WSJ Tech News Briefing · Tuesday, September 29, 2026
The space industry is experiencing a shortage of rocket launch capacity, partly due to SpaceX phasing out its Falcon 9 rocket to focus on its Starship program. This reduction in available launch vehicles is increasing mission costs and causing delays.
“The US is in the midst of a crunch on rocket rides, and that's shifting the dynamics of the booming space industry.”
“The biggest factor is simply that SpaceX started to wind down flights with Falcon 9.”
“Simply put, when you start to take that capacity out of the market, it causes a problem.”