The final two efforts to advance SpaceX’s spacecraft and super heavy rockets ended with ferocious stripes stripes across the sky. However, the Federal Aviation Administration is pleased that SpaceX is safe to try again.
On Thursday, the FAA announced that it could return to flight an under-developed rocket, which will be launched by SpaceX’s Texas site Starbase. The decision comes after completing the investigation of the test flight on March 7, resulting in the destruction of the upper stage of the rocket found in the Caribbean across the East Coast.
The SpaceX Starship falls apart during a test flight and will scatter wreckage in the Bahamas on March 6, 2025. pic.twitter.com/r20tsahloa
– UFO Community (@ufocommunity) March 7, 2025
This is almost a mirror result of the January attempt, with both the explosive edges seen in videos shot from the Bahamas, Turk & Caicos and Florida.
“The FAA has conducted a comprehensive safety review of the SpaceX Starship Flight 8 Mishap and has determined that the company is fully addressing the cause of the accident, allowing spacecraft vehicles to return to flight,” the FAA said in a press release. “The FAA confirms that SpaceX implements all corrective actions.”
The ninth test flight could arrive early next week.
Starship is the replacement hardware for the company’s existing Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy Rockets, which will be launched from Florida and California. For now, SpaceX is supporting two more spacecraft launch sites, using only the Texas site to launch its Starship Test, amid a massive $1.8 billion construction frenzy on the Space Coast.
Starship is the answer to SpaceX founder Elon Musk on how to build a human colony on Mars. But even if the payload capacity of a rocket increases, he said thousands of rockets will be fired a year to make that dream possible.
Unlike Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy, Starship is created to be completely reusable. A super heavy booster is designed to return to the launch site and be captured by the “chopsticks” in the launch tower. Additionally, the upper stage allows for safe, vertical landings at your destination.
For now, Starship has attempted eight suborbital launches and managed three successful captures of the Super Heavy Booster. The 2024 Upper Stage featured a splashdown landing in the Indian Ocean off the west coast of Australia, making several promising trips around the world half-hearted. However, both 2025 launch attempts collapsed the upper stage with a fiery display soon after the liftoff.
It took the FAA more than two months to clear SpaceX’s next attempt.
“The FAA’s decision when vehicles involved in the accident can resume operations is based on public safety,” the agency said. “When making this decision, the FAA will consider several factors, including the nature of the accident, the performance of the vehicle safety critical system, and the creation of unscheduled debris.
“Before returning to flight decisions, the FAA must find that the systems, processes, or procedures associated with the accident do not affect public safety or other aspects of operator licensing.”
Clearance to fly means SpaceX meets “all strict safety, environmental and other licensing requirements,” the agency says.
At Starship Flight 9, the FAA has worked with the UK, Türkiye & Caicos Islands, the Bahamas, Mexico and Cuba.
Since the last flight, two environmental assessments have been issued. This includes expanding SpaceX’s upper flight limits from an annual Star Base to 25 missions. Other updates update airspace closures during the launch window. The FAA said it found that both assessments had no significant safety or environmental impact.
SpaceX states, “We need to update the flight safety analysis to calculate and establish hazard areas, taking into account all outcomes of pre-flighted flights, including all outcomes such as disaster events. That analysis should include population exposure risk, the possibility of spacecraft failure, which types of debris could be created, and where it is.
That said, the FAA has already expanded along the flight route with Flight 9, covering more than 1,800 miles, covering more than 1,000 miles of the US and other regions. This expansion comes from reusing SpaceX’s first super heavy booster.
With an increase in width from Starbase, Texas, through the Florida Strait, including the Bahamas, the Turkish and Caicos Islands, the FAA is asking spacex to try SpaceX between windows outside the windows during peak air traffic.
The company will also need to maintain $500 million liability insurance to cover claims from potential accidents on the next launch attempt.
