SpaceX to Shift Florida Starlink Falcon 9 Launches to Starship, Plans New Louisiana Spaceport
SpaceX will cease Falcon 9 Starlink launches from Florida, moving those missions to Starship and relocating Falcon 9 operations to California, while announcing a large launch complex in Louisiana.
SpaceX announced that its final Falcon 9 launch of Starlink satellites from Florida took place today, carrying 29 satellites. The company said future Starlink missions will be launched on its heavy-lift Starship vehicle, with Falcon 9 flights shifting to Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.
"From here on, Starlink missions out of Florida will fly on Starship," said Kiko Dontchev, SpaceX vice president of launch.
Dontchev noted that Falcon 9 has conducted roughly 260 Starlink missions from Cape Canaveral over seven years, contributing to a constellation that exceeded 11,000 satellites this month. The shift aims to use Starship’s larger payload capacity for the newer V3 gigabit satellites, which SpaceX plans to place into operational orbit on an upcoming Starship test flight.
Elon Musk added that reallocating engineering and production resources to Starship is intended to increase launch frequency to several flights per day, eventually reducing reliance on Falcon 9.
In a separate announcement, SpaceX revealed plans to build a new launch site, dubbed Starbase, on the Louisiana Gulf Coast. Construction is expected to begin next year, with the first Starship launches targeted for 2029. The facility is projected to support dozens of launch towers and more than 30 Starship flights per day, positioning it as the largest launch complex globally.
Analysts have expressed concern that the transition could create a short-term gap in launch capacity for U.S. and commercial satellite operators, given that Starship remains in testing and has not yet completed a full orbital flight.