SpaceX gets closer to huge increase in annual Texas launches as FAA environmental assessment advances

SpaceX has gotten one step closer to increasing the annual launches from its Texas base by five times, as the Federal Aviation Administration advances a revised environmental assessment.

Under a previous environmental assessment by the FAA, SpaceX can conduct up to five launches of Starship/Super Heavy a year from Boca Chica, Texas. 

According to a draft of a new FAA assessment released on Nov. 20, regulators are evaluating the potential impacts of up to 25 annual launches, as well as up to 25 landings of the Super Heavy booster and Starship upper stages, from the SpaceX Starbase in Boca Chica each year, SpaceNews.com reported.

The new assessment kicks off a public comment period that extends until Jan. 17, 2025. The FAA will host four in-person public meetings in Texas in early January, and one virtually on Jan. 13.

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The development came a day after President-elect Trump traveled to the south Texas SpaceX base to watch the sixth-ever launch of Starship alongside Elon Musk. 

SpaceX and NASA aspire to use the Starship, the world’s biggest and most powerful rocket, to transport astronauts back to the moon and eventually Mars. 

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SpaceX on Nov. 19 passed up on catching the Starship's booster with mechanical arms, instead directing it to splash down in the Gulf of Mexico due to communication problems. 

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NASA submitted a request this week to conduct a seventh Starship launch from Boca Chica as soon as Jan. 11, 2025, WCCF Tech reported.