Starship ignited its Raptor engines Monday morning on a test stand near SpaceX's Starbase launch facility in South Texas. The engine ran for approximately 60 seconds, and SpaceX confirmed the test-firing in a post on X: "Starship completed a long duration six-engine static fire and is undergoing final preparations for the ninth flight test."

The FAA is evaluating a SpaceX proposal to more than double the number of launches from the Space Launch Complex from 50 to 120 yearly.

The Federal Aviation Administration will allow SpaceX to perform as many as 25 Starship launches a year from its Texas site, five times the previous limit.

The report grants SpaceX's request to boost the number of Starship launches from Starbase per year by a factor of five, to 25. It also allows up to 25 landings at the site annually by each of Starship's two stages, the giant booster called Super Heavy and the upper-stage spacecraft known as Starship, or simply Ship.

SpaceX is getting closer to launching Starship, the world's largest rocket, once again on a critical flight test later in May.

After a lengthy review, the federal agency agreed to allow SpaceX to substantially increase the number of annual launches from its Starbase launch site in South Texas. Previously, the company was limited to five launches, but now it will be able to conduct up to 25 Starship launches and landings during a calendar year.

The Federal Aviation Administration has granted SpaceX permission to increase launches of its Starship rockets and Super Heavy boosters to 25 per year.

The approval from the FAA for SpaceX to conduct 25 Starship launches per year came after Musk months ago submitted a proposal to the agency, which licenses commercial rocket launches. In 2024, SpaceX conducted just four tests of the Starship. The news that ...

Starship rocket launches from Texas-based Starbase SpaceX is now authorised to land Super Heavy and Starship stages 25 times FAA finds no significant environmental impact under NEPA for launch incre

Sean Duffy was grilled over whether Elon Musk's cuts via DOGE have “made this situation worse" and "increased the challenges and potential safety concerns."