FAA issues long-awaited launch license to SpaceX’s South Texas Starship

With 5 minutes left in the work day, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) gave the go-ahead to SpaceX’s orbital launch on Friday. The approval comes after increased social media posts about Starship by the company’s CEO, Elon Musk, who said the FAA launch license was the last step needed to send the rocket to orbit.

“After a comprehensive license evaluation process, the FAA determined SpaceX met all safety, environmental, policy, payload, airspace integration and financial responsibility requirements,” the agency wrote in an email.

This launch license is valid for five years, and the FAA is using some strategies to close and reopen airspace near SpaceX’s Boca Chica site more efficiently, the release said.

SpaceX posted on Twitter two minutes after the FAA announced the launch license that it was now aiming for Monday to launch Starship.

Internal documents obtained by TPR show that SpaceX was expecting the FAA approval since last week, but the company’s management worried the much-hyped launch scheduled for April 17 could be delayed.