Calling the FAA! Anyone there? SpaceX has taken all of the required corrective actions required by the FAA, but still they haven’t received approval to launch another test flight of its Starship Super Heavy launch vehicle. In a not so subtle jab at the FAA Elon Musk posted on his social media platform X “Starship is ready to launch, awaiting FAA license approval.” (Hint Hint Hint).
What I always find ironic is when it comes to the government one hand doesn’t always know what the other one is doing. So let me break it down for you. On one hand you have the FAA taking its own sweet time in approving every new launch of SpaceX’s Starship Super Heavy launch vehicle, but on the other hand you have NASA who wants to return to the moon as early as 2025. Now in my opinion NASA is never going to return to the moon if they rely solely on their Space Launch System (SLS) and Orion spacecraft, which seem to be delayed indefinitely versus SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rockets that launch multiple times a week. This is the same cadence that SpaceX is building towards with their Starship Super Heavy launch vehicles. Now if only the FAA could move out of the way.
SpaceX is not yet cleared for another Starship Super Heavy test flight, FAA says