SpaceX gets license to fly 25 Starship rockets per year from Starbase

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has granted SpaceX a license to launch and land 25 Starship rockets per year including a super heavy booster from Starbase, Texas after a long-standing environmental.

FAA initiated a public review and comment period for this revised draft tiered environmental assessment for SpaceX Starship/Super Heavy Vehicle increased cadence at the SpaceX Boca Chica launch Site in Cameron County, Texas. The public comment period began on November 20, 2024, and concluded on January 17, 2025.

“This tiered EA analyzes the impacts of the activities associated with SpaceX’s proposal to increase launch and landing cadence. This EA tiers from the 2022 Final PEA, which analyzed the construction of the launch site and less frequent operations (including launches and landings) of the Starship/Super Heavy launch vehicle program in Boca Chica, Texas. The operations considered in this tiered EA include up to 25 annual Starship/Super Heavy orbital launches, up to 25 annual landings of Starship, up to 25 annual landings of Super Heavy, and vehicle upgrades.” wrote FAA in the EA report.

SpaceX is currently developing this mega rocket to send heavy payloads into orbit, and human passengers to space. The company has so far conducted eight flight tests to confirm developments in various vehicle areas, while achieving new milestones.

The Starship is designed with two reusable stages, the first stage, known as Super Heavy, takes the rocket to space with 33 Raptor engines and sends the second stage to orbit. If the booster is healthy for landing, it returns to the launch site where, the catch tower plucks it in the midair. The second stage on the hand conducts the mission forward in the space.

The rocket is expected to achieve stability by this year, followed by commercial launches.

(source)