SpaceX launch marks the start of a busy December on the Space Coast

The Space Coast's remarkable 2025 launch streak continued early Monday with a Falcon 9 mission carrying 29 Starlink satellites. The rocket lifted off from Kennedy Space Center's Launch Pad 39-A at 2:44 a.m., marking the first of at least five scheduled launches on the Space Coast in the coming two weeks.

This flight used a first-stage booster on its fourth trip, which successfully returned to the droneship Just Read the Instructions stationed in the Atlantic Ocean. The launch marked the 102nd of the year from either Kennedy Space Center or Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, with SpaceX responsible for all but seven of them.

Combined efforts by SpaceX, United Launch Alliance (ULA), and Blue Origin helped surpass last years record of 93 launches, with the Space Coast on track to approach 110 launches by year-end.

SpaceX has another Falcon 9 launch planned for Tuesday, the Starlink 6-95 mission, also carrying 29 satellites. The launch window opens at 3:16 p.m. and runs until 7:16 p.m., with a backup opportunity on December 3 from 2:506:50 p.m. The booster on this mission will attempt its 25th landing on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas in the Atlantic.

Later in the week, SpaceX will launch another Starlink mission from Kennedy Space Center. Its booster will attempt a record 32nd flight and landing in the Atlantic. On December 9, a national security mission is scheduled with a Falcon 9 carrying a classified NROL-77 payload for the National Reconnaissance Office. The launch is planned from SLC-40 at 2:16 p.m., with a backup on December 10 at 2:02 p.m. This boosters return to Landing Zone 2 at Kennedy Space Center may produce sonic booms across several Central Florida counties.

United Launch Alliance may conduct its final 2025 launch on December 15, using an Atlas V rocket from Space Launch Complex 41. This mission, part of Amazons Leo 4 project (formerly Project Kuiper), will deliver 27 satellites, marking Amazons seventh operational deployment of its internet constellation and fourth with ULA. The constellation is expected to reach 180 satellites of a planned 3,236 by July 2029, aiming to compete with SpaceXs Starlink, which already has over 10,000 satellites in orbit.

The Atlas V could conclude ULAs 2025 schedule, which included six total launches and the third launch of its new Vulcan rocket. ULA plans to expand to roughly 20 missions in 2026. Blue Origin had two launches this year and postponed a third New Glenn flight to early 2026. SpaceX, by contrast, maintains a pace of approximately one launch every three days from Florida and is expected to continue Falcon 9 flights through the end of the year.

Author: Sophia Brooks