technology
SpaceX Shifts Focus to Starship Over Falcon 9 at California Launch Site
SpaceX plans to reduce Falcon 9 launches in 2026 as it transitions resources to the larger Starship vehicle. Vandenberg Space Force Base in California has become the company's busiest launch site so far this year. The move supports ambitions for lunar landings, Mars missions, orbital data centers and upgraded Starlink satellites.
May 6, 6:28 PM·3m read2 sources
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SpaceX conducted 165 launches with its Falcon 9 rocket last year but plans only about 140 to 145 this year as the company shifts focus to its much larger Starship vehicle. The decline marks the first drop in Falcon 9 launch numbers in years even though the rocket remains fully operational and in demand.
SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell told Time earlier this year that launches would tail off as Starship comes online. The changes are most visible at Cape Canaveral in Florida where SpaceX has historically launched the majority of its rockets. Launch Complex-39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center has transitioned primarily to Starship and occasional Falcon Heavy flights with the first such Heavy mission in 18 months occurring last week.
Activity has also slowed at the nearby Space Launch Complex-40. SpaceX retired one of its two Florida-based droneships last month to repurpose it for transporting Starships and Super Heavy boosters from Texas to Florida. The remaining vessel can support a launch and recovery every four days but such rapid turnarounds have become uncommon at the site.
Vandenberg has handled more than half of all SpaceX launches so far this year compared with less than 40 percent last year. The California site can support Falcon 9 launches from the same pad every three to four days making it the company's busiest launch location for now.
Sources indicate this trend will continue through the year potentially allowing Vandenberg to surpass combined Florida spaceport activity.
The Falcon 9 will remain in service at least until the International Space Station retires which is now unlikely before 2032. Both the Space Force and NASA continue to rely on the vehicle and its Dragon capsule for crew and cargo transport into the 2030s.
