Space Missions: Recent and Upcoming Launches at Their Pads

Melbourne Gregory Orbital Network

Version 1.0 — October 13, 2026

Abstract

This document describes Space Missions, a launch-catalog layer for Orbital Network, and sets out its use cases. The layer plots recent and upcoming rocket launches at their launch pads, from Launch Library 2, the community-maintained launch database operated by The Space Devs. Each marker carries what the database publishes for that launch: the mission, the rocket, the date — labeled NET for upcoming launches, because a NET ("No Earlier Than") date is a target, not a promise — its status, and its place. Consistent with the network's data-provenance rules, every card names Launch Library 2 as its source, and the layer's status line repeats the database's own caution: launches slip. The layer is live as of October 2026.

What the layer shows

Launches at their pads. When the layer is switched on, the page reads Launch Library 2's previous-launches and upcoming-launches lists (fourteen of each) and plots every launch whose pad carries coordinates — up to 160 markers — at the pad itself, not the agency's headquarters or the mission's destination. A marker's title is the launch's name as the database carries it; its card adds the rocket configuration, the date (with "NET" prefixed for upcoming launches), the published status abbreviation, and the pad's location name. The source line reads "Launch Library 2 · The Space Devs."

Targets versus history. The two halves of the layer are different kinds of fact and are worded differently. A previous launch's date is history as the database records it. An upcoming launch's NET date is the earliest the provider currently targets; weather, range, and hardware move these dates constantly, and the layer repeats the caveat in its own status line ("NET dates are published targets — launches slip") rather than letting a plotted date read as a commitment. Statuses come from the database as published; the layer adds no countdown, no probability, and no telemetry.

Provenance rules. Every marker is bound to a Launch Library 2 record, named on the card. Launches without pad coordinates are not placed at guessed locations. If the database cannot be reached, the layer reports that and plots nothing.

Use cases

Space-coast communities and viewing families. Which pad, which rocket, NET when — the starting facts for planning a trip to watch a launch, held with the honest warning that the date can move, because with launches it so often does.

Educators. A globe of working spaceports — Florida, Virginia, California, Kazakhstan, French Guiana, New Zealand, and more — with the year's cadence visible in one view: who launches, from where, how often.

Journalists. A dated, sourced skeleton for launch coverage — mission, vehicle, pad, status — citable to the database the whole community maintains, with NET language intact for anything not yet flown.

Space enthusiasts. Recent history and the near future on one globe: the last fortnight's launches beside the next fortnight's targets, a cadence picture no single agency's page assembles.

Travelers. A launch near a planned trip is a genuine possibility worth knowing about — at NET value, which is to say with a flexible plan.

Coverage and limitations

Coverage is Launch Library 2's coverage: comprehensive for orbital launches worldwide and for the suborbital flights the database tracks, dependent on its volunteer-maintained records being current. Only launches with pad coordinates plot. NET dates are targets as of the read; the layer refreshes when re-tapped, so a slip announced an hour ago appears on the next read, not retroactively. Nothing here is a launch provider's official manifest — providers and ranges remain authoritative — and the layer tracks no flight in progress.

Disclosure

Manuscript prepared with AI drafting assistance; all content was reviewed and approved by the author, who takes full responsibility for it.

The Orbital Network system described in this document operates at https://godsky.net. The white paper "Orbital Network: A Live Broadcast System for Real-Time Planetary Awareness" (Zenodo, DOI 10.5281/zenodo.23328433) describes the parent system.