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SpaceX on track to launch 20 Falcon 9 rockets in the first half of 2021

SpaceX appears to be solidly on track to complete four launches this June and 20 launches in the first half of 2021. (Richard Angle)

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The second half of SpaceX’s June 2021 flight schedule has begun to firm up, raising the odds of another four-launch month as the end of the first half of 2021 fast approaches.

In an increasing rarity among a slew of pandemic and shortage-stricken satellites, rockets, and launch flows, SpaceX’s fourth upgraded GPS III satellite launch for the US military has remained on track for more than four months and has had a firm launch date for more than eight weeks. Further, the GPS III SV05 navigation satellite’s launch schedule actually moved up from July 2021 and has been scheduled to launch no earlier than June 17th, 2021 since mid-April. The only noteworthy change made in the subsequent two months was a minor shift in launch time, which was moved from 6-9 pm EDT to a 15-minute window stretching from 12:09 pm to 12:24 pm (16:09-16:24 UTC).

More recently, Spaceflight Now was first to report that Transporter-2 – SpaceX’s second dedicated Smallsat Program mission and fourth June 2021 launch – settled on a launch target sometime during daylight on June 24th. A large portion of rideshare payload integration – assembling a massive ‘stack’ of dozens of satellites and dispensers – has already been completed, improving the odds that Transporter-2 will launch on schedule.

As was SpaceX’s main intent with its Smallsat Program, the company effectively closes the metaphorical doors on a given Transporter mission around a week before launch. From then on, if issues arise with any minor integrated rideshare payload or something delays a planned payload from being integrated in time, the customer is more or less automatically rebooked on SpaceX’s next Transporter mission. That means that delays or pre-launch anomalies that inevitably impact a small fraction of a dedicated rideshare mission’s total payloads don’t end up delaying dozens to 100+ other spacecraft.

Crucially, for the unlucky few customers that find themselves essentially booted off the bus, SpaceX nominally rebooks them at no extra charge on the next Transporter mission. While the program is only just beginning, SpaceX has already scheduled four dedicated Transporter launches between January 2021 and Q1 2022, meaning that payloads unable to launch on their scheduled flight will have to wait approximately six months for the next launch opportunity. While undoubtedly more than a little inconvenient, SpaceX is effectively betting that customers are willing to trade some degree of flexibility for low prices and launch dates firmly scheduled months in advance.

So far, that bet has unequivocally paid off and SpaceX has secured contracts to launch hundreds of rideshare payloads in just a few years.

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SpaceX’s very first Transporter mission smashed the world record for most satellites – 143 – launched on a single rocket in January 2021. (SpaceX)

Meanwhile, SpaceX’s June 17th GPS III SV05 mission will be the first time ever that the US military launches a “national security” payload on a flight-proven commercial rocket. Falcon 9 booster B1062 debuted with the successful launch of GPS III SV04 in November 2020. Seven months later, GPS III SV05 will be its second launch. If successful, it’s likely that the US military will allow SpaceX to use Falcon 9 B1062 a third time to launch GPS III SV06 – tentatively scheduled sometime in Q4 2021 or early 2022.

B1062 first flew in November 2020. (Richard Angle)

If both GPS III SV05 and Transporter-2 missions are successful, June 2021 will be SpaceX’s third four-launch month ever, representing an average of 48 launches per year if sustained for 12 months. All four June launches are also for paying customers, bringing welcome revenue to an H1 2021 manifest that’s been almost entirely populated by internal Starlink missions. Perhaps most significantly, a four-launch June will also mark 20 orbital SpaceX launches in the first half of 2021, leaving the company on track to achieve 40 launches this year if it can replicate that success in the second half.

Eric Ralph is Teslarati's senior spaceflight reporter and has been covering the industry in some capacity for almost half a decade, largely spurred in 2016 by a trip to Mexico to watch Elon Musk reveal SpaceX's plans for Mars in person. Aside from spreading interest and excitement about spaceflight far and wide, his primary goal is to cover humanity's ongoing efforts to expand beyond Earth to the Moon, Mars, and elsewhere.

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Tesla opens the Q&A for its biggest earnings call yet

Tesla opens its Q3 earnings Q&A, and Cybercab, Robotaxi, Optimus and regulators loom over October 21.

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Tesla has opened its shareholder question portal for the Q3 2026 earnings call, with the Say Q&A page already listing questions. Investors have until 4:00 p.m. EDT on October 20 to submit and vote on what management should answer.

The call is set for Wednesday, October 21. Tesla will post results after the market closes, with a live webcast at 4:30 p.m. CT, or 5:30 p.m. ET, through its investor relations site.

Say ranks questions by the number of shares behind the votes, which gives institutional holders extra weight over the retail crowd.

Ahead of Q2, retail investors asked why Robotaxi growth had stalled, when Cybercab would start customer rides, and where the Optimus Gen 3 ramp stood, while an institutional holder asked how Tesla and SpaceX would split Terafab duties. Cybercab has since answered one of those. Tesla said last week it has 300 plus Cybercabs serving Austin, up eightfold in 30 days, with Dallas named as the next city. The questions now are likely to move from when to how fast.

There is also a regulatory question hanging over the call. NHTSA has demanded sworn answers on how the pedal free Cybercab was certified against federal safety standards, with responses due October 30, nine days after the call. Whether an analyst raises it live is unknown, but it is the kind of exposure that tends to find its way into a Q&A.

The numbers will not be the main draw. Tesla already reported 486,532 deliveries and 13.7 GWh of storage for the quarter. Consensus sits around 43 to 45 cents per share on roughly $27.8 billion in revenue, according to Zacks, after a Q2 report that missed on EPS. Goldman Sachs, which holds a Neutral rating and a $360 target, argues the outlook for Robotaxi, FSD and Optimus will matter more to the stock than the quarter itself.

The call also lands six days after the rescheduled Roadster event, which Tesla will stream on X on Thursday, October 15, at 7:55 p.m. CT. If the Roadster shows up with a production date or a SpaceX thruster package, expect it to climb the voting list before the deadline.

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Ukraine says Starlink is cutting out its military drones as Poland calls out Elon Musk

Ukrainian officials allege SpaceX limited military Starlink speeds, disrupting drone missions; SpaceX has not commented.

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Credit: Mykhailo Fedorov/Twitter

Ukrainian officials are accusing SpaceX of placing a speed limit on the military version of Starlink that their forces use to fly drones, but SpaceX has not confirmed that any change was made. Presidential adviser Serhiy Beskrestnov said in a Telegram post on Wednesday that Starshield terminals have begun losing service when they move faster than about 100 miles per hour, according to a Reuters report. “Our defense forces did not receive a warning about this limitation, and this led to the disruption of several missions,” he wrote.

Ukraine’s 7th Rapid Reaction Corps told Reuters that connections dropped for 10 to 20 seconds at just 68 to 75 mph, which made the drones harder to control. Volunteer Serhiy Sternenko, citing military reports, said the dropouts are now starting at 37 to 43 mph. These accounts come from Ukrainian officials and military sources and have not been independently verified. Regular civilian terminals were reportedly not affected, according to EUalive.


SpaceX has not publicly commented or explained what, if anything, changed. Beskrestnov and other Ukrainian officials believe the issue is intentional and point to the timing. Washington has been pressing Kyiv to stop long range strikes on Russian oil refineries after President Trump called for an “energy ceasefire,” and Musk posted on Saturday that “Zelensky has gone too far.” EUalive noted that neither Ukrainian nor Polish officials have presented evidence that the limit was ordered by Washington or by SpaceX, so the link to politics remains an allegation. Other explanations, such as a technical or policy change affecting fast moving terminals, have not been ruled out.

Poland’s foreign minister, Radosław Sikorski, responded on X by quote tweeting a Kyiv Independent report and writing: “Hey, @elonmusk, big man, are you playing politics with your products again? As your European customers, we are watching you.” Poland is the largest funder of Ukraine’s Starlink service, having supplied more than 29,000 terminals and covering operating costs Sikorski has put at roughly $50 million a year. The wording echoes their 2025 clash, when Musk told Sikorski to “be quiet, small man.” At the time of writing, neither Musk nor SpaceX had responded to the claims.

The dispute sits on top of a long history. Musk confirmed in February 2022 that Starlink was active in Ukraine after a request from a Ukrainian minister. That October, SpaceX asked the Pentagon to share the bill and Musk said the cost was approaching $20 million a month, before he reversed course and said SpaceX would keep paying. In December 2024 the Pentagon moved some of those terminals onto the Starshield service, the government version now at the center of the complaints.

SpaceX has also changed how its network treats certain terminals in Ukraine before, and that time it was with Kyiv’s cooperation. In February, Ukrainian officials confirmed that terminals believed to be used by Russian troops were disabled after coordination with SpaceX, a step that Ukrainian commanders later said hurt Russian assaults. Whether anything similar is behind the latest reports is unclear, which is why Kyiv is asking for answers.

Ukraine is already looking at backups. Defense tech company Stetman is developing its own satellite system, UASAT-NANO, and officials in Europe have discussed alternatives to Starlink since early 2025, though none match its scale yet.

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FAA kicks off review of SpaceX’s bid to fly Starship nearly every day

FAA is reviewing SpaceX’s plan for 456 Starship launches a year, up from 25 today.

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Rendering of Elon Musk overlooking a Starship fleet (Credit: Grok)

The FAA said Tuesday that it will prepare an environmental impact statement on SpaceX’s proposal to run as many as 456 Starship launches and 912 landings a year from Starbase, Texas. SpaceX is currently authorized for 25 launches and 50 landings annually, which makes the request roughly 18 times the existing ceiling. The notice of intent is set to publish in the Federal Register on Wednesday.

The plan comes in two phases. Phase 1 would allow up to 100 launches and 200 landings a year, on any day and at any hour. Phase 2, which the FAA says could arrive within several years, would raise the limit to the full 456 launches, still at any hour but only on weekdays. The agency noted that 912 landings is the upper limit for the Texas facility no matter where a given mission begins, and that Starship and Super Heavy could come down at the launch site or in the Gulf and open ocean.

A draft statement will be released for public comment at a later date, and the FAA has not said when. According to the Federal Registar, written comments are due November 30 on regulations.gov under docket FAA-2026-12808, with in person scoping meetings on November 17 in Brownsville and November 19 in Port Isabel, plus a virtual session on November 18. The review will weigh air quality, wildlife, coastal resources, water, noise, and aviation, and the FAA said any increase beyond this proposal would need its own separate review.

The numbers look large next to what Starbase has actually done. Starship has flown three times from Texas this year, including Flight 14 on September 28, the first orbital flight, which deployed 26 Starlink V3 satellites. Bloomberg reported that Starbase has never launched more than five times in a calendar year. The current cap of 25 comes from an FAA approval in May 2025. In February, the agency also approved up to 44 Starship launches a year from Launch Complex 39A in Florida, so Phase 1 in Texas alone would more than double that allowance.

Musk has said Starship could eventually fly more than once per hour within less than a decade, per Bloomberg. The nearer term target is Flight 15. Musk said on October 10 that it is hopefully four to six weeks away and will try to catch the ship with the tower, as Teslarati covered. That flight still runs under the existing 25 launch limit, and so would every Starbase launch for as long as the new review takes.

As of mid morning Pacific time on Tuesday, SpaceX had not posted about the filing on its own account.

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