Doubting Thomas: This post is essentially a retread of what I posted on December 23rd, when I noted that the FAA reassessment needed approval from both NOAA and the Interior Department, and both appears quite hostile to approving it.

I then predicted Starship would not fly “until the latter half of ’22, if then.” I suspect I was unfortunately being optimistic.

From one source (Parabolic Arc) it looks like US Department of the Interior is going to drop da bomb on SpaceX and require a multi-year environmental impact statement prior to any Starship launches at Boca Chica. I may have wasted $400 at Starship Ranch to get a good Starship first flight seat for my son and me. We will see.

http://www.parabolicarc.com/2022/01/17/report-spacexs-boca-chica-plans-face-serious-objections-from-fws-nps/

Here are some facts about the Biden Secretary of the Interior drawn from the Boston Globe:

Debra Anne Haaland serves as the 54th United States Secretary of the Interior. A member of the Democratic Party, she served as chair of the New Mexico Democratic Party from 2015 to 2017 and as the U.S. representative for New Mexico’s 1st congressional district from 2019 to 2021. Haaland has partial Native American ancestry and is an enrolled member of the Laguna Pueblo tribe.

She is a political progressive who supports the Green New Deal and Medicare for All. Her appointment is seen as a chance to set right the many betrayals of land ownership and use. Among them is the twisted saga of the Interior Department’s Land and Water Conservation Fund, which was designed to protect and expand access to public lands but which has been raided and abused for more than half a century.

Still glad to see Texas entering the space age for itself and recognizing the gem that they may have in Boca Chica.