Halfway to a hundred: The 50th orbital rocket launch of 2025 from Florida’s Space Coast streaked across the morning sky Friday, June 13th, maintaining this year’s unprecedented pace thus far.
SpaceX sent up the Friday-the-13th Falcon 9 rocket at 11:29 a.m. from Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, lifting another 23 Starlink broadband satellites into low-Earth orbit.
Last year, 93 rockets launched from the Brevard County Space Force installation and NASA’s neighboring Kennedy Space Center, setting an all-time annual record.
But for comparison’s sake, this year’s cadence is outpacing last year’s by 3½ weeks. The 50th launch of 2024 did not occur until July 8. That’s when SpaceX crews launched the Türksat 6A communications satellite atop a Falcon 9 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 first-stage booster notched its 21st flight during the June 13 launch, adding to its lengthy mission list: Crew-6, SES O3b mPOWER-B, USSF-124, Bluebird 1-5 and 16 previous Starlink missions. SpaceX’s ability to reuse rocket boosters has driven its launch prices down, transforming the industry.
Following stage separation, the booster descended and landed on the SpaceX drone ship A Shortfall of Gravitas in the Atlantic Ocean.
SpaceX Ax-4, Starship updates this week
A different Falcon 9 was initially scheduled to launch Axiom Space’s fourth crew of private astronauts earlier this week from KSC to the International Space Station.
However, a liquid oxygen leak that was identified during post-static fire booster inspections — coupled with a leak on the Russian side of the ISS — thwarted this week’s launch attempts. No new date has been scheduled.
“We’ll continue to work closely with @NASA and @Axiom_Space to determine the best launch opportunity for Dragon and the Ax-4 crew to the @Space_Station,” a June 12 SpaceX tweet said.
Space Coast space fans remain buzzing about the June 12 demolition operation that knocked down United Launch Alliance’s towers and infrastructure at Launch Complex 37 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
Next, SpaceX officials plan to build new launch pads, landing pads and surrounding infrastructure to start launching Starship-Super Heavy rocket systems from LC-37 as soon as next year, pending regulatory approvals.
SpaceX targeting June 18 for Starlink launch
Per a National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency navigational advisory, SpaceX will target another Starlink mission during early morning hours Wednesday, June 18. The company has yet to publicly announce this liftoff. More details:
Click here to sign up for our weekly Space newsletter. Rick Neale is a Space Reporter at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Neale at Rneale@floridatoday.com. Twitter/X: @RickNeale1
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This article originally appeared on Florida Today: SpaceX launches 50th rocket of 2025 from Florida’s Space Coast, maintaining record pace
Reporting by Rick Neale, Florida Today / Florida Today
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
