The U.S Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has announced it will need at least another month to complete its environmental review of the SpaceX Starship program.
The agency announced it will publish its review by April 29, 2022.
This is the latest in a series of delays from the FAA, which was originally supposed to publish its Programmatic Environmental Review before the end of 2021.
That date was pushed back to March 28, and has now been delayed further to allow for “consultation and coordination with agencies at the local, State, and Federal level,” the agency said in a statement.
Their statement also explained that even with the completion of the review, a Starship orbital test flight is not guaranteed as it would still need to meet FAA safety, risk and financial responsibility requirements.
SpaceX would also need to obtain a license for the first orbital launch attempt.
While they wait, SpaceX is hedging their bets and building a second Starship launch tower launch pad at Florida’s Kennedy Space Center.
The FAA is delaying the environmental assessment on SpaceX's Starship facility by another month, to April 29 from March 28.
Full statement: pic.twitter.com/JnGPAkaaou
— Michael Sheetz (@thesheetztweetz) March 25, 2022
