SOUTH TEXAS — SpaceX has achieved a significant milestone in its Starship program, securing an updated launch license from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) as of May 15, 2025. The modification allows the company to increase its annual Starship launches from its Starbase facility in South Texas to 25, a fivefold increase from the previous limit of five. However, the much-anticipated ninth test flight of the Starship megarocket, originally targeted for May 19, remains on hold as the FAA has yet to grant final approval.
The FAA’s announcement, detailed in a statement on May 15, emphasized that SpaceX cannot proceed with Flight 9 until the agency either completes its investigation into the Starship Flight 8 mishap or issues a return-to-flight determination. Flight 8, which launched on March 6, 2025, saw the Super Heavy booster perform well, but the upper stage exploded less than 10 minutes after liftoff, marking the second consecutive failure for the upper stage following a similar incident during Flight 7 in January. These setbacks have raised concerns about the reliability of the upper stage, a critical component for SpaceX’s ambitions to make Starship a fully reusable rocket for missions to the Moon and Mars.
The updated license also expands the scope of SpaceX’s operations, adjusting flight safety parameters following the March explosion. The FAA noted that the decision incorporates larger aircraft and maritime hazard areas in the U.S. and other regions, a response to debris from earlier Starship failures littering areas like the Bahamas and Turks and Caicos. British officials had expressed safety concerns over these territories, prompting the FAA to collaborate with international partners to refine the flight plans for Starship Flight 9, which will affect air routes extending 1,600 nautical miles eastward from Texas through the Straits of Florida.
SpaceX’s preparations for Flight 9 have been ongoing, with the company conducting multiple static fire tests of the upper stage, Ship 35, in recent weeks. The Super Heavy booster slated for this flight, Booster 14, previously flew successfully in January and will mark the first reuse of a Super Heavy booster in the Starship program—a key step toward SpaceX’s goal of rapid reusability. Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX, announced last week that the company plans to livestream a talk on its Mars plans from Starbase just before the Flight 9 launch, though the exact date remains uncertain due to the FAA’s pending approval.
The delay in Flight 9 approval has sparked discussions on X, with some users expressing frustration over the regulatory hurdles, while others commend the FAA’s cautious approach given the recent explosions. The FAA’s investigation into Flight 8, for which SpaceX submitted a mishap report on May 14, is ongoing, and the agency has not disclosed a timeline for its conclusion. Critics of the regulatory process argue that the FAA’s stringent oversight may slow SpaceX’s ambitious timeline for Starship, which is crucial for NASA’s Artemis lunar missions and the deployment of next-generation Starlink satellites.
Meanwhile, SpaceX continues to make strides with its Falcon 9 rocket, despite a separate incident earlier today, May 20, where a Falcon 9 experienced an auto-abort at T-0 during a Starlink launch attempt in Cape Canaveral. The company’s ability to juggle multiple programs highlights its operational resilience, but the repeated upper-stage failures of Starship raise questions about the engineering challenges ahead. As SpaceX awaits FAA clearance, the space community watches closely, eager for Flight 9 to demonstrate progress in the Starship program’s journey toward revolutionizing space travel.
