FAA approves launch license for tomorrow’s SpaceX Starship/Superheavy launch
Artist rendering of Superheavy being captured by
the tower chopsticks at landing. Click for video.
The FAA today announced that it has finally approved a launch license for the fifth test launch tomorrow of SpaceX’s Starship/Superheavy, and that this approval applies to the next few launches as well, assuming the FAA or other government agencies or politicians don’t attempt to nitpick things again.
The full written re-evaluation [pdf] released today is somewhat hilarious, in that it spends 61 pages essentially concluding that SpaceX’s proposed actions were already approved by the 2022 Environoment Reassessment [abbreviated PEA by the FAA], spending page after page detailing why a license should be approved based on that 2022 reassessment. After wasting more than two months essentially retyping the 2022 conclusions, this report concludes ludicrously:
The 2022 PEA examined the potential for significant environmental impacts from Starship/SuperHeavy launch operations at the Boca Chica Launch Site and defined the regulatory setting for impacts associated with Starship/Super Heavy. The areas evaluated for environmental impacts in this WR [written reevaluation] included noise and noise compatible land use and biological resources.
Based on the above review and in conformity with FAA Order 1050.1F, Paragraph 9-2.c, the FAA has concluded that the modification of an existing vehicle operator license for Starship/Super Heavy operations conforms to the prior environmental documentation, that the data contained in the 2022 PEA remains substantially valid, that there are no significant environmental changes, and all pertinent conditions and requirements of the prior approval have been met or will be met in the current action. Therefore, the preparation of a supplemental or new environmental document is not necessary to support the Proposed Action.
In plain English, SpaceX is doing nothing to require this bureaucratic paperwork, but we have insisted on doing it anyway in order to justify our useless jobs while acting to squelch free Americans from getting the job done as they wish. As Musk so rightly put it last month, “It takes longer to do the government paperwork to license a rocket launch than it does to design and build the actual hardware.”
Despite this approval, we must emphasize that this action has now set a very bad precedent for the future, When SpaceX makes changes to its flight plans on future test launches — something that is guaranteed as the company incrementally improves the design — the FAA will almost certainly shut things down again as it spends months once again determining that nothing is wrong.
Either way, stand by for tomorrow’s test launch, lifting off at 7 am (Central time). I have embedded the Space Affairs youtube live stream below, since SpaceX’s live streams on X don’t allow one to stand by, and will only go live 35 minutes before launch.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon. from any other book seller, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
Artist rendering of Superheavy being captured by
the tower chopsticks at landing. Click for video.
The FAA today announced that it has finally approved a launch license for the fifth test launch tomorrow of SpaceX’s Starship/Superheavy, and that this approval applies to the next few launches as well, assuming the FAA or other government agencies or politicians don’t attempt to nitpick things again.
The full written re-evaluation [pdf] released today is somewhat hilarious, in that it spends 61 pages essentially concluding that SpaceX’s proposed actions were already approved by the 2022 Environoment Reassessment [abbreviated PEA by the FAA], spending page after page detailing why a license should be approved based on that 2022 reassessment. After wasting more than two months essentially retyping the 2022 conclusions, this report concludes ludicrously:
The 2022 PEA examined the potential for significant environmental impacts from Starship/SuperHeavy launch operations at the Boca Chica Launch Site and defined the regulatory setting for impacts associated with Starship/Super Heavy. The areas evaluated for environmental impacts in this WR [written reevaluation] included noise and noise compatible land use and biological resources.
Based on the above review and in conformity with FAA Order 1050.1F, Paragraph 9-2.c, the FAA has concluded that the modification of an existing vehicle operator license for Starship/Super Heavy operations conforms to the prior environmental documentation, that the data contained in the 2022 PEA remains substantially valid, that there are no significant environmental changes, and all pertinent conditions and requirements of the prior approval have been met or will be met in the current action. Therefore, the preparation of a supplemental or new environmental document is not necessary to support the Proposed Action.
In plain English, SpaceX is doing nothing to require this bureaucratic paperwork, but we have insisted on doing it anyway in order to justify our useless jobs while acting to squelch free Americans from getting the job done as they wish. As Musk so rightly put it last month, “It takes longer to do the government paperwork to license a rocket launch than it does to design and build the actual hardware.”
Despite this approval, we must emphasize that this action has now set a very bad precedent for the future, When SpaceX makes changes to its flight plans on future test launches — something that is guaranteed as the company incrementally improves the design — the FAA will almost certainly shut things down again as it spends months once again determining that nothing is wrong.
Either way, stand by for tomorrow’s test launch, lifting off at 7 am (Central time). I have embedded the Space Affairs youtube live stream below, since SpaceX’s live streams on X don’t allow one to stand by, and will only go live 35 minutes before launch.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon. from any other book seller, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
Perhaps now we will get to see not only IFT-5, but also IFT-6 lifting off before year’s end.
I agree with your conclusions regarding this wasting time.
Dragging it out two months, only to come to these known conclusions re-affirms my belief that this was an attempted pressure campaign.
I hope there is more to it, because the thought that the FAA is giving into the political whims of the administration is extremely troubling.
NASASpaceflight (one word, not affiliated with NASA) has very good coverage on many different web/social platforms, and a large website containing everything imaginable about US spaceflight. Only drawback might be that it is a huge well-established community, and a newbie can be exposed to a lot of “inside baseball” stuff. And it can be a bit SpaceX-centric, but that’s where most of the action is, no?
I enjoy their coverage expertise, but at the time of the launch itself, I usually go to SpaceX.com for the best visuals, the inestimable John Insprucker, and the (sigh) gorgeous Kate Tice, who are both SpaceX engineers. So none of the cringy dumb stuff.
Insprucker’s claim to fame is describing a rocket’s flight status as “norminal”.
So I guess one branch of your government won over another branch of your government… It was all the lefts fault in the first place….
Glass houses, stones, etc….
Greatest democracy in the world…. Etc…
Would have been no different under a republican government. You guys are too blind to see the faults your governmental system has. As I have mentioned before, I get gleefully called nieve, believing that my ( somewhat ) socialist outlook has any merit.
I still can’t get my hat off looking at how one governmental agency can even try to hamstring another over a common cause…. You guys spout how great your system is…. But results kinda refute this….
Blame the left!!! Always blame the left!!!
Oh…. I should follow up with…
God speed, and good luck to SpaceX… The proof that private enterprise is very often more efficient than government run enterprise…
Some things definitely should be put out for tender…. ( Space exploration definitely being one ), I will still argue that social care should be government run… ( Health care, child care, public transportation, first responders, fire (Dudes.. or dudettes) , and yes, unemployment benefits… Which, since my first posting here over a decade ago, I have researched, all bring a positive return on investment to the local area…..
Just saying!
Go SpaceX!
Ray Van Dune: The Space Affairs live stream on youtube feeds directly off the SpaceX live stream, so you get the SpaceX anchors, not others.
I only embed the Space Affairs live stream because X does not allow you to link to a live stream before it goes active. It thus makes it available to readers in advance.
They couldn’t keep two 737s from killing several hundred people.
Time to spell useless with a capital U.
FAA:
Find another airport. Good luck
Geez, a Euro welfare serf dissing the United States. Kind of unseemly I think and I’m an Australian.
The Left really are blind to their own faults. Look at the lawfare against Trump. All driven by the Left. As an Australian Left politician once said “whatever it takes”. This resulted in the loony Greens starting to have an influence in Australia. The issue was a hydroelectric dam in Tasmania which would be handy right now.
Lee, remember this ” The State is not your friend”.
Dear Lee s, we can ignore your opinions on the politics and social policy easily because you start off getting it wrong on the subject at hand when writing “Would have been no different under a republican government. ”
It WAS different under the previous Republican administration.
And if you meant small r republican government, that is what the USA is. It is not a democracy but a republic with democratic components.
One reason European countries have led in innovation and business growth so little is because those policies you espouse are anti innovation on both sides. On the recipient side it makes it less likely that people will risk as much, given their basic comfort level is being provided by others, and on the funding side social welfare eats up so much capital that it starves the markets of risk capital.
An overreaching corrupt pathetic government bureaucracy temporarily relents its abuse of power, and now Americans may have a chance to do something great. Is the hard part over, or is catching a huge rocket on a launch tower harder?
FAA bureaucrats probably only relented not because they have no case, but because they hope for an earth shattering kaboom; which will be useful to stop the Americans for longer next time.
Bob Z. Didn’t mean to imply anything about your selection of coverage – just an alternative to explore before you go to the de facto best source – SpaceX.
Ray Van Dune: No offense taken. I just wanted make clear what you get with the embed included.
After wasting more than two months essentially retyping the 2022 conclusions, this report concludes ludicrously:
After the news broke the other day that the FAA license was forthcoming this weekend, someone on the SpaceXMasterRace subreddit whipped up an amusing meme to explain it: The Fish & Wildlife director accidentally hit the “Send” button instead of the “Schedule Send” button.
Probably not far from the truth!
Robert wrote: “In plain English, SpaceX is doing nothing to require this bureaucratic paperwork, but we have insisted on doing it anyway in order to justify our useless jobs while acting to squelch free Americans from getting the job done as they wish.”
Well, what the FAA said is what I said in another thread:
https://behindtheblack.com/behind-the-black/essays-and-commentaries/faa-and-the-biden-administration-proves-it-is-out-to-destroy-spacex/#comment-1524869
“But it is not the unusual that is causing the delay. It is a sonic boom, which is not unusual, and it is a slightly expanded area of influence for an environmental impact report. The additional area is just the same as the already approved area. There is just more area. The birds are the same, the turtles are the same, the beach is the same, the road is the same, and the closures are no different. Yet somehow these government bureaucrats have to take their sweet time to make sure that … what? Nothing changed for them to make sure of.”
So now comes the question: why did the FAA think it would take until late November to come to the very same conclusion?
Why did the FAA even have to “re-evaluate” its previous environmental assessment, given that there were no actual differences to the environment?
Are they too stupid at the FAA to realize that the conditions are already covered or is this a political ploy to hamper a political rival or political enemy? My bet is on the latter, and we are living in a tyranny similar to those that existed a century ago. In this century it is happening to us in the United States, where The Party rewards its friends and punishes its enemies. It can happen here, and it has.
_______________
Lee S wrote: “Would have been no different under a republican government.”
Except that we saw it was different under the last Republican government (I assume Lee meant Republican Party, not the republican form of government). SpaceX was crashing its test units every couple of months. Catastrophic failure was constant, yet SpaceX didn’t have to suffer any groundings or wait for the FAA to approve investigation reports. Even under Obama, Falcon test landings crashed on the barge without such groundings, but the recent failure at sea resulted in a grounding.
All these groundings and delays began when Musk expressed dissatisfaction with the Democrat Party moving so far left that the Republican Party became closer to his political leanings.
“I still can’t get my hat off looking at how one governmental agency can even try to hamstring another over a common cause…. You guys spout how great your system is…. But results kinda refute this…. Blame the left!!! Always blame the left!!!”
The left is the side that is in charge. Who else should anyone blame? The ones who aren’t messing it all up? Of course the ones who aren’t messing it up are always blamed by the left — they just won’t accept that their system doesn’t work. Notice that Lee S won’t accept it.
Why would anyone think that the left, which is constantly complaining about the Constitutions limitations on government and is always violating the Constitution, is the great (meaning good, not large) system of the Constitution. Our system is great, when run as the Constitution intended, but the system that the left is running is not, obviously. Even Lee complains that the Democrats run things so that governmental agencies hamstring each other. Since it is the left that is running the governmental agencies that are hamstringing each other over that common cause, why would anyone think it is not the left’s fault?
“I will still argue that social care should be government run… ( Health care, child care, public transportation, first responders, fire (Dudes.. or dudettes) , and yes, unemployment benefits… ”
I will argue that if any or all of these are privately run, then we can choose which services we want and which price we want to pay. The competition gives incentive for better service, advancements in technology, and lower costs and prices. Instead, Lee advocates for the waste that results from lack of incentive to improve away from mediocrity.
SpaceX proves my point. Before SpaceX, all we had were government space services or companies that catered to the government. It was a socialist-type system within a free market country. Prices were high and the launch cadence was low. Now we have companies scrambling to compete with the low cost, high availability, high reliability SpaceX. The world’s launch industry is now in a competition to improve services and prices for all the rest of us, for We the People, if only government will get the hell out of the way! Just saying.
Go SpaceX!
Go free market competition!
Lee,
Honest question, because I know your not a US citizen and in.. Sweden, if I recall.
Did you miss the obvious conflict ( Biden/Harris admin via the FAA vs Elon Musk via SpaceX), or are you being deliberately obtuse, because you cannot accept that a left-wing government would not be so petty?
Because this entire situation screams of the Biden-Harris regime being very petty.
There is no other way to describe it.
There is little downside for Elon in doing this launch, right now. He is launching because it is time to launch, no other reason, but it could still play into the American Election cycle.
If it blows up 5 seconds after take off, it does not matter. The Legacy Press will highlight it though, and tell everyone that Elon is an idiot and you should never ever listen to him, not counting on the fact that people are used to SpaceX blowing things up.
If it works 50%, he learns, and millions of people will watch it, YouTube experts will pour of every second of footage for post-game analysis, and people will talk about how smart Elon is. The same Elon that is anti-Harris. (watching the plasma burn through the wing-flap , and it still function was amazing)
If I were a cynic, I might opine that the retrograde motion of the FAA may have been caused by the real possibility of regime change in Jan. Loss of a job and pension are as effective as a hanging in the morning at focusing the mind.
Lee S,
The American system of government IS great.
The problem is that America is not following the American system of government, and it has not followed it for a great many years.
@Edward…. And the rest of BTB users… We have to agree to disagree on the case for higher taxes and better social welfare.. ( although I’m right ;-)
… You say “I will argue that if any or all of these are privately run, then we can choose which services we want and which price we want to pay.” Which completely misses the point. Social welfare is there to protect the most vulnerable in society, those that don’t have a choice. Yes, there will always be a few that abuse the system, but that is a price worth paying to protect those that genuinely need help thru no fault of their own. I will however admit that this needs a transparency of government that I guess you guys don’t have…. Under any political party.
@Sippin_bourbon…. Yes, I live in Sweden, where we currently have a mostly right wing government, although there are members of OUR left with positions in the government. We have a completely system than you guys, there is actually an eye watering amount of party’s rather than just 2, and after elections, a coalition must be formed thru negotiations until a majority can take power. I would argue that as long as there is transparency of government this is a more democtic than the system you guys have. I also stated that some things should be left to the free market, and this includes space exploration. I admire the fact that NASA has begun to put certain projects out for tender (although deep space robotic missions are probably still still better off being totally controlled by NASA, they have the experience and expertation to do great things.)
@everyone again, it’s very true that living over here I do not get the fine details of how your government rolls, but I do know that other forms of government work, and Sweden punches well over it’s weight regarding innovation. It produced ABBA after all., along with Spotify, the 3 point seatbelt, the zipper, a multitude of pharmaceutical companies, a multitude of tech ccompanies…, the list goes on and on. All in a generally socialist country.
Oh, and go SpaceX!
Oh… I forgot the adjustable wrench, the tool which has caused more swearing and bloody knuckles than any other in the history of mankind ;-)
Just tuned in at 8am (ET)
This should be exciting, no matter what happens!
They caught the booster!
Holy chopsticks!
After watching the animations these past years I have to remind myself that this time it was real!
Totally dumbfounded!
I have no words.
Phenomenal.
Watching re-entry of the vessel.
Mechzilla Moonwalking!
Was that a test of the flight destruct as starship was floating there, or is it just a bad idea to land in water. Little bit of a grand finale to a historical day. It kaboomed, just at the right time.
Crazy SOBs did it!
Lee, Thank you, but I understand how a parliamentary system works.
When reading the FAA’s conclusions, I am reminded of Mel Brooks as Gov Lepetomane in Blazing Saddles wanting to protect his phony baloney job(s). Cheers –
https://youtu.be/uTmfwklFM-M
I’m wondering if the FAA is sensing the possibility of Trump winning next month and are attempting to get back to a decent working relationship with Musk, before he is given the authority to axe another of their department.
Ray Van Dune, 1281 posts on NSF, 1887 likes. Just some innocent autotooting :)