Three future Space Force satellite missions reportedly drew no launch offers

SpaceX declined to offer launch services for three future Space Force satellite missions, and no other rocket company offered to fly them, according to two people familiar with the missions cited by POLITICO’s Audrey Decker. The missions were listed through the National Security Space Launch initiative, which the service uses to buy satellite launches. Two were for the Space Development Agency, the people said. POLITICO did not specify the third mission or precise intended launch dates.

POLITICO places the unfilled missions amid what it describes as SpaceX’s phaseout of Falcon 9 in favor of Starship. The report says many military satellites are not designed to fit Starship and that it is unclear when the rocket could meet Pentagon needs. The Space Force hopes to use United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan and Blue Origin’s New Glenn for key military satellites, POLITICO reports, but both programs have faced setbacks.