SpaceX to increase rocket production and launches

Space News : On 3 February SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell spoke at the Federal Aviation Administration’s annual Commercial Space Transportation Conference and announced that the company would be increasing production rates and launches of its Falcon 9 rockets. Currently the company produces six to eight rocket cores each year, and Shotwell indicated that it planned to have an output of 30 per year by the end of 2-16. To do that, SpaceX is moving from producing three Falcon 9 first stage rockets at a time to producing nine at a time and will also be increasing its production of the Merlin engines that power its rockets. Shotwell also revealed that the company had finished renovations of Launch Complex 39A, where it will launch crewed Falcon 9 rockets and the Falcon Heavy, a larger rocket expected to debut later this year.