A trio of Falcon 9 Starlink launches, a Falcon 9 non-Starlink launch involving an Eutelsat communications satellite, a Chinese launch, and a Russian Soyuz launch with a Resurs Earth observation satellite were scheduled for this week.
However, the launch that will likely get the most attention is the final launch ever of a Delta family rocket, a family that dates back to near the beginning of the space age, but now it will be delayed to April after a faulty gaseous nitrogen pump on the ground support equipment failed.
Starlink 6-46 started the launch week off on Monday, from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCSFS). A launch from China, which had been thought to be a Chang Zheng 6C, but was in fact a CZ-6A variant, occurred on Tuesday.
Starlink 7-18 was to follow up from Vandenberg Space Force Base (VSFB) on the West Coast on Friday evening in the United States, with NROL-70 making the last Delta 4 Heavy — and Delta family — launch from SLC-37B at CCSFS earlier on Friday.
However, the NROL-70 launch date has been pushed to April and Starlink 7-18 finally launched on April 1. Starlink 6-45 from Florida and the Falcon 9 Eutelsat 36D flight successfully launched on Saturday. A Soyuz 2.1b with the Resurs-P No. 4 rounded out the launch week.