicing missions.
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Gunter Krebs @skyrocket.de · 19/08/2026
Chinese company LandSpace's 2nd flight of their Zhuque-3 orbital rocket performed a successful propulsive landing of stage 1. Stage 2 apparently reached orbit. The payload was likely a mass model.
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Gunter Krebs @skyrocket.de · 18/08/2026
There is a YouTube channel impersonating Gunter’s Space Page. I have NO connection to it & have reported it. Do not subscribe, engage or trust any accounts claiming to be me or the site that are not linked from space.skyrocket.de or my official accounts. Report it if you see it.
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Gunter Krebs @skyrocket.de · 10/08/2026
A Chinese CZ-7A was launched today from Wenchang, but the flight ended about ~80 seconds into the flight with an explosion. Reportedly it carried the military geostationary communications satellite ZX 4B. space.skyrocket.de/doc_lau_det/...
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Gunter Krebs @skyrocket.de · 24/07/2026
Reportedly SpaceX is turning away customers for dedicated Falcon 9 launches beyond 2028 & has stopped accepting new F9 rideshare reservations. Also halting production of sm expendable hardware (inc. upperstages), signaling a major shift to not yet operational Starship (Bloomberg).
bloomberg.com
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Gunter Krebs @skyrocket.de · 18/07/2026
@SkyrootA 's Vikram-1, India's 1st privately developed orbital rocket, successfully launched 2 Cubesats & a number of hosted payloads into orbit on the 1st try. Congratulations! Although recontact at stage 3/4 separation, it did not cause a failure. space.skyrocket.de/doc_lau/vikr...
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Gunter Krebs @skyrocket.de · 27/05/2026
Announcement: Gunter's Space Page to Transition to a Paid Model — Gunter Krebs space.skyrocket.de
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Gunter Krebs @skyrocket.de · 19/05/2026
A Vega-C rocket has successfully launched the joint European-Chinese SMILE satellite. It is research mission to investigate the interaction of solar wind with Earth's magnetosphere and ionosphere. space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/smi...
space.skyrocket.de
SMILE
SMILE (Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer) is a joint satellite mission of European Space Agency (ESA) and the Chinese Academy of Sc...
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Gunter Krebs @skyrocket.de · 18/05/2026
Well, the oldest preserved archived version (from May 1997, when Gunter's Space Page was 1 year old) can be found here: web.archive.org/web/19970814...
web.archive.org
Gunter's Space Page - Information on Launch vehicles, Satellites, Space Shuttle and Astronautics
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Gunter Krebs @skyrocket.de · 18/05/2026
Gunter's Space Page is now 30 years old!!! While I can not pinpoint the exact day, my oldest back up files hint for a beginning in May 1996. Starting as an "external memory", my website has apparently become some kind of industry standard. space.skyrocket.de
space.skyrocket.de
Gunter's Space Page - Information on spaceflight, launch vehicles and satellites
Gunter's Space Page - Information on Launch vehicles, Satellites, Space Shuttle and Astronautics
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Gunter Krebs @skyrocket.de · 19/04/2026
AST Spacemobile has confirmed an unrecoverable failure. www.businesswire.com/news/home/20...
businesswire.com
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Gunter Krebs @skyrocket.de · 19/04/2026
Mixed result for 3rd flight of @BlueOrigin's New Glenn rocket: Reflown stage 1 successfully launched & landed. Stage 2 underperformed & left @AST_SpaceMobile's Bluebird-7 sat in off-nominal orbit. Final orbital elements not yet released, but I'm not optimistic. space.skyrocket.de/doc_lau/new-...
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Gunter Krebs @skyrocket.de · 11/04/2026
Welcome back to Earth, Artemis II (Integrity)! Mission accomplished! Well done!
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Gunter Krebs @skyrocket.de · 02/04/2026
Humanity is finally back on the way to the Moon. The Artemis-2 mission with the crew of Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch & Jeremy Hansen has successfully started their 10 day voyage on a SLS Bl.1 rocket to fly around the moon. space.skyrocket.de/doc_lau_det/...
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Gunter Krebs @skyrocket.de · 31/03/2026
Yesterday China successfully conducted the maiden flight of the Lijian-2 (Kinetica-2) liquid fueled launch vehicle. It carried three satellites, among them the prototype of the Qingzhou transporter to be used to supply the Chinese Space Station. space.skyrocket.de/doc_lau/liji...
space.skyrocket.de
Lijian-2 (Kinetica-2)
Lijian-2 or Kinetica-2 is a Chinese liquid-fueled medium launch vehicle developed by CAS Space, a rocket manufacturer affiliated with the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
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Gunter Krebs @skyrocket.de · 23/03/2026
Sad to report the passing of Mike Melvill, pilot of the 1st commercial suborbital spaceflight. He flew 1st SpaceShipOne mission above the Kármán line & with SS1 spinning I didn’t expect him to return alive. He stayed calm, returned safely & flew a 2nd time. www.youtube.com/watch?v=gl3Y...
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Gunter Krebs @skyrocket.de · 12/03/2026
Firefly Alpha successfully returned to flight. The last flight of the Block 1 version tested systems for Block 2 and put a Lockheed Martin Technology Test payload (possibly similar to the one lost in the last launch failure) in orbit. space.skyrocket.de/doc_lau/fire...
space.skyrocket.de
Firefly-Alpha (Firefly-α)
Firefly is a small liquid fueled orbital launch vehicle, which is being developed by Firefly Aerospace, Inc.. Both stages are Kerosene and LOX fueled and pressurized by Helium.
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Gunter Krebs @skyrocket.de · 10/03/2026
HEO (@heospace) has imaged @AST_SpaceMobile 's Bluebird 6 satellite in orbit. It looks significantly different from the illustrations on AST Space Mobile's website. x.com/heospace/sta...
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Gunter Krebs @skyrocket.de · 10/03/2026
A SpaceX Falcon-9 booster has launched the large EchoStar 25 direct broadcasting satellite to a geosynchronous transfer orbit. The 6800 kg satellite was built by Lanteris (formerly Maxar). space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/ech...
space.skyrocket.de
EchoStar 25
EchoStar 25 (EchoStar XXV) is a direct broadcasting communications satellite manufactured by Maxar Technologies (United States) for EchoStar Corpor...
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Gunter Krebs @skyrocket.de · 05/03/2026
Space One's KAIROS small solid fueled launch vehicle has launched for the 3rd time from Spaceport Kii and again failed to reach orbit. About 1 min into the flight an energetic event was observed. 5 small satellites were lost. space.skyrocket.de/doc_lau/kair...
space.skyrocket.de
KAIROS
KAIROS (Kii-based Advanced & Instant Rocket System), developed by Space One, is an advanced launch vehicle, featuring a propulsion system comprising solid fuel for its three stages and a liquid prope&...
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Gunter Krebs @skyrocket.de · 01/01/2026
The number of launches and especially of individual satellites have drastically increased in 2025.
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Gunter Krebs @skyrocket.de · 01/01/2026
And here are the launch statistics for 2025 by launch vehicle families: Note: * includes the marginally suborbital Starship launches * includes Iranian Zoljanah launch, which is unclear, if it was orbital attempt
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Gunter Krebs @skyrocket.de · 01/01/2026
As every year, here are the launch statistics for 2025 by country. Note: * includes the marginally suborbital Starship launches * includes Iranian Zoljanah launch, which is unclear, if it was orbital attempt * RocketLab launches are listed as New Zealand / USA
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Gunter Krebs @skyrocket.de · 05/06/2025
Wow - the Musk-Trump-bromance turns into a full-bloom divorce battle. Collateral damage may be crewed spaceflight, as Musk threatens to decommission the Dragon crewed spacecraft. I did not see this escalating so fast...
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Gunter Krebs @skyrocket.de · 23/05/2025
This leaves a small number of LEO sats: USA 320, ..., 323 USA 328, ..., 331 USA 350, 351 USA 485, 486 Any thoughts? (2/2)
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Gunter Krebs @skyrocket.de · 23/05/2025
This article confirms that the USA are already testing satellites to track aircraft as a replacement for AWACS. Question is which are the satellites? Likely not the NRO or SDA missions. Unlikely also GEO sats and small sats. (1/2) aviationweek.com/defense/airc...
aviationweek.com
Rise Of Space-Based Aircraft Tracking Spells Threat To USAF E-7As | Aviation Week Network
A top U.S. military official confirmed that satellites are demonstrating aircraft tracking as the E-7A program faces a cancellation threat from the Pentagon.
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Gunter Krebs @skyrocket.de · 30/04/2025
Some users had problem accessing Gunter's Space Page during the past few hours. This was caused by an invalid certificate. The issue has now been corrected and accessing the website should work as usual now. Please let me know, if you still have issues. space.skyrocket.de
space.skyrocket.de
Gunter's Space Page - Information on spaceflight, launch vehicles and satellites
Gunter's Space Page - Information on Launch vehicles, Satellites, Space Shuttle and Astronautics
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Gunter Krebs @skyrocket.de · 05/02/2025
"Trump says Palestinians should leave Gaza permanently and US will ‘take over’ strip" What the FCK is wrong with this guy? (Question is rhetorical!) His ideas of diplomacy are equivalent to using a chainsaw for brain surgery! We, the world, are so screwed! edition.cnn.com/2025/02/04/p...
edition.cnn.com
Trump says Palestinians should leave Gaza permanently and US will ‘take over’ strip | CNN Politics
President Donald Trump said Tuesday that the US “will take over” the Gaza Strip, after saying earlier that he doesn’t think there is a permanent future for Palestinians in Gaza.
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Gunter Krebs @skyrocket.de · 26/01/2025
I wonder, when SpaceX and Tesla will realize, that Elon Musk has become a massive liability for them.
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Gunter Krebs @skyrocket.de · 23/01/2025
Dear crowd, does anyone know if the very first RocketLab Electron rocket ('It's a test') carried already the Kick Stage? IIRC, the Kick Stage was only announced on the 2nd flight. Currently I have listed the 1st flight in my database as having no kick stage, but i still lack a solid confirmation.
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Gunter Krebs @skyrocket.de · 13/05/2024
I think, the number of museums per capita would be more interesting than the absolute numbers.
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Gunter Krebs @skyrocket.de · 07/03/2024
Wow, for the first time a got a KatWarn (a German catastrophe warning app) warning for reentering space debris (discarded ISS batteries).
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Gunter Krebs @skyrocket.de · 23/02/2024
Intuitive Machines' Nova-C IM1 lander (Odysseus), the 2nd mission in NASA's CLPS program, has landed on the moon. A weak signal has been received, but it is too weak to transmit data. Let's see, if a communication can be established. space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/nov...
space.skyrocket.de
Nova-C IM-1 (CLPS 2, TO2-IM, Odysseus)
Nova-C is a lunar lander privately developed by Intuitive Machines for the Google Lunar-X-Prize and later offered commercially.
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Gunter Krebs @skyrocket.de · 20/01/2024
The Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has launched the Suraya satellite (purpose unknow, possibly communications) on the 1st successful orbital flight of the Qaem-100 rocket, reaching a 750 km orbit. Launch site was the Shahroud Missile Test Site. space.skyrocket.de/doc_lau/qaem...
space.skyrocket.de
Qaem-100
Qaem-100 (also transcribed Ghaem-100) is a new Iranian space launcher operated by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Aerospace force. It based on the Rafe' solid rocket motor.
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Gunter Krebs @skyrocket.de · 19/01/2024
The Japanese SLIM lunar lander has successfully landed at Shioli crater. Both the LEV-1 nanohopper & LEV-2 the nanorover have been deployed. Unfortunately the solar array malfunctioned and the mission will only last until the batteries run out of power. space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/sli...
space.skyrocket.de
SLIM
SLIM (Smart Lander for Investigating the Moon) is a Japanese technology demonstration lunar landing mission to demonstrate pin-point landing techni...
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Gunter Krebs @skyrocket.de · 11/01/2024
Chinese company Orienspace has performed the maiden launch of their Yinli-1 (Gravity-1) solid-fueled launcher from a barge in the Yellow Sea. It successfully placed 3 Yunyao-1 earth observation sats into orbit. space.skyrocket.de/doc_lau/yinl...
space.skyrocket.de
Yinli-1 (Gravity-1, YL-1)
Yinli-1 or Gravity-1 is a medium solid fuel orbital rocket for the commercial market designed by OrienSpace.
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Gunter Krebs @skyrocket.de · 08/01/2024
Astrobotics Peregrine lunar lander has suffered shortly after launch a propulsion failure which led to a critical loss of propellants. I think, this likely rules out a lunar landing. :-( But perhaps some engineering data can be gathered.
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Gunter Krebs @skyrocket.de · 08/01/2024
Payload for the 1st Vulcan launch was @astrobotic Peregrine lunar lander - the first mission under NASA's CLPS program. It carries several payloads for NASA and Additionally a @celestisflights capsule with human remains was attached to the Centaur stage. space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/per...
space.skyrocket.de
Peregrine 1 (CLPS 1, TO2-AB)
Peregrine is a lunar lander privately developed by Astrobotic Technology for the Google Lunar-X-Prize.
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Gunter Krebs @skyrocket.de · 08/01/2024
@ulalaunch Vulcan rocket has successfully conducted its maiden flight. It is powered by 2 @blueorigin built BE-4 engines fueled with LNG/LOX. 2 GEM-63XL solid fuel boosters provided additional thrust. A dual engine Centaur-5 was the upper stage. space.skyrocket.de/doc_lau/vulc...
space.skyrocket.de
Vulcan
The Vulcan launch system, provisionally called NGLS (NGLS), is a replacement under development by ULA (United Launch Alliance) to replace both the Atlas-5 and Delta-4 families.
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Gunter Krebs @skyrocket.de · 22/11/2023
The satellite and the upper stage have been tracked in orbit (493 km × 512 km, 97.43°). So the launch was successful.
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Gunter Krebs @skyrocket.de · 21/11/2023
According to North Korea, the launch was successful. But independent confirmation is still pending.
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Gunter Krebs @skyrocket.de · 21/11/2023
North Korea has launched the 3rd Chollima-1 orbital rocket today with apparently the 3rd Malligyong-1 spy sat ahead of the announced launch window. Two launches in May and August both failed to reach orbit. The outcome of today's launch is not yet known. space.skyrocket.de/doc_lau/chol...
space.skyrocket.de
Chollima-1
Chollima-1 (천리마-1), also transcribed Cheonlima-1, is a new North Korean orbital launch vehicle.
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Gunter Krebs @skyrocket.de · 10/11/2023
A highlight from today from my email inbox: Some guy threats to start legal actions against me if I do not stop using my satellites to monitor him and to manipulate his brain waves.
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Gunter Krebs @skyrocket.de · 27/10/2023
Yesterday China launched a new crew towards the Chinese Space Station. Shenzhou-17's crew consists of Tang Hongbo, Tang Shengjie & Jiang Xinlin. space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/sz-...
space.skyrocket.de
Shenzhou 8, ..., 17 (SZ 8, ..., 17)
The SZ (Shenzhou) is the first crewed spacecraft of the Peoples
 Republic of China. It owns much of its basic design to the Russian Soyuz
 ...
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