The company, founded by Elon Musk in 2002, has become the world’s leading commercial launch provider, flying astronauts, satellites and cargo at an unprecedented rate. Its Falcon 9 rockets are currently launching every two days on average, with more than 100 flights expected out of Florida alone this year.
But SpaceX says the real breakthrough will come with Starship, its next-generation heavy-lift rocket designed for full reusability and rapid turnaround. To support such a cadence, SpaceX is investing heavily in infrastructure upgrades, including new propellant production facilities, improved power and wastewater systems, and enhanced monitoring tools at Cape Canaveral and Kennedy Space Center.
The vision is to run launch sites like airports: multiple providers, multiple launches per day and minimal disruption to aviation, shipping and the surrounding community. SpaceX points to its coordination with NASA, the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the US Space Force as proof the model can work.
“Falcon rockets are flying every couple of days from Florida while other operators continue their normal missions,” the company said. “We’ve even stood down to allow others to launch first, like an aircraft waiting for its turn on the runway.”
Safety remains a major focus. Every launch requires clearing surrounding air, land and sea areas, but SpaceX says it has steadily reduced those zones as rockets prove their reliability. Falcon 9 now has minimal impact on air traffic and new data from Starship test flights is helping regulators refine safety buffers for rockets fuelled by liquid oxygen and methane.
Historically, authorities relied on overly conservative safety zones because there was little hard data on methane-fuelled systems. SpaceX has spent years testing at its Texas facility and in live Starship flights, providing what it calls “physics-based yield calculations” to set more accurate exclusion areas. The company has shared this data with NASA, the FAA and the US military to shape future standards.
Starship’s rapid fuelling process – less than an hour – and SpaceX’s close work with the FAA to reopen affected airspace within minutes of launch are central to the push for higher cadence. During Starship’s 10th test flight earlier this year, all restricted airspace was reopened within 10 minutes.
The stakes are high. America has only a handful of viable orbital launch sites, and Cape Canaveral is the only one with access to a full range of orbits needed for science, commercial and defence missions. With demand for launches surging, national policy calls for an expanded commercial space sector to support NASA’s Artemis program, military requirements and economic growth.
“Spaceports can no longer operate with slow, cumbersome procedures,” SpaceX said. “With planning, coordination and modern safety methods, launches can become as frequent and seamless as flights from major airports.”