This Week in Space Tech: Oct. 20 to 26, 2025
Launch tempo stayed high, Europe moved toward consolidation, and lunar timelines stirred fresh debate.
Welcome to This Week in Space Tech. Below are the biggest launches, industry shifts, and program milestones that happened between Oct 20 and Oct 26.
Launchpad highlights
SpaceX flew back-to-back Starlink missions over the weekend, pushing its 2025 cadence past last year’s record with a Saturday liftoff from Vandenberg followed by a Sunday Florida flight. The Saturday launch alone set a new annual mark for Falcon 9 missions.
SpainSat NG-2 reached orbit on an expendable Falcon 9, a rare non-recovery flight to boost a 6.1-ton secure comsat for Spain and European GovSatCom, with deployment confirmed shortly after liftoff.
China launched a new communications technology test satellite on Long March-5, validating multi-band, high-rate links from Wenchang, Hainan, late on Oct 23 local time.