Space Coast Gears Up for Record 74 Rocket Launches in 2024, Led by SpaceX and ULA
October 30, 2024The year 2024 will feature 5 human spaceflights, including Axiom Space's Ax-3 and SpaceX's Crew-8 missions.
On October 30, 2024, SpaceX's Falcon 9 successfully launched 23 Starlink satellites, marking its 69th launch from the Space Coast this year.
Looking ahead, the Intuitive Machines IM-2 mission is scheduled for late 2024 or early 2025, focusing on demonstrating resource utilization on the Moon.
NASA's Artemis II mission is slated for September 2025, aiming to send four crew members on a lunar orbital mission from Kennedy Space Center.
Following Artemis II, NASA plans for Artemis III in 2026, which aims to achieve a lunar landing with four crew members.
In 2024, the Space Coast is set to conduct a remarkable 74 launches, with 56 planned from Cape Canaveral and 18 from Kennedy Space Center.
Among the upcoming launches in November 2024 are SpaceX's Falcon 9 missions for CRS-31 and Starlink 6-69, which come with multiple backup dates.
Of the total launches planned for 2024, SpaceX dominates the schedule with 69 missions, including 67 Falcon 9 and 2 Falcon Heavy launches, while United Launch Alliance (ULA) will contribute 5 launches.
Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket is anticipated to launch its first certification flight in November 2024, although payloads have been delayed from December to possibly November 30, 2024.
ULA's Vulcan Centaur rocket is expected to conduct its first Department of Defense missions in the latter half of 2024, pending successful certification flights.
By early 2025, SpaceX plans to launch Crew-10 and Fram2 private human spaceflight missions, which will include the first polar orbital mission with a crew.
Summary based on 1 source
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Source
Orlando Sentinel • Oct 30, 2024
Space Coast launch schedule