NASA's infrastructure at Kennedy Space Center, the crown jewel of US spaceports, is aging and approaching its limit due to increased demand from private companies, including SpaceX and Blue Origin, a new report finds.

"NASA’s launch infrastructure is vital to providing the agency, other government agencies, and commercial partners access to space for their most complex and expensive missions," states the report, published by the NASA Office of Inspector General. "Nevertheless, NASA’s launch infrastructure is dated and often does not provide the capacity to meet the growing demands of the agency and its partners."

The report covers NASA's launch facilities at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida and Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. However, the most noteworthy information in the report concerns the Florida spaceport, where demand from SpaceX's Starship and Blue Origin's New Glenn launch vehicles is expected to stress NASA.

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COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.—If you drive the 12.4-mile (20 km), 156-corner route up Pikes Peak, abiding by the posted speed limit of 25 mph (40 km/h), it will take you a good 30 minutes to reach the top. That's assuming you resist the urge to stop and gawk at the infinite vistas that surround you along the way.

On Sunday, professional racer JR Hildebrand covered that same distance in just 9.5 minutes, ignoring the scenery all the while. He did it in a 1,250 hp (932 kW) hybrid-powered Corvette ZR1X, a car that you can take home yourself for about $210,000. It set a new production car record for the hybrid on a day when EVs and combustion-powered cars fought for mountain supremacy.

2026 marked the 104th running of the Pikes Peak International Hillclimb, one of the most historic races on the planet. Since its inception, competitors have struggled not only to string together all those corners but to maintain speed all the way to the 14,115-foot (4,302 m) summit.

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