SpaceX, ULA line up double launch night that would tie Space Coast record

Richard Tribou, Orlando Sentinel on Nov 5, 2025

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ORLANDO, Fla. — While SpaceX has managed the lion’s share of launches this year, it’s set to be a team effort with United Launch Alliance as the two companies have lined up a pair of launches Wednesday that would tie the annual record for orbital missions from the Space Coast.

Both a SpaceX Falcon 9 and ULA Atlas V stand less than two miles from one another at a pair of launch pads at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station ready to lift off in the evening.

First up is SpaceX on the Starlink 6-81 mission carrying 29 satellites from Canaveral’s Space Launch Complex 40 during launch window that runs from 6:08-10:08 p.m.

This is the fifth flight of the first stage booster that will aim for a recovery landing downrange on the droneship Just Read the Instructions stationed in the Atlantic.

Next will be ULA flying the ViaSat-3 F2 mission from Canaveral’s Space Launch Complex 41 at 10:24 p.m. at the opening of a 44-minute window.

Space Launch Delta 45’s weather squadron says there’s a better than 95% chance for good launch conditions for the SpaceX attempt and a 95% chance for good conditions for the ULA attempt.

After this launch, all of the remaining 11 Atlas V rockets are set aside for either Amazon’s Project Kuiper or Boeing’s Starliner.

If both rockets take flight, it would mark the 93rd launch of the year, tying the Space Coast record from 2024.

SpaceX will have flown 87, ULA five and Blue Origin one.

Cape Canaveral’s three pads in use this year will have managed 73 of them with Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Pad 39-A managing the other 20 so far.

Four of ULA’s five launches have been the Atlas V, but it also flew its new Vulcan rocket once.

Blue Origin’s New Glenn flew in January, but is slated to launch its second-ever mission as early as Sunday, according to the FAA.

SpaceX has been responsible for all four of the human spaceflight missions from the Space Coast this year — Crew-10, Fram2, Ax-4 and Crew-11 — but has not others lined up until 2026.

All of SpaceX’s launches have been its workhorse Falcon 9 rocket with no Falcon Heavy launches planned.

Combined, the three launch providers should surpass 100 launches from the Space Coast before the end of the year.

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