They Launched From Here 31 Times in 2020

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with the company’s Crew Dragon spacecraft onboard is seen on the launch pad at Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

January 4, 2021 – They don’t call us the Space Coast for nothing. 2020 saw 31 successful launches. If you’re counting (and we are) that’s the most launches in any single year since 1966, when there were 29.

The diversity of missions was impressive: Starlink satellites, missions for the military, satellites for Sirius XM and South Korea and Argentina, cargo resupply missions to the International Space Station and of course, the return of crewed missions from American soil.  It would be an accomplishment in any year, but considering it was done during a pandemic, it’s phenomenal.

A few highlights:

May 30 – Crewed Launches Return

NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley headed for the to the ISS and became the first people since the end of the Space Shuttle program in 2011 to be launched into space from the United States.

An illustration of NASA’s Perseverance rover landing safely on Mars. Hundreds of critical events must execute perfectly and exactly on time for the rover to land safely on Feb. 18, 2021. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

July 30 – A New Rover in Town (And On It’s Way to Mars)

After years of prep the Mars Rover “Perseverance” launched aboard a ULA Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station headed for a rendezvous with the red planet in February.

August 2 – Now That’s An Impressive Dive

Behnken and Hurley became the first astronauts in 45 years to make a water landing from space. Millions watched online as the capsule splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Pensacola.

November 14 – Four More for the ISS

SpaceX and NASA went “operational” by sending Mike Hopkins, Victor Glover, Shannon Walker and Japan’s Soichi Noguchi in the commercial Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station.

Another Record Year On Tap

SpaceX is planning at least seven trips to the ISS in 2021, the rover will land on Mars, Boeing’s Starliner will continue to get vetted, and the Space Force will be choosing a location for its headquarters, and Florida is in the running for that decision.  Keep looking up, exciting things are happening.

Source: Orlando Sentinel