US accelerates on space: SpaceX launches increase from fifty to one hundred, California protests

SpaceX, the American company of multibillionaire and former ally Elon Musk, now dominates the global market, with over 130 launches in 2024. This number is expected to continue to increase, according to the new guidelines, which envisage "a significant increase in the pace of US commercial launches and innovative space activities by 2030".

The California Coastal Commission voted on Thursday 14 August 2025 against Elon Musk's SpaceX plan to nearly double the number of Facon 9 rocket launches the company is allowed to make each year from Vandenberg Space Base, from 50 to 95.

But as happened when the commission voted last October to oppose an earlier expansion of SpaceX's launch from 36 to 50 at the installation, the US government can simply ignore the objections of California regulators and approve the plan.

The Department of the Air Force, the Space Force's parent agency, has deemed the proposed launch expansion at Vandenberg, approximately 60 miles (97 km) northwest of Santa Barbara on California's central coast, to be a federal activity exempt from further state oversight.

A Commission report replied that of the 51 rockets launched from Vandenberg last year, 46 were SpaceX's Falcon 9.

While SpaceX performs some missions for the Department of Defence and NASA, the expanded launch operations planned by SpaceX will mainly serve to transport payloads for the company's Starlink satellite network, the report states.

SpaceX also sought to expand its launch facilities at Nasa's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida.

In addition to allowing up to 95 launches per year by the company's workhorse Falcon 9, thenew plan would allow up to five Falcon Heavy rocket launches per year and up to 24 landings by the company's reusable booster rockets, double the number previously approved. Two new landing zones would also be built at the base. Landings at sea would also be increased.

In recommending disapproval of the launch expansion, the committee members cited what it called insufficient information on the plan and concerns about noise pollution and disturbance to wildlife due to more frequent and louder sonic booms as SpaceX's launch activity increases.

The report also cited the need for more frequent closures of public beaches and campsites located within the areas around the launch base.