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Less than a decade ago, the country’s primary spaceport was working on modernizing processes and equipment to support 48 rocket launches a year—more than double the annual flight rate at the time.

“When I think back to that period, the interesting thing is how dead set against what we were trying to do so many people were,” says Brig. Gen. Wayne Monteith, director of the Eastern Range and commander of what was then the 45th Space Wing.

“Within the wing, my leadership chain just didn’t understand it because nobody saw what we were envisioning,” Monteith, who retired from the Air Force in 2018, tells Aviation Week.

This week, the Eastern Range hosts its 100th orbital launch of the year, with another 20-30 remaining on the 2025 flight manifest. It’s the first time the range, which includes Cape Canaveral SFS and NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, has reached 100 flights in a year, but it certainly won’t be the last. If projections are accurate, that number will more than triple in the next 10 years.

It’s not just the launch rate that is growing. Three superheavy rockets—Blue Origin’s New Glenn, NASA’s Space Launch System and SpaceX’s Starship—have or plan Cape operations, presenting unique challenges to shared range resources. In addition to the behemoths, Falcon 9s, Vulcans and an increasing array of smaller rockets launch from the Cape.

“You’ve got these three gorillas—Saturn V-class rockets—trying to come and launch near each other. And throw in the occasional Falcon Heavy. It’s unprecedented,” Monteith says. “When you’re launching 100-plus times a year and you’re launching big rockets, coordination is going to become ever more critical ... It’s something that has to be addressed before the need arises.”

SpaceX’s soaring flight rate—based on reusable rockets—and its development and adoption of an automated flight safety system—saving the need for some 225 range safety officers—pushed the 45th Space Wing to change the launch enterprise.

“They were a forcing function, but we also had another thing: we were willing to balance risk,” Monteith says. “We can’t take risk to zero, so we were willing to make educated changes that were supported by analysis. But they were different, and if they went wrong, I guarantee you I know who’d have been on the cover of the Air Force Times, and probably getting fired, and that’s me.

“It takes visionaries to move forward, and you don’t normally find visionaries in government. Government manages risk—or avoids risk. Government is steady pace, the status quo. You don’t build it if you’re not sure people will come,” Monteith says.

“You need a healthy mix of both. Every now and then industry needs the brakes tapped on them just a little bit, not much, but just a reminder that it’s not just about money. It’s also about protecting people,” he adds. “But other than that, they should go forward and do incredible things.”