SpaceX gets FCC okay for next Starship/Superheavy test flight
Artist rendering of Superheavy being captured by
the tower chopsticks at landing. Click for video.
The FCC yesterday issued SpaceX a communications license for the fifth orbital test launch of its giant Starship/Superheavy rocket, with the license permitting Superheavy to “either return to the launch site or perform a controlled water landing.”
The license runs through February 15, 2025.
This does not mean a launch has been approved however. The FCC only gives approval for radio communications on such a flight. It is the FAA that must issue the actual launch license, and it as yet not done so.
SpaceX had announced on August 8, 2024 that it was ready to go. It is now almost two weks since then and the FAA has said nothing.
The only justifiable reason for this delay would be that SpaceX has requested permission to do the first chopstick landing of Superheavy at Boca Chica (as suggested by the FCC approval), and since this changes the already approved flight path from the previous four test launches, the FAA is reviewing it more closely, and taking its time to do so.
The simple fact is that it can’t learn anything by this review. It isn’t qualified to make any educated determination. Either it is willing to let SpaceX do that return, or not. If it is against it at this point, it should simply say so, demand SpaceX hold off a chopstick landing until later, and give it permission now to do another ocean landing. At least this way the company would have clarity and could proceed.
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Artist rendering of Superheavy being captured by
the tower chopsticks at landing. Click for video.
The FCC yesterday issued SpaceX a communications license for the fifth orbital test launch of its giant Starship/Superheavy rocket, with the license permitting Superheavy to “either return to the launch site or perform a controlled water landing.”
The license runs through February 15, 2025.
This does not mean a launch has been approved however. The FCC only gives approval for radio communications on such a flight. It is the FAA that must issue the actual launch license, and it as yet not done so.
SpaceX had announced on August 8, 2024 that it was ready to go. It is now almost two weks since then and the FAA has said nothing.
The only justifiable reason for this delay would be that SpaceX has requested permission to do the first chopstick landing of Superheavy at Boca Chica (as suggested by the FCC approval), and since this changes the already approved flight path from the previous four test launches, the FAA is reviewing it more closely, and taking its time to do so.
The simple fact is that it can’t learn anything by this review. It isn’t qualified to make any educated determination. Either it is willing to let SpaceX do that return, or not. If it is against it at this point, it should simply say so, demand SpaceX hold off a chopstick landing until later, and give it permission now to do another ocean landing. At least this way the company would have clarity and could proceed.
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.
To be clear, when SpaceX announced that flight 5 was “ready to go”, that was a stretch, and shouldn’t be interpreted as “we can launch now if we get the permit.” What Musk actually tweeted was that they had resolved all their technical issues, and his calling that “ready to launch” is an Elon-ism. They are still in the normal pre-launch testing flow of static fires, etc. The actual “Ok we’re ready to launch as soon as we have a permit in hand” date is currently tracking on the first week of September. The FAA certainly has known this and is presumably planning to issue a license on that time frame. As much as well all like to complain about the FAA being slow and dragging it’s feet, there has not yet been a case of Starship actually being 100% ready to go, able to roll out and launch on command, a target launch date being announced, and the permit not being available on that date.
It can be argued that SpaceX might have accelerated their pre-launch processes if they had a permit in hand, but some observers disagree that SpaceX could really have gone any faster, and messaging from SpaceX itself implies that they are in constant communications with a supportive FAA, and that FAA permitting has not been driving the launch timing.
David Eastman wrote, ” As much as well all like to complain about the FAA being slow and dragging it’s feet, there has not yet been a case of Starship actually being 100% ready to go, able to roll out and launch on command, a target launch date being announced, and the permit not being available on that date.”
This is not true. On the second launch especially the FAA caused at least a two month delay from when SpaceX was ready and when it was finally allowed to launch. On the next two launches it appeared to me that SpaceX could have launched at least one or two weeks earlier if it hadn’t had to wait for FAA approval.
I think the work you cite that SpaceX did prior to every launch was work it did while it waited. In some cases it was work that needed to be done before launch, but in others it was work the company did to take advantage of the extra time, not let it go to waste, by doing additional tests to gather new engineering data.
I must ask however: Why are Americans so quick to assume the government is not at fault, that its motives are entirely pure, and that it isn’t a major contributing factor in stifling American innovation, competition, and freedom? The evidence says it is a problem, and an increasing one. Why do we wish to make believe this is not so?
I would guess that getting Tower 2 topped off and the monster crane safely stowed is the biggest non regulatory impediment at this point as the storm delay held them up a fww weeks. This is a unique and significant asset the owners no doubt have other contracts lined up to service so would prefer to be free and clear of any possible IFT 5 chopstick mishap. That, or have SpaceX cover a Lloyds of London insurance policy against its possible loss or damage.
My 2 cents worth anyway.
Not everyone who works in government has horns on their head….
“who works in government has horns on their head…. “. Maybe not, maybe, but until it can be shown to be true beyond a reasonable doubt, it’s the way to bet. Recent government behaviors, actions and activities lend serious credibility to this suspicion of the government.
“At least this way the company would have clarity and could proceed.”
Which is most certainly the reason for the delay.