SpaceX knocks out 50th launch on Space Coast this year

Richard Tribou, Orlando Sentinel on Aug 5, 2026

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A predawn launch by SpaceX on the Space Coast marked the 50th from Florida in 2026.

A Falcon 9 rocket a mission to deploy the BlueBird 11, 12 and 13 satellites for AST SpaceMobile took flight from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 lifting off at 3:49 a.m.

The first-stage booster for this mission made its 30th trip to space and made a recovery landing downrange on the dronehsip A Shortfall of Gravitas stationed in the Atlantic.

It’s the latest booster to reach the 30-launch mark as SpaceX aims to be able to fly them at least 40 times.

The record holder has 36 missions under its belt so far.

SpaceX has flown 43 of the 50 missions in Florida with the other seven coming from United Launch Alliance, Blue Origin and NASA.

ULA has flown five times including one Vulcan launch and four Atlas V rockets. It’s uncertain when it will try to fly again, as it’s still working through fixes to the Vulcan rocket seen on it last launch. Also, its six remaining Atlas V rockets are all set aside to fly Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft, which is also in the middle of fixes with an uncertain launch date.

Blue Origin flew its New Glenn once, but cannot fly again until it gets a new launch pad at Canaveral’s Launch Complex 36, which was damaged in a massive explosion earlier this year.

And NASA flew its Space Launch System rocket one time on the Artemis II mission, but is not slated to fly again until at least mid 2027 on Artemis III.

SpaceX meanwhile has shifted Falcon 9 launches to fly just from Canaveral’s SLC-40 and leave its pad at Kennedy Space Center’s Space Launch Complex 39-A for just Falcon Heavy missions.

Only one of its powerhouse rocket, which is essentially three Falcon 9 rockets strapped together, has flown this year. But its next mission, carrying NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, is tapped to launch as early as the end of this month.

The limited launch demands at KSC has allowed SpaceX to continue work on its new Starship and Super Heavy launch tower adjacent the Falcon Heavy pad at 39-A.

For now, launches of the in-development rocket have only been made from Texas, but SpaceX is looking to have the KSC tower ready to host the massive rocket’s first launch before the end of the year.

SpaceX is also working on the first of two more launch towers to be constructed at Canaveral’s Space Launch Complex 37, which previously launched ULA’s now-retired Delta IV Heavy rockets.

Hitting 50 launches this year is at a slower pace than was set in both 2024 and 2025.

Last year, the 50th orbital launch from missions flown by all providers came on June 13. The year ended up with a record 109 missions, besting the 93 flown in 2024.

That year had its 50th mission on July 8.

With ULA and Blue Origin not adding to the launch tally and NASA’s SLS not launching again until 2027, the pace of launches on the Space Coast means 2026 will likely end with less missions than the previous two years.

This may mark a lull before even more launch providers join the lineup from Florida as Relativity Space and Stoke Space continue to build out their sites on Cape Canaveral and could see their new rockets’ first missions flown next year.

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