FAA issues Starship launch license; SpaceX schedules launch for April 17th
Starship prototype #24 stacked on top of Superheavy prototype #7
FAA just sent out an email notice announcing that it has issued SpaceX the launch license for the first orbital test launch of Superheavy/Starship.
After completing an evaluation of all applicable Vehicle Operator License requirements, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued a commercial Vehicle Operator License to SpaceX for launches of the Starship/Super Heavy Launch Vehicle Program in Cameron County, TX.
The affected environment and environmental impacts of Starship/Super Heavy operations at the Boca Chica Launch Site had been analyzed in the 2022 Final Programmatic Environmental Assessment for the SpaceX Starship/Super Heavy Launch Vehicle Program at the SpaceX Boca Chica Launch Site in Cameron County, Texas. Since the 2022 Programmatic Environmental Assessment (PEA), SpaceX provided the FAA with additional information regarding Starship’s planned landing, Super Heavy’s planned soft water landing, and the Launch Pad Detonation Suppression System. In accordance with FAA Order 1050.1F, Environmental Impacts: Policies and Procedures, the FAA prepared the Written Re-evaluation of the 2022 Final Programmatic Environmental Assessment for the SpaceX Starship/Super Heavy Launch Vehicle Program at the Boca Chica Launch Site in Cameron County, Texas to describe and evaluate this additional information.
Based on the Written Re-Evaluation, the FAA concluded that the issuance of a 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, preparation of a supplemental or new environmental document is not necessary to support the Proposed Action.
In plain English, the FAA (and other federal agencies) have finally agreed that this launch will do nothing to change the conclusions of the environmental reassessment report that was approved in June 2022. That these agencies decided apparently decided to rehash that approved environmental reassessment for a launch that was also approved in that reassessment suggests that there are individuals in these agencies salivating for an opportunity to squelch SpaceX.
SpaceX has now set April 17, 2023 as the launch date, with its live stream going live in two days. I will embed that live stream late on April 16, 2023, for those who wish to watch it here.
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In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
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Starship prototype #24 stacked on top of Superheavy prototype #7
FAA just sent out an email notice announcing that it has issued SpaceX the launch license for the first orbital test launch of Superheavy/Starship.
After completing an evaluation of all applicable Vehicle Operator License requirements, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued a commercial Vehicle Operator License to SpaceX for launches of the Starship/Super Heavy Launch Vehicle Program in Cameron County, TX.
The affected environment and environmental impacts of Starship/Super Heavy operations at the Boca Chica Launch Site had been analyzed in the 2022 Final Programmatic Environmental Assessment for the SpaceX Starship/Super Heavy Launch Vehicle Program at the SpaceX Boca Chica Launch Site in Cameron County, Texas. Since the 2022 Programmatic Environmental Assessment (PEA), SpaceX provided the FAA with additional information regarding Starship’s planned landing, Super Heavy’s planned soft water landing, and the Launch Pad Detonation Suppression System. In accordance with FAA Order 1050.1F, Environmental Impacts: Policies and Procedures, the FAA prepared the Written Re-evaluation of the 2022 Final Programmatic Environmental Assessment for the SpaceX Starship/Super Heavy Launch Vehicle Program at the Boca Chica Launch Site in Cameron County, Texas to describe and evaluate this additional information.
Based on the Written Re-Evaluation, the FAA concluded that the issuance of a 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, preparation of a supplemental or new environmental document is not necessary to support the Proposed Action.
In plain English, the FAA (and other federal agencies) have finally agreed that this launch will do nothing to change the conclusions of the environmental reassessment report that was approved in June 2022. That these agencies decided apparently decided to rehash that approved environmental reassessment for a launch that was also approved in that reassessment suggests that there are individuals in these agencies salivating for an opportunity to squelch SpaceX.
SpaceX has now set April 17, 2023 as the launch date, with its live stream going live in two days. I will embed that live stream late on April 16, 2023, for those who wish to watch it here.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
Wish I could take off work and go see this. Will have to settle for the stream.
We will be there at the Rocket Ranch Outpost watching the thing from less than 5 miles a way.
We leave Sunday.
It is exciting to be able to see history being made.
I’m in shock. I can’t believe they issued the license. I didn’t think the government would let the Americans launch.
Could be the start of a new era, economical access to space with very usable payload capacity.
Even if its a total and absolute failure it is eventually a success for Space X, and the US as a nation.
If only half of the rockets fail to splash down vertically inside the first dozen Space X will be perfecting things until a total orbital flight success and 100% re-usability
Imagine it could just be fuel costs for a 200 ton cargo flight to the moon..
That these agencies decided apparently decided to rehash that approved environmental reassessment for a launch that was also approved in that reassessment suggests that there are individuals in these agencies salivating for an opportunity to squelch SpaceX.
The FAA really made a big deal about…what a big deal this was. How hard they worked!
“The award of the license concludes an extended review process. The FAA official said the agency spent more than 500 days reviewing the application, which SpaceX amended several times during that process. That is the longest the agency has spent on a single launch license application.”
https://spacenews.com/faa-issues-license-for-first-starship-integrated-test-flight/
Well, at least SpaceX has got it in hand now. Light the fires.
Go Baby Go!
“That these agencies decided apparently decided to rehash that approved environmental reassessment for a launch that was also approved in that reassessment suggests that there are individuals in these agencies salivating for an opportunity to squelch SpaceX.”
Or more likely, that people inside the FAA process were being informed that a WH with UAW allies was not favorable to top executives getting promotions after they helped Elon Musk spaceflight intentions to be fulfilled, after he has refused to hand his Tesla employees over to UAW “organizers”.
Ironically I suspect the FAA’s timing of this license may in fact help SpaceX succeed. My logic is that we all know some enviro activist will try to run to court and cause additional delays (likely subsidized by Bezos I expect too). But by issuing this license so late on a Friday directly before SpaceX’s placeholder launch date they gave SpaceX the opportunity to slot in the launch for early Monday morning. So with any luck they will get it off the ground before any court action can block them and if that flight proves reasonably successful with no environmental calamity the grounds for such action will becomes even harder to justify.
God’s Speed StarShip! : )
MDN: I think there is merit in your logic. Many people at the FAA are actually trying to help commercial space, including SpaceX. It could very well be that the whole timing of licensing and launch scheduling was a careful game to put these environmentalists off their game.
I have in fact heard people speculating that the gap between hearing that the license was ready several weeks ago, and it only actually being issued today, was that the rumors about an instant Sierra Club lawsuit got heard, and they decided to do a bit of extra due diligence to head that off at the pass. After all, it’s one thing to not go out of your way to help a company that is in a bit of political disfavor, it’s another to have your work dragged through the mud and the courts as insufficient and shoddy.
MDN and Robert … my thinking runs parallel to yours, though I still find it remarkable that the a government regulatory body would have even a few people with such a pragmatic – as opposed to the usual profit-phobic Progressive, building-code busybody – mindset.
Especially with All The Pseudodent’s “Men” (?) running the show right now
Then again, it has been said (and decried by some) that the FAA has the dual mandate of regulating and promoting air travel. The latter may account for the pragmatism.
The most publicly relentless BANANA environmentalist foe of Starbase is full of cope and seethe this weekend: “Nothing says “we’re confident in the legality and technical accuracy of this process” like issuing a government order at the last minute and after courts close so a private company can firebomb a wildlife preserve in peace.”
Instead, he’s contenting himself with an extended blog rant about how recklessly irresponsible the FAA is.
I seriously doubt that a last minute lawsuit for an injunction would have succeeded. But it’s just as well that the license got issued on a Friday evening.
Wonder when they’ll re-stack?. I checked this morning and it hadn’t happened yet.
Chopsticks swinging into action – I think.
https://www.youtube.com/live/FuZHVqieSxg?feature=share
Light That Candle.
Doubting Thomas: I’m insanely jealous. Tim Dodd says the Rocket Ranch is his favorite place to stay near Starbase TX.
Stacked.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60YnbafD6vY
https://twitter.com/VickiCocks15/status/1647349225125040129?s=20
FAA probably has some good stick-and-rudder men who want progress.
Outside of passenger flight crashes….the saddest thing they ever do is to take the keys away from elderly pilots, as it were.
One of these days, Harrison Ford is going to make another goof up…and an FAA-man who probably had Han Solo as a childhood hero is going to have to call him into a room…and both will leave broken hearted.
I’m tearing up right now just thinking about it. I can’t stand driving past animal hospitals for the same reason.