SpaceX gets FAA green light, Starship SN9 is free to fly

SpaceX finally got approval from the Federal Aviation Administration to launch its Starship SN9 prototype vehicle in South Texas.

The notification arrived early Tuesday morning, when the FAA published “SpaceX Starship launch is scheduled off Boca Chica with no major impact,” as part of its daily planning advice. The handful of residents of Boca Chica were also informed of the need to evacuate their homes this morning.

If you’ve been following this saga, this approval has been a long time coming. The company started making final preparations for a launch over a week ago, but an attempt on Monday, Jan.25 was ultimately called off. Then, last Thursday, SpaceX went so far as to evacuate residents nearby, asking local sheriffs to clean up nearby beaches and refuel the vehicle. The weather conditions were perfect.

But the vehicle did not go anywhere because it did not have a permit to do a 10 km flight test. As Starship gave off liquid oxygen on the launch pad, SpaceX founder and chief engineer Elon Musk evacuated on Twitter. “The FAA’s space division has a fundamentally broken regulatory structure,” Musk said. A similar look happened on Friday morning, when preparations were made for a launch. Yet no flight permit came.

Since then, sources have indicated that the FAA was paying close attention to the approval of flight SN9 after there were irregularities during the clearance process for flight SN8 in December from south Texas. Frankly, there have been all kinds of rumors, so without an official statement, it’s hard to know for sure what happened. But it seems clear that the FAA was following a reasonable process to ensure that SN9 would be as safe a flight as possible for local property near the launch site.

Now, this regulatory drama will recede into the background as SN9 takes center stage. It will launch against a stunning backdrop as SpaceX has already moved a second prototype spacecraft to a second nearby launch stand. This SN10 vehicle could very well launch later this month as SpaceX ramps up its test flight program.

The nominal plan is for the SN9 prototype to climb to an altitude of about 10 km, then perform a “belly flop” maneuver to simulate a release of energy during a return to the Earth’s atmosphere. As it approaches the surface, this prototype spacecraft will reorient itself and land near the launch pad. It was this last part – performing a final landing maneuver – that was canceled with the spectacular and fiery fall of SN8 in December.

SpaceX is expected to air a webcast of the launch attempt on Tuesday – its timing is of course uncertain – and we’ll integrate it below when it goes live.