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Updated February 15th, 2022 at 16:42 IST

SpaceX's Starship launch delayed as FAA postpones environmental assessment by 1 month

SpaceX is aiming towards the first orbital flight of its Starship rocket, however, a license from FAA following its approval has stalled the mission.

Reported by: Harsh Vardhan
SpaceX
Image: Twitter/@SpaceX | Image:self
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The wait for the Starship rocket's first-ever orbital flight got an extension as the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has postponed the release of the Draft Programmatic Environmental Assessment (PEA) by a month. The aviation agency is conducting an environmental assessment at the SpaceX Boca Chica Launch Site in Texas which raises concerns regarding public safety, national security, insurance requirements for the launch operator and environmental impact. SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk said that he is confident about the launch of Starship in a few months, however, a license from FAA following its approval has stalled the mission.

Starship's wait for launch approval extended further

In a statement released by FAA, it said, "The FAA intended to release the Final PEA on February 28, 2022. The FAA now plans to release the Final PEA on March 28, 2022, to account for further comment review and ongoing interagency consultations. A notice will be sent to individuals and organizations on the project distribution list when the Final PEA is available".

In a Starship update program organised at SpaceX’s R&D facility in Boca Chica last week, Musk had already predicted that the approval might come no earlier than March. "I think we're tracking to have the regulatory approval and hardware readiness around the same time. Hopefully, you know, basically a couple of months for both", Musk said. However, if the approval process takes time longer than the said time, the Starship might get launched from the 39A launch pad at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

In the update session, Musk had said that his company is approved for launch from 39A from an environmental standpoint. While SpaceX has conducted multiple launches to the International Space Station (ISS) from 39A, launching Starship would need better and bigger preparations. The FAA's new announcement comes just a day after SpaceX's new Polaris program was announced. 

Starship's first crewed flight confirmed under Polaris

Billionaire Jared Isaacman, who is the founder of the payments company Shift4 and has been a part of SpaceX's first all-civilian spaceflight, announced three major spaceflights under the Polaris Program. While the first of the three launches, named Polaris Dawn is targeted for the fourth quarter of 2022, the third launch would be the first crewed Starship launch. Tap here to read more about the Polaris program. 

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Published February 15th, 2022 at 16:42 IST

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