FAA says SpaceX must wait to launch Starship on 9th flight test from Texas: Here's why
SpaceX has a few more regulatory hurdles to clear before its gigantic Starship spacecraft can soar halfway around the world once again.
Billionaire Elon Musk had made it known he hoped his commercial spaceflight company could launch the 400-foot rocket much sooner than federal regulators are apparently willing to allow. In a recent announcement, the Federal Aviation Administration, which licenses commercial rocket launches, said approval for Starship's next flight test is pending the completion of an investigation into the vehicle's previous explosion.
The Starship launch vehicle, which has been under development for years, has exploded twice in its first two demonstrations of 2025. While an investigation into the first fiery mishap in January has concluded, the FAA and SpaceX have yet to put the final touches on a similar inquiry into the most recent flight in March.
The delay comes as Musk, a close adviser of President Donald Trump, looks for SpaceX to significantly ramp up the testing of a vehicle that is due to play a significant role in upcoming U.S. spaceflight missions.
The FAA announced May 15 that it had approved license modifications officially granting SpaceX's request to increase the number of Starship launches from Starbase in South Texas to 25 per year.
"However, SpaceX may not launch until the FAA either closes the Starship Flight 8 mishap investigation or makes a return to flight determination," the agency said in a May 15 statement. "The FAA is reviewing the mishap report SpaceX submitted on May 14."
The two mishaps of 2025 prompted government officials in the United Kingdom to send a letter to the U.S. State Department, requesting that next flight's trajectory be changed to protect British territories in the Caribbean, ProPublica reported.
The mishaps are part of the reason federal regulators also announced that the FAA is expanding the size of aircraft and maritime hazard areas in the U.S. and other countries for the next flight test. The decision is also because SpaceX intends to reuse for the first time a Super Heavy booster rocket that has launched before.
Musk had hinted on Tuesday, May 13, that SpaceX could launch its Starship "next week" on its ninth flight test from the company's Starbase in Boca Chica near Brownsville, Texas.
Maritime warnings over the Gulf of Mexico, renamed by the U.S. government as the Gulf of America, even suggested the launch was being targeted for Wednesday, May 21. An updated advisory now indicates a launch is planned as early as Tuesday, May 27.
SpaceX, though, hasn't officially announced a target launch date while it awaits a green light from the FAA.
SpaceX is developing Starship to be a fully reusable transportation system, meaning both the rocket and vehicle can return to the ground for additional missions. In the years ahead, Starship is intended to carry both cargo and humans to Earth's orbit and deeper into the cosmos.
NASA's lunar exploration plans, which appear to be in jeopardy under President Donald Trump's proposed budget, call for Artemis III astronauts aboard the Orion capsule to board the Starship while in orbit for a ride to the moon's surface.
But Musk is more preoccupied with Starship reaching Mars – potentially, he has claimed, by the end of 2026. Under his vision, human expeditions aboard the Starship could then follow in the years after the first uncrewed spacecraft reaches the Red Planet.
Starship is regarded as the world's largest and most powerful launch vehicle ever developed.
At more than 400 total feet in height, Starship towers over SpaceX's famous Falcon 9 rocket – one of the world's most active – which stands at nearly 230 feet.
The launch vehicle is composed of both a 232-foot Super Heavy rocket and the 171-foot upper stage spacecraft, or capsule.
Super Heavy alone is powered by 33 of SpaceX's Raptor engines. The upper section, also called Starship or Ship for short, is the upper stage powered by six Raptor engines that will ultimately travel in orbit.
The first two flight tests of 2025 ended in dramatic explosions that sent cascades of fiery debris streaking across the sky. In both cases, the upper stage, the vehicle where astronauts and cargo would ride, came apart mere minutes into its flight instead of landing as planned in the Indian Ocean.
SpaceX is working with the FAA to investigate both mishaps, the most recent of which occurred March 6.
In a similar investigation into the first explosion of the year on Jan. 16, SpaceX concluded the mishap was due to a series of propellant leaks and fires in the aft section of the vehicle that caused 'all but one of Starship's engines to execute controlled shut down sequences." This led to the communication breakdown and the vehicle to trigger its own self destruction.
"With a test like this, success comes from what we learn, and today's flight will help us improve Starship's reliability,' the company said after the March 6 mishap. 'We will conduct a thorough investigation, in coordination with the FAA, and implement corrective actions to make improvements on future Starship flight tests.'
While the Starship has reached space, it has yet to reach Earth's orbit in any of its eight flight tests – instead traveling at a lower-altitude on a suborbital trajectory.
The vehicle has also not exploded on every iteration. In three tests between June and November 2024, Starship flew halfway around the world before reentering Earth's atmosphere and splashing down as planned in the Indian Ocean – critical proof that its basic design is functional.
Eric Lagatta is the Space Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at elagatta@gannett.com
This article originally appeared on Corpus Christi Caller Times: SpaceX will have to wait to launch Starship again from Texas: Here's why
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Boston Globe
34 minutes ago
- Boston Globe
DOGE gets failing grade
1: The DOGE numbers don't add up. Calculating how much DOGE has saved is difficult, but it's not at all hard to see that it didn't deliver what was promised. After Musk revised down his own early projection of DOGE savings from $2 trillion to $1 trillion, the department's website now estimates it has found more than $170 billion in taxpayer savings — Get The Gavel A weekly SCOTUS explainer newsletter by columnist Kimberly Atkins Stohr. Enter Email Sign Up But even that figure should be taken with a grain of salt, given that past examinations of DOGE's ' Advertisement DOGE moved to correct the error, as well as change the website to make such errors harder to find. But a Advertisement And though it may seem counterintuitive, cutting jobs doesn't actually translate to savings if it results in less productivity — if fewer IRS workers means less tax revenue is collected, for instance. An And even some Republican lawmakers have expressed unease with backing many DOGE-recommended cuts in a $9.4 billion legislative 'rescissions' package to claw back previously approved funding. House lawmakers 2: DOGE has roiled the job market. According to the latest jobs numbers, DOGE cuts contributed to a 50 percent spike in layoffs in May over the same period last year, Exacerbating the damage the firings alone have created is the chaotic way in which they were implemented. Federal agencies like the State Department, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Food and Drug Administration, National Weather Service, and the IRS are among those rushing to rehire terminated employees. That's because many of the estimated 135,000 DOGE-axed positions are for critical functions, like approving drugs and forecasting weather disasters. The layoffs' often-disorganized manner has confused dismissed workers and overtaxed remaining ones, many of whom have been asked to work overtime, volunteer to take on additional roles, or be pushed into new positions, Advertisement One former FDA worker That's not to mention the blow to communities in states where the largest percentages of federal workers are located, as well as government contractors that face secondhand profit and job losses due to the cuts. Outside of the greater Washington, D.C. region, which includes Virginia and Maryland, the hardest-hit states when it comes to canceled government contracts based on anti-DEI initiatives alone include Texas, California, North Carolina, Georgia, and Colorado — affecting politically red communities as well as blue. DOGE's harms know no partisanship. 3: The incalculable costs. On Monday a 'This was a breach of law and of trust,' wrote Judge Denise Cote in issuing the temporary injunction. 'Tens of millions of Americans depend on the Government to safeguard records that reveal their most private and sensitive affairs.' Whether some or all of DOGE's efforts to gain access to Americans' most sensitive information through agency databases will be declared unlawful is still uncertain. Challenges are still being litigated, and in a lawsuit involving DOGE access to Social Security data, the Advertisement According to Some DOGE staff have been granted temporary 'edit-access' to data, which means the information can be altered or deleted entirely within the federal system. That says nothing of the broader global impact, particularly through the dismantling of agencies like the United States Agency for International Development, which once provided critical life-saving humanitarian aid across the world. DOGE has The government claims that shuttering the agency saved Americans nearly $60 billion, or less than 1 percent of the federal budget. According to Advertisement Musk is already back to playing with his cars and rocket ships as the federal government picks up the pieces from his DOGE tantrum. But the global ripple effect is a reminder that some of the damage can't be undone. Editorials represent the views of the Boston Globe Editorial Board. Follow us
Forbes
2 hours ago
- Forbes
Tesla Cybertruck Price Collapse Drives Beast Of A Deal
Tesla electric cars and a Cybertruck are displayed in a test drive vehicle charging area at a ... More shopping mall parking garage in San Diego, California, on April 23, 2025. Elon Musk will significantly scale back his Trump administration work in May to focus on Tesla, the billionaire announced Tuesday as the electric vehicle maker reported a 71 percent drop in first-quarter profits. (Photo by Patrick T. Fallon / AFP) (Photo by PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images) The plunge in Tesla Cybertruck prices has resulted in unprecedented deals for the high-end trim of the Tesla pickup. Tesla is now selling new Cyberbeast inventory with 'price adjustments," aka discounts, of up t0 $10,550. One new Cyberbeast, a demo with 479 miles, is priced at $94,940. If you include the $7,500 federal tax credit, the price drops to $87,440. That configuration comes with 20'' Cyber Wheels ($3,500) and White Décor ($2,000). Another Cyberbeast is priced at $91,790 with a $10,200 discount. It also comes with 20'' Cyber Wheels and White Décor. Add the $7,500 federal tax credit and the price drops to $84,290. The Cyberbeast comes standard with a tri-motor powertrain and other extras such as Premium Interior with Suede Textile Trim. It is rated at 301 miles of range. (Note that these prices are as of Sunday June 15. But prices change often and vehicles may get sold, rendering the link inactive.) The price freefall comes against a backdrop of swelling new All-Wheel Drive (dual-motor) inventory on Tesla's Cybertruck page. Some inventory AWD Cybertruck discounts are as high as $8,550, bringing the price down to as low as $69,440 with the federal tax credit. That price includes 20'' Cyber Wheels ($3,500) and White Décor ($2,000). The Cyberbeast Foundation Series has fallen hard from its rarefied pricing of only a year ago. At that time, the Cyberbeast version of the Cybertruck was being flipped for more than $150,000. That market dynamic is now inverted. A tri-motor Cyberbeast Foundation Series with only 1,200 miles is selling for around $92,000 at a car dealership in Southern California as of Saturday June 14. Another used Cyberbeast with 16,027 miles has an asking price of $89,000. While another used Foundation Series Cyberbeast is selling for $89,620 with 9,974 miles. The Foundation Series comes with Full Self Driving standard, an $8,000 value, and Tesla Powershare vehicle-to-home back-up capability, among other extras. A new Cyberbeast sells for $99,990 on Tesla's Cybertruck website. Last year at this time it was priced at $119,990 direct from Tesla. Cars on average lose about 20% of their original value during the first year, according to Kelley Blue Book. But pricing of a virtually new (flipped) Cybertruck has lost as much as 40% of its value in a year. That's because the Cybertruck's used market value was inflated initially due to hype and high demand and meager supply. Overall, used Cybertruck prices have plummeted from a year ago when the average asking price for a used Cybertruck Foundation Series was over $130,000 (see charts). The wedge-shaped stainless steel pickup went on sale in late November of 2023. Tesla Cybertruck used market prices have come down more than 20% in the last six months. Tesla Cybertruck used market price has plummeted almost 40% year over year. Deliveries of the Cybertruck plummeted in the first quarter of this year—essentially cut in half—falling to 6,406 versus 12,991 in the fourth quarter of last year, according to Cox Automotive. Trade-in value for the truck has been a shock for some owners, after Tesla began accepting trade-ins.
CNBC
3 hours ago
- CNBC
AI is disrupting the advertising business in a big way — industry leaders explain how
Artificial intelligence is shaking up the advertising business and "unnerving" investors, one industry leader told CNBC. "I think this AI disruption ... unnerving investors in every industry, and it's totally disrupting our business," Mark Read, the outgoing CEO of British advertising group WPP, told CNBC's Karen Tso on Tuesday. The advertising market is under threat from emerging generative AI tools that can be used to materialize pieces of content at rapid pace. The past couple of years has seen the rise of a number of AI image generators, including OpenAI's DALL-E, Google's Veo and Midjourney. In his first interview since announcing he would step down as WPP boss, Read said that AI is "going to totally revolutionize our business." "AI is going to make all the world's expertise available to everybody at extremely low cost," he said at London Tech Week. "The best lawyer, the best psychologist, the best radiologist, the best accountant, and indeed, the best advertising creatives and marketing people often will be an AI, you know, will be driven by AI." Read said that 50,000 WPP employees now use WPP Open, the company's own AI-powered marketing platform. "That, I think, is my legacy in many ways," he added. Structural pressure on creative parts of the ad business are driving industry consolidation, Read also noted, adding that companies would need to "embrace" the way in which AI would impact everything from creating briefs and media plans to optimizing campaigns. A report from Forrester released in June last year showed that more than 60% of U.S. ad agencies are already making use of generative AI, with a further 31% saying they're exploring use cases for the technology. Read is not alone in this view. Advertising is undergoing a "huge transformation" due to the disruptive effects of AI, French advertising giant Publicis Groupe's CEO Maurice Levy told CNBC at the Viva Tech conference in Paris. He noted that AI image and video generation tools are speeding up content production drastically, while automated messaging systems can now achieve "personalization at scale like never before." However, the Publicis chief stressed that AI should only be considered a tool that people can use to augment their lives. "We should not believe that AI is more than a tool," he added. And while AI is likely to impact some jobs, Levy ultimately thinks it will create more roles than it destroys. "Will AI replace me, and will AI kill some jobs? I think that AI, yes, will destroy some jobs," Levy conceded. However, he added that, "more importantly, AI will transform jobs and will create more jobs. So the net balance will be probably positive." This, he says, would be in keeping with the labor impacts of previous technological inventions like the internet and smartphones. "There will be more autonomous work," Levy added. Still, Nicole Denman Greene, analyst at Gartner, warns brands should be wary of causing a negative reaction from consumers who are skeptical of AI's impact on human creativity. According to a Gartner survey from September, 82% of consumers said firms using generative AI should prioritize preserving human jobs, even if it means lower profits. "Pivot from what AI can do to what it should do in advertising," Greene told CNBC. "What it should do is help create groundbreaking insights, unique execution to reach diverse and niche audiences, push boundaries on what 'marketing' is and deliver more brand differentiated, helpful and relevant personalized experiences, including deliver on the promise of hyper-personalization."
