Looking like the last US launch of '25 is Saturday night

After a couple of weeks of nearly daily launches, the quiet for the last week has felt rather unusual, but the lack of launches on the Cape is going to continue with the COSMO-SkyMed Second Generation Mission, CSG-3, from Vandenberg Space Force Base, Saturday the 27th at 6:08 PM Pacific Time, 9:08 EST - which means 0208 UTC on Sunday morning December 28th. 

COSMO-SkyMed second generation (Constellation of Small Satellites for Mediterranean basin observation) or CSG is an Earth observation program of the Italian Space Agency (ASI) to replace the first generation COSMO-SkyMed system.

For the second generation, the COSMO-SkyMed constellation has been reduced from four to two spacecraft. The satellites are improved versions of the original design. They utilize an improved version of the Prima Bus. The CSG-SAR (COSMO-SkyMed Second Generation Synthetic Aperture Radar) is also an improved version of the first-generation X-band SAR system. The contract was signed in September 2015.  

On the main launch page for everything publicly known, everything else from the Saturday, 12/27's launch until 2026 begins will launch outside the US - primarily from China with one from Russia until Saturday, January 3rd and the New Year brings a Falcon 9 from SLC 40 on Cape Canaveral SFS (Space Force Station) doing Starlink group 6-88. They say this be will the first flight of this booster, B1101. 

Speaking of China reminds me that they tried two more launches of their Falcon 9 clones in the last three weeks. Neither one successfully landed the booster.  

The first Long March 12A rocket, roughly the same height and diameter of SpaceX’s workhorse Falcon 9, lifted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center at 9:00 pm EST Monday (02:00 UTC Tuesday).

Less than 10 minutes later, rocket’s methane-fueled first stage booster hurtled through the atmosphere at supersonic speed, impacting in a remote region about 200 miles downrange from the Jiuquan spaceport in northwestern China. The booster failed to complete a braking burn to slow down for landing at a prepared location near the edge of the Gobi Desert.

Fleet leader B1067-32 stands on the drone ship "Just Read the Instructions" after performing its record 32nd propulsive landing on Monday, Dec. 8, 2025. (Image credit: SpaceX - with minor edits to exposure - SiG)