Feds Approve License Modification While Holding Back Launch Clearance

The Federal Aviation Administration recently granted SpaceX several license modifications for  Starship Flight 9, but not without a catch. The agency will have to either complete its investigation of the Flight 8 mishap or make a return to flight determination before Starship is launched again.

The Starship mega rocket program has been grounded since the last flight test, on March 6, experienced a fiery ending. Flight 7 didn’t have a much better outcome, with the upper stage exploding over the Turks and Caicos Islands.

Now, just over two months after Starship’s botched Flight 8, SpaceX has finalized its fixes and is ready to get the rocket back in the air. Six of the ship’s Raptor engines fired up for a long-duration static test on May 12 as part of the manufacturer’s final checks leading up to Flight 9.

Though the ship seems ready to go, the FAA has a few more checks before it gives SpaceX the green light. The agency stated that “SpaceX may not launch until the FAA either closes the Starship Flight 8 mishap investigation or makes a return to flight determination.”

SpaceX submitted its final mishap report on May 14, so this process hopefully shouldn’t take too much longer. The report for Flight 7, for example, was submitted on February 25, and Flight 8 occurred less than 10 days later. This puts Starship on track to launch as early as May 22.

For an extra layer of caution, the FAA expanded the upcoming launch’s hazard areas in both the US and other countries in accordance with SpaceX’s updated Flight Safety Analysis. SpaceX had been forced to “revise the Flight Safety Analysis following the prior launch mishap and because SpaceX intends to reuse a previously launched Super Heavy booster rocket for the first time.”

In brighter news, the FAA did approve several launch license modifications that SpaceX had been seeking. The update allows SpaceX to increase the number of launches out of Boca Chica, Texas, to as many as 25 instead of the original 5.

FMI: www.spacex.com