Elon Musk's SpaceX Launches 67 Missions In First Half Of 2024, Trailing Own Targets

Elon Musk‘s SpaceX said on Tuesday that the company completed 67 missions using its Falcon launch vehicles as of the end of the second quarter, trailing behind its self-set launch targets.

What Happened: The company is looking to launch 144 times in 2024, averaging twelve times per month.

However, as of the end of Q2, the company has completed only 67 launches, with a whopping 66 launches completed by the company’s workhorse Falcon 9 vehicle and one by its Falcon Heavy. The company has delivered about 900 metric tons to orbit so far this year, SpaceX said in a post on X on Tuesday.

Considering an average of 12 launches per month, the company is five launches short of its target for 6 months, meaning the company should launch 77 missions in the remaining half to meet its annual launch target.

In addition to the Falcon missions, SpaceX also launched the Starship twice over the past half. In his most recent estimate from March, CEO Musk said that the company is looking to launch the ambitious launch vehicle, aimed at taking humans back to the moon and Mars for the first time, at least 6 times this year. SpaceX now has to complete 4 test flights in the remaining half to meet its CEO’s targets.

Why It Matters: However, the launch numbers are an improvement from SpaceX’s previous years.

For the entirety of 2023, SpaceX only completed 96 launches, marking a 57% year-on-year increase, not including two Starship test flights. The company’s launch numbers have been steadily increasing, with 26 launches in 2020, 31 in 2021, and 61 in 2022.

In the first quarter alone, the company launched 31 missions, trumping China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) which had 9 launches, and Russia's Roscosmos which had 5.

As per a report from analytics firm Bryce Tech, SpaceX launched about 429,125 kgs of spacecraft upmass in Q1, seconded by CASC after launching just 29,426 kgs. SpaceX's American rival United Launch Alliance, meanwhile, launched only 1,285 kgs of spacecraft upmass in the quarter. ULA is a joint venture between Lockheed Martin and Boeing.

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Photo courtesy: SpaceX