On August 25, an era quietly came to an end.
SpaceX’s final Falcon 9 launch from Florida to send Starlink satellites—over seven years, more than 260 launches, propping up the entire Starlink constellation.
Vice President Kiko Dontchev confirmed it in his own words: Florida Starlink launches will fully shift to Starship, and Falcon 9 will be gradually retired. The launch cadence in Florida will drop from 8–9 times per month to just 2 times.
The moment the news broke, the whole internet asked: Are you out of your mind?
The most mature rocket in service gets thrown away just like that?
Musk’s meaning is very direct: once Starship stabilizes and can fly a few times per week, Falcon 9 should go on display in a museum.
Bloomberg also revealed that SpaceX may no longer accept new commercial Falcon 9 orders after 2028.
The key is that Starship has truly “come alive” this time: on its 13th test flight, the upper stage performed a soft landing in the Indian Ocean, then was picked up by a semi-submersible vessel—an intact 171-foot-tall spacecraft recovered, unprecedented.
Musk plans to drag it back from the Indian Ocean to Texas, with a journey that will take months. The 14th flight is coming next month, and the first batch of Starlink V3 satellites will be placed directly into orbit. Starship V3, 124 meters tall, the most powerful rocket in history—target: 30 launches per day.
And then there are even crazier plans: on 8/28, it will be announced that SpaceX will invest $100 billion in Louisiana to build the world’s largest launch site—over 10 launch towers, a power plant of its own, and a deep-water port—fully self-sufficient.
Musk also said: SpaceX revenue will reach $3.5 trillion by 2033, a full seven years earlier than the 2040 estimate from Morgan Stanley. What does $3.5 trillion even mean? It’s roughly the combined total of today’s Apple + Microsoft + Google + Amazon.
With Falcon 9 retiring and Starship taking over, a $100 billion launch site, and $3.5 trillion in revenue—this isn’t a space company. It’s about building a planet-scale economic system.
The question is: Starship still hasn’t managed to recover the launch towers yet, and the full reusability of both stages hasn’t been proven. The bigger the bragging, the harder the fall, right? Do you think Starship will succeed as the next flagship? $SPCX
SpaceX’s final Falcon 9 launch from Florida to send Starlink satellites—over seven years, more than 260 launches, propping up the entire Starlink constellation.
Vice President Kiko Dontchev confirmed it in his own words: Florida Starlink launches will fully shift to Starship, and Falcon 9 will be gradually retired. The launch cadence in Florida will drop from 8–9 times per month to just 2 times.
The moment the news broke, the whole internet asked: Are you out of your mind?
The most mature rocket in service gets thrown away just like that?
Musk’s meaning is very direct: once Starship stabilizes and can fly a few times per week, Falcon 9 should go on display in a museum.
Bloomberg also revealed that SpaceX may no longer accept new commercial Falcon 9 orders after 2028.
The key is that Starship has truly “come alive” this time: on its 13th test flight, the upper stage performed a soft landing in the Indian Ocean, then was picked up by a semi-submersible vessel—an intact 171-foot-tall spacecraft recovered, unprecedented.
Musk plans to drag it back from the Indian Ocean to Texas, with a journey that will take months. The 14th flight is coming next month, and the first batch of Starlink V3 satellites will be placed directly into orbit. Starship V3, 124 meters tall, the most powerful rocket in history—target: 30 launches per day.
And then there are even crazier plans: on 8/28, it will be announced that SpaceX will invest $100 billion in Louisiana to build the world’s largest launch site—over 10 launch towers, a power plant of its own, and a deep-water port—fully self-sufficient.
Musk also said: SpaceX revenue will reach $3.5 trillion by 2033, a full seven years earlier than the 2040 estimate from Morgan Stanley. What does $3.5 trillion even mean? It’s roughly the combined total of today’s Apple + Microsoft + Google + Amazon.
With Falcon 9 retiring and Starship taking over, a $100 billion launch site, and $3.5 trillion in revenue—this isn’t a space company. It’s about building a planet-scale economic system.
The question is: Starship still hasn’t managed to recover the launch towers yet, and the full reusability of both stages hasn’t been proven. The bigger the bragging, the harder the fall, right? Do you think Starship will succeed as the next flagship? $SPCX
