The Falcon Heavy that roared off the Cape on August 30, carrying NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, wasn't just another milestone launch — it was something of a farewell to Florida's recent pace of liftoffs. Florida's Space Coast, which set a record with 109 rocket launches in 2025, is now looking at a notably quieter stretch heading into fall 2026, with fewer than 60 launches logged so far this year.
SpaceX's workhorse Falcon 9 had been the engine behind Florida's record run, accounting for 101 of those 109 launches last year, largely through twice-weekly Starlink satellite missions. But the company has now shifted all Starlink flights on the Falcon 9 to Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. The reason: SpaceX plans to dedicate its Florida launch sites to the massive Starship rocket, which could begin flying from Kennedy Space Center's Pad 39A by the end of the year. Barge deliveries of Starship hardware from Texas to Port Canaveral have already been spotted multiple times. The next Florida Falcon 9 launch, NASA's Crew-13 mission carrying three astronauts and one cosmonaut to the International Space Station, has itself been delayed due to an oxidizer leak, with no new target date announced yet.
Other launch providers have run into their own setbacks. United Launch Alliance's Vulcan rocket has been grounded most of the year following a solid rocket booster mishap in February, and no return-to-flight date has been set. Meanwhile, a late-May explosion at Blue Origin's Launch Complex 36 — caused by a faulty liquid oxygen valve on a BE-4 engine — destroyed the pad while crews were preparing New Glenn for its fourth flight. Teams are working to restore the facility by year's end, with a second pad, Launch Complex 36B, expected to come online afterward. Notably, Vulcan's core stage uses the same BE-4 engine model, adding another layer of uncertainty to that program's timeline.
The bigger picture, though, is one of transition rather than decline. Starship's arrival at Florida launch sites would be a transformational moment for the Space Coast, given the rocket's role in SpaceX's Starlink expansion, AI satellite plans, Mars ambitions, and NASA's Artemis lunar lander program. The Space Force is also evaluating Starship for defense payloads and even point-to-point Earth transportation. Smaller companies like Relativity and Stoke Space are also preparing to debut from Cape Canaveral, with Relativity currently on a major hiring push for a larger Space Coast operation.
This report is based on coverage by Brooke Edwards for Florida Today.
