this post was submitted on 29 Oct 2026
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So what I'm seeing here is an interesting situation. The main thing that seems to be an issue is that they're ramping down the falcon 9 before people were really ready for that. That leaves all the people who were expecting that launch service to continue (Including NASA), stuck at the moment, possibly without a viable alternative. Luckily, while they may not be taking new contracts now, the article says they are still fulfilling the ones they have, so that's good.
So yes, leaving people without a launch provider sucks for sure. But the fact that they're shutting down falcon also demonstrates that SpaceX is expecting to be able to offer starship launches very soon. Remember, if they can't put anything into space, they don't really have a business at all. So this really does suggest that at least they think starship can totally replace falcon and that it's almost ready.
Isn’t commercial space ventures great? They can set launches to “out of service” delaying or cancelling research and/or ISS/LEO resupply.
I mean like I said, that does suck. But we do have other options in the interim, namely Soyuz and Cygnus. If Boeing had decided to actually try to fulfill the commercial launch providers program there would also be starliner...
There are also a lot more options just around the corner, there's the dreamchaser which looks totally badass, also JAXA is working on a vehicle and I read that the ESA is maybe working on 3 different vehicles?
Remember, by decommissioning dragon, all they're really doing is removing the cheapest option from the market, and that's the only reason anyone cares. The other options that have been available are still available.