KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. — Our Space Coast was busy with more than a dozen rocket launches in 2019.

Sixteen rockets soared to space from Brevard County alone, in a year that also celebrated 50 years since the Apollo 11 moon landing. 

Most of the missions involved sending communication satellites to orbit. Others were cargo runs to the International Space Station.

We also had some big milestones. In March, SpaceX sent its Dragon crew capsule into space on a test flight, a first step to send astronauts back to space from American soil since the shuttle retired nine years ago.

A month later, an "anomaly" during a test of the Dragon crew capsule caused it to blow up, pushing back the next phase for flying the capsule with astronauts onboard.

Overall, it was a busy time for both United Launch Alliance and SpaceX, two of the commercial companies reaping the benefits of a well oiled Eastern Range, headed up by the 45th Space Wing.

The 45th's upcoming goal is the "Drive to 48," supporting 48 launches in a calendar year.

A glimpse of the quick turnaround time was seen in 2019; in August, a SpaceX Falcon 9 blasted off on Pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station; then, just 35 hours later, a ULA Atlas V lifted off from nearby Pad 41.

In August, we also saw the last launch of the Delta IV rocket by ULA, which was primarily used to launch satellites for the U.S. military. 

The year wrapped on a look into human spaceflight returning to U.S. soil. Boeing's Starliner spacecraft launched December 20 on an Atlas V rocket on an uncrewed test flight for NASA to the International Space Station.

A timing error half an hour after liftoff forced the team to call off the ISS docking, and two days later, the capsule landed in the White Sands desert in New Mexico.

NASA and Boeing touted that as a success for the test mission. A decision awaits on whether crew will be aboard for the next demo flight.

SpaceX will test its Crew Dragon during an in-flight abort test this coming year. At this point, the test is tentatively set for January 11.

This Friday night marks 2020's first launch of the year. A SpaceX Falcon 9 will blast off on the next Starlink mission. Right now, it's set for 10:24 p.m. EST from Cape Canaveral AFS.

Almost 20 Space Coast launches are scheduled for 2020. Among those are expected to be missions to send astronauts to the ISS on commercial crew missions through both SpaceX and ULA/Boeing.