If Achieved, Florida Facility Would Be World's Busiest Spaceport

A schedule recently released by the U.S. Air Force includes 24 rocket launches from Cape Canaveral in 2015, which would make it the world's busiest spaceport in the coming year.

Thomas Falzarano, commander of the operations group for the Air Force's Eastern Range, said the schedule is the most crowded since 1992, according to a report from Reuters. And 2016 would be even busier, with 36 launches planned.

Fourteen of the 2015 launches would be for SpaceX, with the remaining ten slots held by United Launch Alliance (ULA).

The first launch for 2015 has already occurred ... the SpaceX resupply mission to ISS which boosted a Dragon cargo ship to orbit January 9. That spacecraft docked with ISS Monday.

Also on the schedule is a test flight of the SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket, which is powered by 27 engines and will lift off from a refurbished shuttle pad at the Kennedy Space Center.

Of the ULA missions, eight will be Atlas 5 boosters and two will be Delta launchers.

(Image from file)

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