ÿ�մ���

CAPE CANAVERAL—The Eastern Range is working with NASA to be able to host SpaceX Starship-Super Heavy flights from Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in early- to mid-2026, the range director and commander of Space Launch Delta 45 said Nov. 21.

Development work to support Starship at Launch Complex 39A is underway, Col. Brian Chatman said during a telephone briefing with reporters.

“Early-to-middle next year is when we anticipate Starship coming out here to be able to launch. We’ll have the range ready to support at that time,” he said.

The Eastern Range, which includes Cape Canaveral SFS and NASA’s KSC, reached an annual launch rate of 100 flights late Nov. 20, with 15-25 flights remaining on the 2025 calendar. If current projections are accurate, the flight rate could reach 300-350 launches by 2035.

“The upgrades and modifications we make now will set the stage for additional increased capacity and increased throughput,” Chatman said.

“Every time we have something new happen—whether it’s two launch vehicles [flying] during the same launch window, or three launch vehicles in 26 hours, or four in 36 hours—we do an internal hot wash on the government side [to look at] where did we see challenges, where did we see choke points. Then we asked the launch service providers to look at it through their lens and bring all of those collectively together,” Chatman said.

To support Starship and other superheavy-lift, liquid-oxygen (LOX) and methane-fueled rockets, NASA and the Space Force are working to better understand the vehicles’ explosive potential. “Today, we treat the LOX-methane analysis as an equivalent to 100% TNT-equivalency from a blast radius perspective,” Chatman said.

Working in partnership with SpaceX and Blue Origin, which flies the methane-fueled New Glenn mega-booster, NASA and the Space Force are assessing how much the vehicles’ blast radius zones can shrink—based on data and scientific testing—and still ensure public safety.

The issue also affects operations of the range’s other users. For example, NASA’s Space Launch System and United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan and Atlas V rockets fly from launchpads adjacent to LC-39A, which is being modified to support Starship-Super Heavy.

Discussions and tests about the explosive potential of LOX-methane rockets have been underway for the last couple years and should culminate in 2026, Chatman added. “Until we get that data ... we’re going to continue to treat any LOX-methane vehicle with 100% blast-TNT equivalency and have a maximized keep-out zone, simply from a public safety perspective,” he said.