The World's Busiest Spaceport Is About To Get a Lot Quieter, At Least For Now
SpaceX is significantly reducing Falcon 9 launches from Florida this year, ending the Space Coast's decade-long run as the world's busiest spaceport as more missions shift to Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. The slowdown is expected to continue until Starship begins flying regularly from Florida. Longtime Slashdot reader schwit1 shares a report from Ars Technica: A Falcon 9 launch early…
The world's busiest spaceport, once centered around Florida's Space Coast, is set to become quieter as SpaceX significantly reduces Falcon 9 launches from Cape Canaveral this year. In a shift, more missions will transition to Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. This change is expected to persist until Starship begins regular flights from Florida.
SpaceX's vice president of launch, Kiko Dontchev, revealed that the last planned Starlink mission from Cape Canaveral occurred early Tuesday, with the launch rate at the Florida spaceport dropping from eight or nine per month to possibly two per month for the remainder of the year. This marks a stark contrast to the decade-long run when Cape Canaveral and Kennedy Space Center jointly held the title of the world's busiest spaceport.
SpaceX's plans to construct a new Starship launch facility in Vermilion Parish, Louisiana, could soon change this narrative, with the facility anticipated to support thousands of launches annually starting in 2029.
Written by urgent.news from Slashdot's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
