CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – The era of Falcon 9 Starlink launches from Florida’s Space Coast ended Tuesday morning, and the man who runs SpaceX’s launch operations made sure nobody missed it.
A Falcon 9 lifted off from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 5:33 a.m. EDT carrying 29 Starlink satellites, a routine-looking mission on a coastline that has watched hundreds of them. It was not routine. SpaceX Vice President of Launch Kiko Dontchev announced on X that it was the last planned Falcon 9 Starlink flight from the state.
“From here on, Starlink missions out of Florida will fly on Starship,” Dontchev wrote. He added that the West Coast team will keep launching Starlink regularly from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.
Seven Years, Roughly 260 Missions
Dontchev said about 260 Starlink missions have flown from Cape Canaveral since the first one on May 23, 2019. That cadence is the engine that turned Brevard County into the busiest spaceport on Earth, driving record launch years, filling hotel rooms along A1A, and sending a steady stream of recovered boosters into Port Canaveral.
The final Florida Falcon 9 Starlink flight carried its own milestone. The first stage, tail number B1067, made a record-breaking 37th flight after entering service in June 2021. The booster has flown NASA cargo runs, the Crew-3 and Crew-4 astronaut missions, and commercial satellites for operators including Turksat, Eutelsat, SES and Koreasat, along with 26 Starlink missions. It returned to the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas in the Atlantic.
SpaceX confirmed satellite deployment at 7:18 a.m. EDT. The 29 spacecraft joined a low Earth orbit constellation that now exceeds 11,000 satellites.
The Work Moved West, and Then Up
The shift has been building for months. Of the 76 Starlink missions SpaceX has flown this year, 44 launched from Vandenberg, and the company’s Cape Canaveral workforce has been redirected toward Starship preparations.
That redirection is visible from the Beachline. SpaceNews reported that the Federal Aviation Administration released a final environmental impact statement and record of decision on Jan. 30 approving Starship launches and landings at Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39A. The approval covers as many as 44 Starship and Super Heavy launches per year from the pad.
SpaceX has moved nearly all of its Florida Falcon 9 flights, including every Dragon mission, to Space Launch Complex 40, freeing LC-39A for Falcon Heavy and the company’s first Starship launches. Crews have been finishing the launch mount, flame trench, deluge system and catch tower at 39A while the Gigabay assembly building rises on Roberts Road, with additional work advancing at Space Launch Complex 37.
What This Means for Brevard
Falcon 9 is not leaving. Crew and cargo flights to the International Space Station, national security payloads, commercial communications satellites and Falcon Heavy missions all still fly from the Cape and Kennedy Space Center. What changes is the drumbeat.
Starlink was the filler that kept pads busy between marquee missions, sometimes launching twice in a week from the same complex. Removing that workhorse from the Florida manifest will thin out the calendar in the near term, and residents who have grown used to a rocket every few days may notice the quiet.
The tradeoff is scale. A single Starship can carry far more Starlink hardware per flight than a Falcon 9, and SpaceX is betting that a lower launch count from Florida ultimately means more satellites, more jobs and more infrastructure on the Space Coast. Space Launch Delta 45 officials have spent the past year preparing the Eastern Range to support the vehicle.
For now, the Space Coast closes a chapter that started with a single stack of flat-packed satellites in May 2019 and ended with a booster on its 37th trip to space.
“Super proud of this incredible team,” Dontchev wrote, crediting them with making Falcon 9 the most reliable launch vehicle in history.
The Space Coast Rocket will continue covering Starship’s arrival at Kennedy Space Center and what it means for Brevard County. Follow us for launch coverage and Space Coast news.
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