WASHINGTON — A report by NASA’s inspector general is the latest to highlight the problems that the increasing number of launches is posing to spaceports.
NASA’s Office of Inspector General released a report June 22 on NASA launch infrastructure at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida and Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. It concluded that those spaceports are not equipped to handle the growing demand for government and commercial launches.
“NASA’s launch infrastructure is dated and lacks the capacity to meet the growing demands of the agency and government and commercial partners,” it stated. “Based on current launch projections, Kennedy and Wallops are expected to operate near capacity in the 2028 to 2029 time frame.”
NASA data included in the report projected launches supported by KSC, which includes those at neighboring Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, to grow from 109 in 2025 to 268 in 2030. Launches from Wallops would grow from 17 in 2025 to 44 in 2030, according to the agency.
That projected growth is pushing the limits of what the spaceports can handle, particularly when accounting for events like launch scrubs and major tests. The report said that KSC will reach its limits by early 2029, while Wallops could be at capacity by 2028.
Those launch rates are projected to continue to grow beyond 2030. According to the report, Blue Origin expects to perform more than 50 New Glenn launches a year by 2030 and more than 120 annually by 2035, figures the company has not widely discussed before. The report said the company approached NASA about another launch site on KSC property, although the site identified by NASA, north of Launch Complex 39, “is a protected wetland and would have to undergo lengthy and extensive federal and local review and approval processes.”
Concerns about launch activity exceeding capacity at U.S. spaceports are not new. In March 2025, executives with three major launch companies — Blue Origin, SpaceX and United Launch Alliance — all warned that spaceports would not be able to meet the demand they projected for their vehicles.
A report by the Commercial Space Federation released in May also noted that high demand for launches could overwhelm existing spaceports. Its recommendations included improved coordination and investment in existing spaceports while considering new launch sites, such as inland or sea-based facilities.
The NASA inspector general’s report, though, provided additional details about the conditions at KSC in particular and the demands on infrastructure there. The center’s electrical infrastructure is aging, the report noted, and demand from future Starship launches at Launch Complex 39A could exceed capacity.
Similarly, the center’s gaseous nitrogen pipelines, which extend to Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, cannot simultaneously support launches of Blue Origin’s New Glenn and ULA’s Vulcan Centaur or the Space Launch System. The report added that Blue Origin warned that future SLS launches could create “1- to 2-month blackout periods” in the gaseous nitrogen pipeline.
Those problems are exacerbated by funding shortfalls. The report stated that NASA funding for launch facilities and other infrastructure across its field centers has been falling over the last five years when adjusted for inflation. The agency is also restricted from receiving money from companies using launch facilities and has used agreements, like the one with SpaceX for using LC-39A, that limit its ability to recover costs.
Last year’s budget reconciliation bill included $250 million for infrastructure improvements at KSC. “However, NASA has estimated that projects to upgrade and improve infrastructure at the center could cost at least $1 billion,” the report stated. “In our judgment, it is imperative that NASA strategically prioritize funding to address Kennedy’s most pressing common-use infrastructure issues, including those related to electrical power distribution, gas supply and distribution, and transportation.”
In a response included in the report, Brian Hughes, named by NASA as director of KSC last month, accepted recommendations that included prioritizing that $250 million for launch infrastructure, as well as studying the effects of increased launch-related road traffic on the center’s roadways and assessing ways to charge fees for the use of launch infrastructure to fund maintenance and upgrades.
The report added that infrastructure problems at Wallops are not as acute as those at Kennedy, in part because of recent upgrades to the facility’s power distribution system and construction underway on a new bridge connecting Wallops Island to the mainland. However, Wallops may need to invest in additional pipelines for gaseous nitrogen and helium, and the site expects traffic from increased launches to require “frequent and necessary road repairs.”
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