The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has given final approval to SpaceX for its ninth Starship flight. It is expected to take place as early as next week.
Starship’s previous launch took place on March 6. It ended with the destruction of the spacecraft, the wreckage of which then entered the atmosphere over the Caribbean. The accident was the second consecutive failure for SpaceX. The previous Starship flight in January ended in a similar manner.
Two accidents, which occurred in a similar scenario, led to the fact that SpaceX had to noticeably adjust its plans and the ninth Starship flight was postponed. By May, the company’s specialists had completed preparations for the new Super Heavy spacecraft and booster. The next step was to get authorization to fly from the regulators.
On May 22, the FAA announced that it had approved the return to Starship flights. In an official statement, the organization said it conducted a comprehensive review and determined that the company had satisfactorily fixed the causes of the March accident. Therefore, Starship can return to flying.
One of the changes for Starship’s ninth flight is the expansion of Aviation Hazard Areas (AHAs), which are airspace closures designed to prevent debris from a failed launch from hitting the aircraft. The environmental review concluded that the AHA should be expanded because the failures of the previous two launches meant that the likelihood of an accident was higher than previously thought. SpaceX’s plan to reuse the Super Heavy booster in an upcoming mission also influenced the decision to expand the AHA boundary.
The FAA noted that the ANA extends eastward from the Starbase spaceport for the ninth flight to about 2,960 kilometers beyond the Straits of Florida, including the Bahamas and Turks and Caicos Islands. By comparison, the ANA for Flight 8 spanned 1,640 kilometers.
SpaceX has not announced an official date for the new Flight 9 yet. However, temporary flight restrictions issued by the FAA shortly after it said it had given approval for the launch indicated that the company was working to make the launch happen as early as May 27.
Recall that the FAA was previously criticized because of its decision to grant SpaceX permission for 25 Starship launches per year.
According to Spacenews
