Elon Musk’s space exploration company SpaceX is preparing to launch Flight 5 Starship this coming Sunday (13th October).
“Starship’s fifth flight test is preparing to launch as soon as October 13, pending regulatory approval,” SpaceX announced on its official X (Twitter) account yesterday evening.
The final regulatory approval for the Flight 5 launch and landing test is held by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Elon Musk and the FAA both have their own narratives about the Flight 5 test feasibility and environmental safety measures.
The FAA just recently proposed $600K+ fines on SpaceX which were not related to Starship flight tests but the organization’s other launch activities.
If SpaceX has given a specific date and is preparing for the Starship Integrated Flight Test 5 (IFT-5) on 13th October, the company might be expecting a license from the FAA before then. This tentative launch date must be backed by some solid information.
However, the final license for Flight 5 is still pending while SpaceX’s intended date for the test is just a few days away.
The FAA requires SpaceX to provide additional safety information and apply compliance measures to get a license for the Starship Flight 5 launch test. SpaceX must have complied and should be expecting a license from the FAA soon.
Historically, the FAA publishes its commercial spaceflight license on its website on Wednesdays every week. So, we might get the big news of the grant of the Flight 5 license to SpaceX tomorrow.
Talking of commercial launch approvals granted by the FAA — historically — SpaceX was granted the highest number of licenses from the federal space regulatory authority. I looked into some data from the FAA to know how many licenses it has granted so far in 2024 to all the operators in the US.
In 2024 year-to-date (YTD), SpaceX has received 93 launch licenses out of the total 112 granted to multiple private commercial spaceflight operators. Rocket Lab got 11 licenses while Blue Origin, United Launch Alliance (ULA), and Virgin Galactic were granted 2 licenses each.
However, the 2 licenses we see for Boca Chica Texas in the above graph by the FAA are for the Flight 3 and Flight 4 tests conducted this year. SpaceX putting all its efforts into performing the 3rd Starship launch test (Flight 5) from Starbase, Boca Chica, Texas this year as well.
In one of his X posts last month, Elon Musk even said that Flight 6 Starship will be ready for launch till the FAA grants a license for Flight 5. Another flight test is possible this year if the FAA shortens the approval process for the next Starship test launches. However, the FAA will decide on this after the Flight 5 launch is successful and proves to be environmentally safe, especially during the landing catch by the Mechazilla (launch tower) Chopsticks.
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 launch test on 13th October. Get the details and expectations of the regulatory approval by the FAA.){kind=link}