Talking Space

So much has happened so fast in the last couple of weeks related to SpaceX’s pursuit of Starship’s Flight 2 launch license. Look at all these goings-on: September 10, 2023: The list of 63 corrective actions specified in the Mishap Investigation Report are published; September 13, 2023: Acting FAA Administrator Polly Trottenberg comments to reporters that “We’re working well with them (SpaceX) and I think we’re optimistic sometime next month,” whatever that means. Trottenberg also mentions that SpaceX would also need a separate environmental approval from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) before a launch. She didn’t say how long that might take. Late Friday afternoon on September 15, 2023: News from FAA that they were performing a Written Reevaluation (WR) of the 2022 Programmatic Environmental Assessment (PEA). The WR will evaluate all the new environmental data collected as a result of the April 20, 2023 initial test launch of Starship, and will include results of an Endangered Species Act (ESA) con