Space Coast hits 100th launch of 2025 as pace accelerates

Space Coast hits 100th launch of 2025 as pace accelerates

The Space Coast logged its 100th launch of the year with SpaceX’s latest Starlink mission, reflecting a rapidly growing flight cadence.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - The Space Coast is on track for a record-setting year, with Thursday night’s SpaceX mission marking the 100th launch from Florida in 2025. 

A Falcon 9 rocket carried nearly 30 Starlink satellites, adding to a rapid launch cadence driven largely by SpaceX’s reusable boosters.

Starlink mission marks 100th launch

The backstory:

Thursday's mission was SpaceX's 100th launch this year.

This mission was the 23rd flight for the first stage booster supporting this mission, which previously launched five other Ax-2, Euclid, Ax-3, CRS-30, SES ASTRA 1P, NG-21, and 16 Starlink missions.

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Satellites deployed about an hour and four minutes into the mission. 

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Following stage separation, the first stage landed on the Just Read the Instructions droneship, which was stationed in the Atlantic Ocean, SpaceX said. 

SpaceX's launch marks 100th mission from Florida in 2025

SpaceX launched 29 Starlink satellites into low-Earth orbit on Thursday night. The launch took place around 10:20 p.m. from NASA's Kennedy Space Center.

‘Brings a lot of jobs’

What they're saying:

Dr. Ken Kremer, a research scientist and founder of Space UpClose, said the milestone reflects how dramatically launch activity has grown. 

"The significance is the ever-increasing launch cadence over the past few years, primarily due to SpaceX," he said.

Kremer noted that the company’s ability to reuse first-stage boosters—some flown up to 30 times—continues to accelerate operations. SpaceX aims to push that reuse to as many as 40 flights per booster.

The pace of launches is expected to rise even further, Kremer said, as more companies bring reusable rockets to the market. 

"Sometimes we have them just a few hours apart," he said, pointing to two launches last week that lifted off just 3½ hours apart, the second-closest spacing on record. "So we're going to have more launches because we have these new companies now."

As more commercial space firms set up shop along the Space Coast, Kremer said the region will see continued economic benefits. 

"People have to assemble those rockets, assemble those components, launch them, recover them, and that all brings a lot of jobs… in Brevard County, but also throughout Florida, and then especially throughout the whole country," he said, adding that investment in science and technology must remain a priority.