Three months after SpaceX’s first Starship launch ended in a fiery explosion over the Gulf of Mexico, the company hasn’t submitted its final accident report to the Federal Aviation Administration, signaling that the next-generation rocket program remains grounded and is unlikely to attempt a second launch this summer.
The FAA, which is overseeing an investigation into the April 20 launch, said Wednesday it was still awaiting the report it needs to identify corrective actions SpaceX must take to get the OK to launch again from Boca Chica.
An FAA spokesperson declined to speculate when the agency’s investigation might be completed, saying that “public safety and actions yet to be taken by SpaceX will dictate the timeline.”
SpaceX fuels up Starship Super Heavy boosters in prelaunch tests
SpaceX loaded propellant into Booster 9 and Booster 10, two "Super Heavy" first stages of its huge new Starship deep-space vehicle. Booster 9 was fueled on the orbital launch mount at the company's Starbase site in South Texas, whereas the Booster 10 test occurred at the nearby Massey's Test Facility.
"Propellant load tests recently completed for Starship Super Heavy Boosters 9 and 10," SpaceX said via X (formerly Twitter) today (July 25). That post also includes photos of the stainless-steel boosters, which are rimmed with frost from the supercold propellants (liquid methane and liquid oxygen).
SpaceX didn't specify when those tests took place. But they had to occur in the past few days, at least for Booster 9; it was just rolled out to the orbital launch mount on July 20.