Starship #9 authorised for launch
May 26, 2025
The upcoming launch of SpaceX’s giant Starship has been approved by the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA). The FAA has examined SpaceX’s history on the anomaly which led to the loss of Starship #8 and has now cleared Flight 9 for launch.
“The FAA conducted a comprehensive safety review of the SpaceX Starship Flight 8 mishap and determined that the company has satisfactorily addressed the causes of the mishap, and therefore, the Starship vehicle can return to flight,” FAA officials said in a statement. “With the Starship vehicle return-to-flight determination, Starship Flight 9 is authorised for launch.”
Starship 8 exploded high over the Atlantic Ocean less than 10 minutes after launch, raining debris down on The Bahamas.
Numerous launch dates have come and gone but the experts are suggesting May 27th possibly late in the evening from its South Texas site, there could be a launch.
However, SpaceX says they will not be attempting one of their – so far – successful ‘chopstick’ captures of the returning first stage for Test Flight 9.
Starship remains the biggest and most powerful rocket ever built. Fully stacked, it stands more than 400 feet (122 m) tall. Both Super Heavy (the booster stage) and Starship are designed to be fully and rapidly reusable, a breakthrough SpaceX thinks could help enable settlement of the moon and Mars.
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