FAA responds to SpaceX Starship 5 licensing criticism

FAA has publically acknowledged criticism of the SpaceX Starship Flight 5 license delay. The agency said it has a good relationship with SpaceX but the license approval is based on choices the company makes.

The latest statement is coming from Dan Murray, executive director of operational safety at FAA’s Office of Commercial Space Transportation while speaking at the US Chamber of Commerce’s Global Aerospace Summit on Wednesday.

Murray said SpaceX gets the majority of the FAA’s resources because of its frequent launch schedules. The Space launch vehicle company accounts for 80% of the 100 hours of overtime his office records each month.

A week ago, SpaceX published an official Starship 5 launch update. It reveals that the FAA has delayed the launch to November. The Starship 5′ first stage and second stage are launch-ready in the first week of August. It was expected to fly in September but the new date brings a two-month delay.

SpaceX criticized this practice and said that the delay is driven by “superfluous environmental analysis”.

FAA’s Response

Murray said the next Starship license is largely based on choices made by SpaceX. This scenario is the same for all companies interacting with the agency for launch approval.

These companies need to fulfill some criteria including the scope of the license, the time they took to share information, completing a license approval application, and providing information in case of any changes after submitting the application.

Specifically, the FAA issued a license for Starship 4 for multiple flights using the same profile but SpaceX modified the profile for Starship 5.

The agency said SpaceX has provided this modification detail in mid-August. The new profile change is related to the environmental impact of Flight 5 and it will cover a larger area than Flight 4.

It is also confirmed that the current changes are under process for environmental review. The agency will also have to perform a safety check, which might not take much time.

Murray said that the FAA has worked well with SpaceX on other regulatory issues such as the recent quick flight for the Falcon 9 after its first stage tipped over the droneship in late August.

Flight 5

A major milestone for this flight is to achieve first stage landing on a launch tower. However, we’ll have to wait to see that happen.

(Source – Spacenews)