SpaceX received approval from US air safety regulators to launch the fifth major test flight of its massive Starship rocket, a critical mission that will see the booster portion return from space and attempt to land upright.
The Federal Aviation Administration, which licenses rocket launches and reentry, granted approval in an order Saturday. Now that it has the license in hand, SpaceX plans to launch Starship on Sunday from the company’s launch site in South Texas..
Approval for the flight came earlier than SpaceX expected. In September, the company said the FAA had notified it that licensing for this mission would not be granted until the end of November.a schedule that SpaceX harshly criticized as slow and inefficient.
At the time, the FAA noted that changes to Starship’s flight profile had “triggered a deeper review.” and that the FAA needed to consult other agencies about the environmental impact of the flight.
