Years after space shuttle retirement, Florida chases nearly 70 launches a year
The Space Coast witnessed a record-smashing display of launch activity Oct. 13 when SpaceX launched a Falcon Heavy and a Falcon 9 rocket just eight hours and 42 minutes apart.
That kind of breakneck orbital launch pace hasn't been seen since the busiest days of the Space Race when NASA's Gemini program in 1966 launched two separate vehicles during a roughly 90-minute window.
The world's busiest spaceport rewrote another record this year with Saturday night's Starlink launch: the number of orbital missions launched. It was the 58th launch of the year, breaking last year's total and it's still October.
For more than five decades, set in 1966, that number stood at 29. It finally fell in 2020 with the addition of just one more launch. It's only increased every year since. Last year's record of 57 nearly doubled 2021's previous record of 31 orbital launches.
At the breathless pace of about twice a week, by year's end, Brevard could witness nearly 70 launches from Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
"It's such a contrast to where we were 12 years ago when the space shuttle was retired," Laura Forczyk, a physicist and space industry consulting firm owner, told FLORIDA TODAY. "The Space Coast was in this depression where people were not sure what the future looked like. They assumed that there would be commercial access to space, but government was all they knew. It is such a paradigm shift."
That huge increase in launch activity is creating a logjam. The number of launch pads and the availability of the Eastern Range, which oversees launches from KSC and Cape Canaveral, is limited.
To expand those limitations and address the near daily requests to support rocket launches for companies ranging from small startups like Relativity Space to mega-launchers like SpaceX, the Space Force recently had to reactivate facilities that haven't been used since the days of NASA's Gemini program.
One of those historic sites, Launch Complex 14, was assigned to Stoke Space — a small startup founded in 2019 in Kent, Washington, dedicated to building a fully reusable two-stage rocket.
In a social media post in March, Andy Lapsa, co-founder of Stoke Space, said, "This is the same site John Glenn used to become the first American to reach orbit. Needless to say, this is incredibly humbling. We will work tirelessly to make his legacy, our country, and our world proud."
More launch pads and more rocket companies sending payloads to space are good for tourists eager to watch a rocket soar into the sky, and it’s also enticing for commercial space companies hoping to become part of this country's storied space history.
The flurry of nonstop action, expansion, and opportunity continuously draws new launchers and aerospace companies to Florida, bringing hundreds of jobs to the Space Coast each year.
"Florida has grown significantly in integration — it's got the manufacturing, it's got the integrating into the rockets, and then it also has the ability for the landings both to land and off the coast," Forczyk said. "All of that really ties together to make it a more seamless one-stop-shop location for all spaceflight."
Space Perspective, Amazon's Project Kuiper, and Draper have all held groundbreaking ceremonies for new facilities on the Space Coast in just the last couple of months.
Here's a breakdown of some of the changes on the horizon at the spaceport. Also, take a look at which companies and rockets call each of the Space Coast's launch pads home now or plan to in the future.
NASA's Kennedy Space Center:
A 200-square-mile section of Florida swamp immediately north of the U.S. Air Force's Cape Canaveral facilities was acquired by the Army Corps of Engineers in 1961. Kennedy Space Center was envisioned to meet President Kennedy's goal of building a pathway to the moon with three launch pads to support massive Saturn V rocket launches.
While three were planned, budgetary constraints cut that vision down to two: pad 39A and pad 39B.
Stretching from the Gemini and Apollo programs of the 1960s to the space shuttle program through the early 2000s, both pads have seen their fair share of historic missions. Now, they're home to NASA's Commercial Crew Program partner SpaceX and the agency's Artemis program, the flagship attempt to return astronauts to the lunar surface by 2030.
Launch Complex 39A - SpaceX Falcon 9 & Falcon Heavy rockets
Launch Complex 39A is perhaps the most well-known launch pad in the world. It's where Apollo 11 launched on July 16, 1969, with astronauts Buzz Aldrin, Neil Armstrong, and Michael Collins for the first mission to put a man on the moon. It's also the location where the first and last launches of NASA's space shuttle program occurred 30 years apart.
Now, it's home to SpaceX.
In 2014, the commercial launch company signed a lease with NASA to modify and control the complex for 20 years. Since then, it has been retrofitted to support launches of the company's Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets for crewed, cargo, and commercial payload missions.
SpaceX's first Commercial Crew Program mission lifted off from pad 39A on May 30, 2020, sending astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley to the International Space Station. Since then, SpaceX has flown seven other crewed missions for NASA from pad 39A as well as three privately funded astronaut missions of its own.
If all goes well, in the coming years, SpaceX aims to expand its launch operations at pad 39A to include its massive Starship Super Heavy rocket, intended for missions to the moon and one day to Mars. Construction to support infrastructure for those missions has been underway for years.
Launch Complex 39B - NASA Space Launch System rocket
NASA's Launch Complex 39B has also seen its fair share of historic missions, from the Saturn IB and Saturn V rockets to the space shuttle and Ares I-X vehicle of NASA's canceled Constellation program.
The first mission to liftoff from pad 39B was Apollo 10 on May 18, 1969. Now, it's the exclusive home to NASA's mega moon rocket, the 320-foot Space Launch System rocket designed to launch crewed Artemis missions to the moon.
The first Artemis mission lifted off on November 16, 2022. The Artemis I mission was an uncrewed test flight of NASA's Orion spacecraft, which propelled it around the moon and back, wrapping up with a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean.
Artemis II, the next in a series of increasingly complex missions, is slated to launch NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and the Canadian Space Agency's Jeremy Hansen on a flyby mission around the moon late next year.
If the Artemis II mission goes off without a hitch, NASA plans to launch the Artemis III moon landing mission about a year later, in December 2025. NASA has said one of those crew members will be a woman, making it the first time a woman is planned to set foot on the moon.
With Artemis, NASA spearheads the joint effort with its international and commercial partners to establish a sustained human presence on the lunar surface as a stepping stone on the path to Mars.
Cape Canaveral Space Force Station:
Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, located to the southeast of KSC, is controlled by the Department of Defense. It's operated by the Space Force's Space Launch Delta 45, which oversees all operations across the Eastern Range — a swath of land and sea that encompasses KSC and Cape Canaveral Space Force Station but also extends more than 10,000 miles from the Florida mainland through the South Atlantic and into the Indian Ocean.
The station's origins extend back to the Army's missile testing efforts in the 1940s. Permanent launch pads meant for orbital missions were built in the 1950s and 1960s, with many still standing today.
Commercial launch companies of all sizes now call Cape Canaveral Space Force Station home.
SpaceX, Blue Origin, and United Launch Alliance occupy pads along with Relativity Space and Space Florida. Newly reactivated launch sites have also been designated to account for up-and-coming companies Phantom Space, Vaya Space, Stoke Space, and ABL Space Systems.
Launch Complex 37B - United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket
United Launch Alliance leases Launch Complex 37 from the U.S. Space Force.
It was constructed in 1963 and used for uncrewed Apollo missions aboard Saturn I and IB rockets. Now, it's home to ULA's massive triple-core Delta IV Heavy rocket.
While previous iterations of rockets in the Delta family began launching from this pad in the early 2000s, they've all since been retired. Similarly, ULA is set to retire the Delta IV Heavy sometime next year in favor of the next-generation Vulcan Centaur rocket.
When the final flight of the Delta IV Heavy rocket with a classified payload for the National Reconnaissance Office does lift off, ULA is set to terminate its lease of Launch Complex 37 and return it to the Space Force. No plans have been released yet to reveal what's in store for the pad's future.
Launch Complex 40 - SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket
Currently, pad 40 is primarily used to launch SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket with batches of the company's Starlink internet satellite missions and other commercial satellites at a rate of nearly twice a week.
"In an effort to more efficiently use the space available at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, launch service providers will be launching and landing in their own complexes," Space Launch Delta 45 said in a statement to FLORIDA TODAY.
That means SpaceX will need to evolve its operations in the coming years.
The company is already in the process of transforming pad 40 into a facility that can simultaneously support launches and booster landings, a model that is operational in California at the company's Vandenberg Space Force Base launch and landing site.
Another change on the horizon for the Space Coast is that human spaceflight missions will soon be launching from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, something that hasn't happened in over five decades.
Along with eventually outfitting pad 40 to support booster landings, SpaceX teams are already in the process of constructing a crew access tower alongside the launch pad to support crewed missions.
Bill Gerstenmaier, SpaceX vice president for build and flight reliability, said in a pre-launch briefing last year, “It gives (SpaceX) some flexibility to move some things off (pad) 39A, which helps us balance launches off both pads."
He added that the company will first target to launch space station cargo resupply missions, then "add crew at the right time.”
Launch Complex 41 - United Launch Alliance Atlas V & Vulcan rockets
United Launch Alliance leases Launch Complex 41 from the Space Force at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
From pad 41, ULA flies its Atlas V family of rockets and is slated to use the same pad to launch the company's next generation of rocket called the Vulcan Centaur.
United Launch Alliance is set to join the crewed mission action from pad 41 when Boeing's long-delayed Starliner spacecraft is certified by NASA for crewed missions for launch aboard ULA's Atlas V rocket.
Speaking at the National Space Club Florida Committee luncheon on Sept. 12, NASA's Janet Petro, director of the Kennedy Space Center, said Starliner's CFT mission could "mark the first time since Apollo 7 from Launch Complex 34 in 1968 that humans have flown to space from Cape Canaveral."
Petro said that NASA is "very excited about that."
Launch Complex 16 - Relativity Space Terran 1 and Terran R rockets
Last year, Relativity Space, with about 60 full-time workers at its Florida launch site, transitioned Launch Complex 16 from a construction site to an operational launch pad.
"In a short timeframe and the small team we have, we put a lot of work together to get to where we're at right now," Lorenzo Locante, Relativity's lead launch engineer, told FLORIDA TODAY during an exclusive tour of the complex last year. "To be a part of this team has been an impressive part of my history and my life."
In March, the company launched its first 3D-printed Terran 1 rocket, though a problem with the second-stage engine resulted in it failing to reach orbit and tumbling back to Earth. After just one launch, Relativity turned its focus to a larger and more capable vehicle called Terran R.
Terran R will allow the company to better compete and fly larger satellites like those handled by SpaceX's Falcon 9 and United Launch Alliance's upcoming Vulcan. It will be powered by 13 Aeon engines and, standing at 270 feet tall will overshadow a SpaceX Falcon 9 by about 50 feet. It will also stand about 70 feet higher than ULA's upcoming Vulcan.
Though Relativity pegged the Terran R's debut for no earlier than 2026, it's more likely to fly sometime in the next five years.
Launch Complex 46 - Space Florida's multi-user launch facility
As a way to provide launch capability to as wide of a market as possible, Space Florida has fashioned Launch Complex 46 as a multi-user spaceport. The state's aerospace finance and development authority partnered with the U.S. Navy for control of the launch site in 1993.
Since then, according to Space Florida, "Over $6.8 million of commercial, federal, and state funds have been invested."
The facility is outfitted with a Mobile Access Structure, launch stand, and other infrastructure to allow commercial launch companies to essentially plug in their own hardware and launch within a few days' time. Virtually any company with a rocket smaller than 120 feet tall can launch from pad 46.
Last year, startup launch company Astra Space launched its 43-foot-tall Rocket 3.3 from pad 46 on a science mission for NASA. Other notable launches from the site include Orbital ATK’s launch of a Minotaur IV rocket in 2017 and a mock version of NASA's Orion capsule atop a former ballistic missile for the agency's ascent abort-2 test flight in 2019.
Reactivated and reserved launch pads:
According to Space Launch Delta 45, although Launch Complexes 13, 14, and 15 have been reactivated, they are still under development and considered reserved for future use by Phantom Space, Vaya Space, Stoke Space, and ABL Space Systems.
Phantom Space is an Arizona-based company that builds a family of small, reusable rockets to deliver in-house manufactured satellites. Vaya Space is a Space Coast-based startup working toward a future of sustainable launches with the production of a small hybrid rocket. ABL Space Systems, founded in 2017, is another small rocket startup based in California.
“Even with a new provider leasing a complex, they are not able to just move in and start making changes,” Thomas Penders, 45th Civil Engineer Squadron cultural resources manager, said in a May release. “There is a list of regulations that have to be followed and after launch providers submit plans, a consultation and review is done.”
Such is the case with Launch Complex 36, which is controlled by Space Florida but is now leased for use by Blue Origin.
Launch Complex 36 - Blue Origin New Glenn rocket
Launch Complex 36 is considered an inactive but reserved pad. Blue Origin, which has contracted the use of pad 36 from Space Florida, has revitalized the site to support future launches of its heavy-class New Glenn rocket.
Blue Origins's New Glenn rocket will bring new competition to the heavy-lift market currently dominated by SpaceX and ULA. It's slated to begin operation from the Space Coast sometime next year. At 320 feet tall, the partially reusable rocket that's expected to propel massive payloads beyond low Earth orbit and land vertically for recovery will rival SpaceX's Starship system and NASA's SLS.
According to Space Florida, "Launch Complex 36 was home to dozens of successful Atlas-Centaur launches from the early sixties and was decommissioned in 2007."
Since then, Blue Origin says it has spent "more than $1 billion to rebuild the launch site from the ground up."
In addition to the refurbished launch pad, Blue Origin has built new vehicle integration, first stage refurbishment, and propellant facilities, as well as an environmental control center at the site.
Launch Complexes of the future: LC-13, LC-14 and LC-15
Launch Complex 13 is currently the site of twin pads that SpaceX uses as landing zones for its Falcon 9 boosters. Once SpaceX's lease with Space Launch Delta 45 expires, the dual launch pads will be turned over to Phantom Space and Vaya Space.
Stoke Space will take control of Launch Complex 14 once refurbishment is completed.
Julia Black, director of range operations at Stoke Space, said in a release in May, “To be trusted with the reactivation of the historic Launch Complex 14 is an honor, and we look forward to adding to its well distinguished accomplishments for America’s space program,"
Launch Complex 15 will need extensive refurbishment in order to become the dedicated home of ABL Space Systems and its RS1 rocket, which only has one unsuccessful launch from Kodiak Island, Alaska, under its belt.
In a post to social media in March, the company said that it aims to begin launching RS1 from Space Florida's pad 46 later this year until pad restoration is completed at LC-15.
“This first round of launch pad allocations was focused on small class vehicles,” U.S. Space Force Col. Mark Shoemaker, SLD 45 Vice Commander for operations, said in a release, saying "opening our gates" to new companies will help build the nation's space industrial base.
The coming years will see the competition for launch space both on the ground and on the Eastern Range's calendar grow.
As new companies settle in and a whole new class of launch vehicles set up for their shot to fly as early as next year, the intense pace of launches from the Space Coast is likely to continue.
Here's where to catch the best launch and landing views
Opportunities to catch the best views of a launch (or landing) are plenty along the Space Coast, but some locations offer better chances to see and feel the fun.
Liftoffs from Kennedy Space Center are best viewed from places north or west of the space center, including Playalinda Beach, the Max Brewer Bridge, or anywhere along the riverside in Titusville.
Launches from the Cape and SpaceX booster landings are best viewed from the south. The most popular sites include Jetty Park, Port Canaveral, Cherie Down Park, and anywhere beachside.
One location that will no longer be available to spectators as of Nov. 1 is Cape Canaveral Space Force Station's South Gate launch viewing site. Space Launch Delta 45 announced in October that it would permanently close because of increased concerns over public safety following several serious vehicle crashes in the vicinity and a significant increase in launch frequency.
The coming years will see the competition for launch space both on the ground and on the Eastern Range's calendar grow.
As new companies settle in and a whole new class of launch vehicles set up for their shot to fly as early as next year, the intense pace of launches from the Space Coast is likely to continue.
Jamie Groh is a space reporter for FLORIDA TODAY, follow her on X at @AlteredJamie.
Former space editor Emre Kelly contributed to this story before departing FLORIDA TODAY.
This article originally appeared on Florida Today: SpaceX, Blue Origin, ULA: A guide to launch pads, rockets in Florida
