CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – On New Year’s Eve, a Falcon 9 rocket brought to a close the most prolific year ever for launches here.
The 93 rocket launches that took off in 2024 shattered 2023′s record of 72.
A brand-new rocket was one of the first launches of the year in 2024 (ULA’s Vulcan Centaur), and it now looks like the same could be true for 2025.
An aerospace advisory from the FAA suggests Blue Origin’s New Glenn could make its flight debut on Florida’s Space Coast as soon as Monday.
An aerospace student talked to News 6 reporter James Sparvero last week about more competition entering the commercial space sector.
Of the 93 launches over the last 12 months, only five were not SpaceX rockets.
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“Technology can’t really progress if there’s just one big company like holding the industry hostage, you know,” Sam Bencid Santana said.
Also in January, with soon-to-be President Trump’s inauguration, private astronaut Jared Isaacman — who made the first commercial spacewalk during Polaris Dawn — will replace Bill Nelson as NASA administrator.
NASA’s interests in the new year include watching the continuing development of SpaceX’s Starship so the largest rocket ever can be ready to land astronauts on the moon, now expected for 2027, and finally bring home NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams.
Wilmore and Williams were the first crew of Boeing’s Starliner, which because of all its issues, NASA didn’t take the risk of ending their test flight to the International Space Station as planned and brought the capsule back without the crew.
Now, the plan is for the stuck astronauts to come home on a SpaceX capsule in March or April.
Williams, who grew up in Massachusetts, made an off-the-cuff comment about finally coming home when she talked to a New England sports channel in November.
“I have my Patriots shirt while I’m up here and stuff like that, as well. I have a Red Sox spring training. Hopefully, I’ll be home before that happens, but you never know,” she said.
But while the two astronauts ring in 2025 in space, down here, a nearly $2 billion project is about to start.
Space Florida said Project Hinton will create about 600 local jobs, paying around six figures.
The details of the project are not known to the public, but construction is expected to start next month.
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