Florida’s Space Coast — home of NASA’s Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Space Force Station — remains the reigning rocket launch capital of the world.
Last year ushered in a new annual record of 109 orbital launches, with SpaceX’s workhorse Falcon 9 rockets accounting for 101 of those missions. How high will Florida’s launch total climb during 2026?
Following is an updating list of this year’s launches thus far from the Cape. For the latest mission updates and industry news from FLORIDA TODAY’s Space Team, visit floridatoday.com/space.
1. SpaceX Starlink 6-88
After the bar was set at at unprecedented 109 launches last year, the rumble returned when a SpaceX Falcon 9 lifted off Jan. 4 from Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on the first Starlink mission of 2026.
2. SpaceX Starlink 6-96
As a huge smoke plume rose from a 1,400-acre prescribed burn at the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 Jan. 9 on a Starlink mission from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
3. SpaceX Starlink 6-97
After multiple delays, Florida’s third rocket of 2026 took off at 4:08 p.m. Jan. 12 from Launch Complex 40 in Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket delivered 29 of the company’s Starlink internet satellites to orbit.
4. SpaceX Starlink 6-98
A SpaceX Falcon 9 deployed 29 Starlink satellites into low-Earth orbit after launching at 1:08 p.m. Jan. 14, from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. No Brevard County sonic booms occurred. Rather, after soaring to the southeast, the rocket’s first-stage booster landed aboard the SpaceX drone ship A Shortfall of Gravitas in the Atlantic Ocean.
5. SpaceX Starlink 6-100
SpaceX crews launched a Falcon 9 rocket at 6:31 p.m. Jan. 18, a few hours after high winds swept across Cape Canaveral Space Force Station with a strong cold front. The National Weather Service had reported an afternoon wind gust of 61 mph — the fastest in Brevard County — at a measuring station mounted to a tower at pad 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center.
6. SpaceX GPS III-9
After unfavorable weather postponed a previous launch attempt, SpaceX crews successfully sent a Falcon 9 rocket into flight on a national security mission just before midnight Jan. 27 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The 11:53 p.m. launch propelled the Space Force’s GPS III-9 satellite into medium-Earth orbit from Launch Complex 40.
7. SpaceX Starlink 6-101
SpaceX targeted 2:22 a.m. Jan. 30 for liftoff of a Falcon 9 rocket carrying 29 Starlink internet satellites into low-Earth orbit from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The Space Force’s 45th Weather Squadron had predicted a 95% chance of “go for launch” weather, and the rocket launched under fair skies with 10-mile visibility.
8. United Launch Alliance Vulcan USSF-87
ULA’s Vulcan rocket lifted off on its fourth mission at 4:22 a.m. Feb. 12 from Launch Complex 41 in Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. An anomaly was seen in one of the solid rocket boosters, but the payload made it to orbit without issue. The mission, USSF-87, was a spacecraft for the Space Force headed for geosynchronous orbit.
9. NASA’s SpaceX Crew-12
The four Crew-12 astronauts lifted off at 5:15 a.m. Feb. 13 aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon Freedom spacecraft for an eight-month stay aboard the International Space Station.
10. SpaceX Starlink 6-103
After thunderstorms and rainfall drenched Cape Canaveral Space Force Station for hours, SpaceX successfully launched a 2:59 a.m. Falcon 9 rocket on Feb. 16 — colorfully illuminating thin, low-lying clouds above Florida’s Space Coast. The Falcon 9 delivered another batch of 29 Starlink broadband satellites into low-Earth orbit.
11. SpaceX Starlink 10-36
As clouds rolled into the Space Coast, a SpaceX Falcon 9 took off from Cape Canaveral on a Caribbean getaway − heading for SpaceX’s second booster landing off the coast of The Bahamas. The 8:41 p.m. Feb. 19 liftoff let off a loud rumble as the rocket sailed down the Florida coast.
12. SpaceX Starlink 6-104
SpaceX launched its fleet-leading booster on its 33rd flight, sending a batch of 28 Starlink satellites to orbit. The liftoff occurred at 10:47 p.m. Feb. 21 from Launch Complex 40 in Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
13. SpaceX Starlink 6-110
On a cold Florida evening, SpaceX launched its next batch of 29 Starlink satellites. The launch occurred 6:04 p.m. from Launch Complex 40 in Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
14. SpaceX Starlink 6-108
The gray morning fog was so thick that even SpaceX’s close-range webcast video cameras barely revealed footage of the Falcon 9. But the rocket bolted from Launch Complex 40 at 7:16 a.m. Friday, Feb. 27, lifting 29 more Starlink satellites into low-Earth orbit from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
15. SpaceX Starlink 10-41
The 15th orbital rocket launch of the year thus far from Florida’s Space Coast took place at 9:56 p.m. March 1 when a SpaceX Falcon 9 lifted off on a Starlink mission from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
16. SpaceX Starlink 10-40
Space Coast photographers captured a visual “jellyfish” spectacle minutes after SpaceX’s latest launch: the colorfully illuminated plume of the Falcon 9 rocket’s exhaust expanding across the predawn sky. The Falcon 9 lifted off at 5:52 a.m. March 4, from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on the memorable Starlink 10-40 mission.
17. SpaceX EchoStar XXV
Early Tuesday, March 10, SpaceX launched the EchoStar XXV mission − a broadcast satellite for Dish. Liftoff was an hour delayed, finally occurring at 12:19 a.m. from Launch Complex 40 in Cape Canaveral.
18. SpaceX Starlink 10-48
On Pi Day, Saturday, March 14, SpaceX launched its latest batch of 29 Starlink satellites from Florida. Liftoff occurred at 8:37 a.m. from Launch Complex 40 in Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
19. SpaceX Starlink 10-46
Kicking off St. Patrick’s Day, SpaceX crews launched a Falcon 9 rocket a couple of hours after sunrise amid cloudy skies and chilling northwesterly winds from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. SpaceX’s 10-46 Starlink mission lifted off at 9:27 a.m. March 17 from Launch Complex 40.
20. SpaceX Starlink 10-33
At 10:20 a.m. on Thursday, March 19, SpaceX launched a rocket, yet it went unseen by most due to weather. The mission was a batch of 29 Starlink satellites.
21. SpaceX Starlink 10-62
Brilliant morning sunshine accentuated SpaceX’s latest Falcon 9 launch from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. SpaceX’s Starlink 10-62 mission — which lifted off at 10:47 a.m. March 22 — clocked in as the 21st orbital rocket launch of 2026 from the military installation and NASA’s adjacent Kennedy Space Center.
22. SpaceX Starlink 10-44
SpaceX launched the Starlink 10-44 mission at 5:15 p.m. March 30 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, notching yet another liftoff for its fleet-leading first-stage Falcon 9 rocket booster. The booster concluded its 34th flight by landing atop the SpaceX drone ship Just Read the Instructions in the Atlantic Ocean, less than 8½ minutes after zooming beyond Brevard County on a northeasterly trajectory.
23. NASA Artemis II
Towering taller than the Statue of Liberty, NASA’s 322-foot Space Launch System rocket — featuring an orange core stage flanked by twin white solid rocket boosters — rumbled skyward off pad 39B against a blue backdrop at 6:35 p.m. April 1 at Kennedy Space Center while throngs of spectators watched across Florida’s Space Coast.
24. SpaceX Starlink 10-58
On the heels of NASA’s immense Artemis II moon rocket launch, SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket shortly after sunrise at 7:55 a.m. April 2, from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on a Starlink broadband satellite mission.
25. ULA Amazon Leo 5
A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket launched 29 Amazon Leo broadband satellites into low-Earth orbit amid excellent weather conditions April 4 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The Atlas V — which was outfitted with five solid rocket boosters for extra lifting power — rumbled off the pad at 1:46 a.m. from Launch Complex 41.
26. SpaceX/NASA Northrop Grumman NG-24
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched 7:41 a.m. Saturday, April 11 from Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station sending a Northrop Grumman Cygnus XL spacecraft to the International Space Station. The launch brought a sonic boom as the booster returned to Landing Zone 40.
27. SpaceX Starlink 10-24
SpaceX launched the 27th orbital rocket of 2026 from Florida’s Space Coast before dawn on April 14. The Falcon 9 lifted off the pad at 5:33 a.m. at Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
28. Blue Origin NG-3
Blue Origin launched its third-ever New Glenn heavy-lift rocket on the heels of a picturesque sunrise April 19 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, lifting AST SpaceMobile’s BlueBird 7 satellite into low-Earth orbit. After rumbling skyward to the east-southeast after the 7:25 a.m. liftoff, the rocket’s first-stage booster Never Tell Me the Odds stuck a second straight landing on Blue Origin’s drone ship Jacklyn hundreds of miles downrange in the Atlantic Ocean.
For the latest news and launch schedule from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, visit floridatoday.com/space. Another easy way: 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: Here’s the list of all 2026 rocket launches from Cape Canaveral, Florida
Reporting by Rick Neale and Brooke Edwards, Florida Today / Florida Today
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
