FAA Approves SpaceX Starship Return to Flight With New Safety Considerations

Agency nearly doubles the aircraft hazard area after the massive rocket exploded on back-to-back test flights in January and March.

Jack Daleo

Thursday, May 22, 2025 at 03:05 PM ET

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Jack Daleo

The FAA has authorized SpaceX’s ninth test flight of its Starship rocket and Super Heavy booster. [Courtesy: SpaceX]

Key Takeaways:

The FAA has greenlit SpaceX's Starship for Flight 9, determining that the company has satisfactorily addressed the causes of previous launch mishaps, which included back-to-back explosions.
New safety considerations for Flight 9 include nearly doubling the aircraft hazard area (AHA) to 1,600 nm, reflecting past incidents that disrupted air travel and required increased debris response.
The FAA also recently approved SpaceX's plan for up to 25 Starship launches per year from its Starbase facility in Texas.
SpaceX continues to prioritize reusability, aiming to catch the Super Heavy booster (a maneuver successfully achieved in recent flights) and eventually Starship itself, to significantly lower launch costs.

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After exploding on back-to-back test flights in January and March, SpaceX’s massive Starship rocket has been greenlit for a ninth launch—with new safety considerations.

The FAA on Thursday announced it awarded Starship a return-to-flight determination authorizing Flight 9, which SpaceX CEO Elon Musk predicted would lift off this week. The agency will nearly double the previous flight’s aircraft hazard area (AHA) based on SpaceX’s analysis of that mission, it said in a statement.