SpaceX has received a major boost to its Starship operation at Cape Canaveral in Florida after the Department of the Air Force (DAF) gave the company the green light to develop the Space Launch Complex-37 (SLC-37) launch facility.
Preparatory construction work at the site began earlier this year, but DAF’s approval means SpaceX can now begin serious work building a launch pad for its powerful Starship rocket.
The green light comes after a thorough environmental review that focuses on the impact of Starship launches on nearby wildlife and also includes a safety analysis.
SpaceX is developing multiple Starship launch facilities on Florida’s Space Coast, including a launch pad at Launch Complex-39A (LC-39A), where construction has also begun. The goal is to conduct up to 76 spacecraft launches per year from SLC-37 and up to 44 launches per year from LC-39A, with the first full launches beginning next year or 2027, depending on regulatory approvals and infrastructure readiness.
SpaceX also wants to repurpose Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) for Starship flights. The site is currently used primarily for launches of the Falcon 9, SpaceX’s work rocket.
“With three launch pads in Florida, Starship will be ready to support America’s national security and Artemis goals as the world’s first spaceport continues to evolve to enable airport-like operations,” SpaceX said in a post on
To date, SpaceX has conducted all 11 Starship launches from its Starbase in South Texas. The company is currently building a new launch pad for its next-generation Starship rocket and will also rebuild the original launch pad, so there will be five Starship launch pads in two states.
Once fully operational, the spacecraft will be used as the most powerful rocket ever flown for crew and cargo missions to the Moon and possibly Mars, although there is still much work to be done to make the rocket operational.
