In October 2023, Bill Gerstenmaier, SpaceX’s Vice President of Build and Flight Reliability, shared an ambitious target: 144 launches in 2024.
The company fell slightly short of this goal, completing 133 successful launches.
The 2024 launch total includes 2 Falcon Heavy launches but excludes Starship missions, as the program remains experimental. Despite missing the target, the numbers show remarkable growth compared to SpaceX’s 61 launches in 2022 and 95 launches in 2023.
Global Context: Comparing Launch Totals
SpaceX continues to dominate global launch statistics, outperforming other space programs and commercial operators. Below is a table summarizing launches across different rocket families and programs over the years:
| Year | Falcon 9 | Long March | R-7 | Electron | PSLV |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 2 | 15 | 13 | 0 | 1 |
| 2011 | 0 | 19 | 19 | 0 | 3 |
| 2012 | 2 | 19 | 14 | 0 | 2 |
| 2013 | 3 | 14 | 16 | 0 | 3 |
| 2014 | 6 | 15 | 21 | 0 | 3 |
| 2015 | 7 | 19 | 17 | 0 | 4 |
| 2016 | 28 | 22 | 14 | 0 | 6 |
| 2017 | 17 | 16 | 15 | 1 | 3 |
| 2018 | 21 | 37 | 16 | 3 | 4 |
| 2019 | 13 | 26 | 18 | 6 | 5 |
| 2020 | 25 | 34 | 15 | 7 | 2 |
| 2021 | 31 | 48 | 22 | 6 | 1 |
| 2022 | 61 | 53 | 19 | 9 | 3 |
| 2023 | 95 | 47 | 17 | 8 | 3 |
| 2024 | 133 | 49 | 12 | 15 | 3 |
Starlink's Role in SpaceX's Growth
Starlink, SpaceX’s satellite internet constellation, has become a major driver of the company’s launch cadence. In 2024, 86 of the 133 Falcon 9 launches were for Starlink, representing 65% of total launches.
| Year | # Falcon 9 Launches | # Launches for Starlink | % Starlink |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 13 | 2 | 15% |
| 2020 | 25 | 14 | 56% |
| 2021 | 31 | 17 | 55% |
| 2022 | 61 | 34 | 56% |
| 2023 | 95 | 62 | 65% |
| 2024 | 133 | 86 | 65% |
Outlook 2025
At this point, I am not aware of a new ambitious target for 2025. Elon might announce a target at a later date or he is simply too focused on increasing the cadence of Starship. The Falcon 9 program might have achieved a level that is sufficient for SpaceX's customers and for building out and maintaining Starlink - until Starship is operational.
Data Sources:
Jonathan C. McDowell: Launch List by Family
Wikipedia: List of Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launches (2010–2019)
Wikipedia: List of Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launches
Wikipedia: List of Long March launches (2010–2019)
Wikipedia: List of Long March launches (2020–2029)
Wikipedia: List of R-7 launches (2010–2014)
Wikipedia: List of R-7 launches (2015–2019)
Wikipedia: List of R-7 launches (2020–2024)
Wikipedia: List of Electron launches
Wikipedia: List of PSLV launches
Wikipedia: Comparison of orbital launcher families