FAA Approves 25 Annual Starship Launches from Texas, Marking Major Win for SpaceX After Regulatory Friction

The FAA’s decision comes after an environmental assessment concluded that the proposed increase in launch and landing activity at the Boca Chica site would not result in significant environmental harm. The agency issued a “mitigated Finding of No Significant Impact” (FONSI), a designation that allows the expanded operations without requiring a more extensive environmental impact statement.

SpaceX’s request included up to 25 launches and 25 landings annually for both the Starship upper stage and its Super Heavy booster. In its formal record of decision, the FAA called the plan “a reasonable, feasible, practicable, and prudent alternative” aligned with federal objectives. However, the approval includes a comprehensive list of conditions—some carried over from previous assessments and others newly added. These include stricter oversight of wastewater discharges from the launch deluge system, following allegations that SpaceX had operated the system without proper permits.

The regulatory milestone follows years of tension between SpaceX and federal agencies. Since the first suborbital Starship tests in 2020, which often ended in dramatic midair explosions, SpaceX has faced increasing scrutiny over the environmental and safety impacts of its operations. In 2020, SpaceX launched a Starship prototype without full FAA approval, prompting an investigation and raising concerns within the agency about the company’s compliance culture.

CEO Elon Musk has been an outspoken critic of what he sees as outdated and overly cautious regulatory frameworks. "The FAA’s space division has a fundamentally broken regulatory structure," Musk tweeted in 2021, arguing that slow approvals conflict with SpaceX’s fast-paced, iterative development model. The FAA, in contrast, has maintained that its role is to ensure public safety and environmental stewardship as commercial space activity accelerates.

The latest decision followed a robust public engagement process. Between in-person meetings in Brownsville, Texas, and a virtual meeting in January, the FAA received over 12,000 public comments. At the virtual meeting, many participants voiced opposition to the plan, particularly to proposals involving potential Starship landings in the Pacific Ocean near Hawaii—an option SpaceX has not yet exercised. Based on public feedback, the FAA revised the assessment to ensure any such landings would occur beyond Hawaii’s 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone, adding a buffer around a nearby marine national monument.

Even some supporters expressed reservations. David Dixon, a South Padre Island property owner, said he was enthusiastic about SpaceX’s mission but concerned about the long-term impact of launch vibrations on local structures. “We’re excited by what SpaceX does,” he said. “But I know it’s doing long-term damage.”

The Starbase approval is part of a broader expansion of SpaceX’s launch footprint. In March, the FAA approved increasing Falcon 9 launches from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California from 36 to 50 per year. The Department of the Air Force is reviewing a proposal to allow up to 100 Falcon launches annually from Vandenberg’s Space Launch Complexes 4 and 6. In Florida, the FAA is assessing increased Falcon 9 activity at Cape Canaveral’s SLC-40, with a virtual public meeting scheduled for May 8. Separate reviews are also underway for Starship operations at Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39A and Cape Canaveral’s SLC-37 or a proposed new SLC-50.

With regulatory momentum behind it, SpaceX is poised to accelerate Starship development, aiming to make the fully reusable rocket system a backbone of future missions to the Moon, Mars, and beyond. Yet the path forward remains tightly linked to continued environmental oversight, public engagement, and the evolving relationship between bold aerospace ambitions and federal oversight.

By Azhar