Launchpad Shortage Worries U.S. Space Companies

A traffic jam is forming at U.S. rocket-launch sites. Elon Musk's SpaceX and other rocket companies are planning to increase flights in the years ahead as they ferry their own satellites or payloads for other customers to space.

- By ROSHAN FERNANDEZ AnD MicaH MAIDENBERG

The problem is that only three sites in Florida and California handle most U.S. rocket launches, and those locations are expected to become increasingly congested as companies and regulators schedule more missions.

Last year marked a record in U.S. spaceflight with 145 launches reaching orbit, or five times as many as in 2017, according to data from astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell, who closely tracks space activities. SpaceX-the world's top rocket launcher-conducted 134 of that total.

Government officials and industry executives fear that backed-up launch sites would restrict payloads from getting to space in a timely manner.

A significant weather event or an accident could put one of the major spaceports out of commission for months or even years, said George Nield, the former top space official at the Federal Aviation Administration.

"We're so dependent on space, to put all your eggs in one basket is a risky strategy," he said.

Operators of smaller and nascent spaceports, including those in landlocked states and at sea, are jockeying for new business, but face their own set of expansion hurdles.

For decades, rocket launches were relatively rare and there was little appetite for creating new sites. The most-prominent locations then and currently are tied to military bases and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Kennedy Space Center.

Several spaceport operators are now trying to take advantage of the crunch forming at the main sites. The Pacific Spaceport Complex, located on Alaska's Kodiak Island, has never seen more than three rocket launches in a year.