SpaceX Launch Schedule 2017: What Next For Elon Musk Company

Even as weather conditions forced SpaceX to postpone the launch of an EchoStar communication satellite early Tuesday, the day brought good news for the Elon Musk company. It edged out rival United Launch Alliance to win an Air Force contract, worth $96.5 million, for the launch of a GPS satellite in February 2019.

While that launch is still two years away, SpaceX has a lot going on since resuming operations in January, following an over four-month hiatus caused by the explosion of one of its Falcon 9 rockets Sept. 1. It launched a cluster of 10 Iridium communications satellites Jan. 14, and then a cargo resupply mission to the International Space Station (ISS), for NASA, on Feb. 19. The EchoStar launch is scheduled for early Thursday, with the launch window opening at 1:35 a.m. EDT.

Read: SpaceX Postpones EchoStar XXIII Launch

From the same launch pad where the EchoStar launch will happen — Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center, Florida — the company is scheduled to next fly on March 27, its only other launch this month, according to the flight schedule on Spaceflight Now. That launch will carry an SES 10 communications satellite to orbit, for Luxembourg’s SES, aboard the company’s trusted Falcon 9 rocket. The satellite will offer TV broadcasting and telecommunications services over Mexico, the Caribbean, as well as Central and South America.

April will be a busier time for SpaceX, with up to four launches provisionally scheduled, two for private companies and two for U.S. government agencies, all using the Falcon 9.

The first April launch is likely the Intelsat 35e communications satellite, part of Intelsat’s “Epic” fleet, to provide coverage over North and South America, the Caribbean, Europe and Africa. The next private launch, likely toward the end of the month, will launch more communications satellites for both SES and EchoStar.

In between the two launches for private companies, SpaceX will send another cargo mission, its eleventh, to ISS, possibly on April 9. And soon after, the company will launch its first-ever payload for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office. The exact nature of the payload is classified.

The company is also talking about sending a manned crew, aboard a Dragon spacecraft, beyond the moon next year. Two private individuals “have already paid a significant deposit” to make the trip, SpaceX said Feb. 27.