SpaceX dials back Falcon 9 cadence as Starship takes over the manifest

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 launch rate is starting to ease off after years of relentless growth. The company flew 165 Falcon 9 missions in 2025, up from 134 in 2024 and 96 in 2023, but president Gwynne Shotwell is now guiding to roughly 140-145 Falcon launches in 2026 with a continued tail-off as Starship comes online. The pullback is strategic, not operational — SpaceX wants to redirect resources toward the larger vehicle that underpins its Moon, Mars, orbital data center, and next-gen Starlink ambitions.

The shift is visible on the ground at Cape Canaveral. Launch Complex-39A at Kennedy Space Center is being converted for Starship and has been pulled from the routine Falcon 9 rotation, though it remains available for the occasional Falcon Heavy. Activity at SLC-40, SpaceX’s older Florida pad, is also slowing, and one of two Florida-based droneships has been retired from booster recovery to instead ferry Starship hardware from Texas to Florida ahead of a planned second Starship factory at Kennedy.