SpaceX Aims to Break Launch Record With 170 Orbital Liftoffs Planned for 2025

By 2025, SpaceX plans to achieve unprecedented launch frequency: 170 orbital missions, almost one every two days. If we reach our target, it would surpass the company’s yearly record of 134 launches established in 2023.

On May 28, Anne Mason, SpaceX’s director of national security space launch, revealed the ambitious objective during a media call. Mason highlighted the increasing regularity of this swift pace while providing an overview of the forthcoming GPS III SV08 satellite mission for the U.S. Space Force, which is set to launch on Friday, May 30.

According to a report from Space.com, Mason mentioned that in 2020, SpaceX completed only 25 launches — averaging two per month. The transition to a near-daily flying cadence highlights the significance of operational efficiency and the reusability of Falcon rockets. The larger and more robust Falcon Heavy conducted the other two launches, while the Falcon 9 completed 132 out of 134 launches in 2023. Both depend on reusable initial stages that are crucial to SpaceX’s high-frequency, low-cost entry to orbit.

Mason noted that SpaceX now manufactures a disposable Falcon upper stage every two and a half days, an essential element in maintaining high production levels. Approximately two-thirds of the company’s spaceflights in 2024 assisted Starlink, its low Earth orbit satellite internet network, which currently has more than 7,500 operational satellites. This year, 48 out of the 64 launches that have been completed — all using Falcon 9 — were for Starlink deployments.

SpaceX must raise its daily launch frequency from 0.43 to roughly 0.47 to achieve the 170-launch goal. The figure excludes suborbital Starship test flights, as these are not considered orbital missions.

The continued growth of SpaceX’s launch rate reflects the company’s dominance in commercial and government spaceflight. Mason credited the milestone not only to technological advances but also to the team’s consistent performance. “This cadence was unimaginable five years ago,” she mentioned, “and yet, here we are.”