SpaceX’s Proposal for 120 Annual Launches from Florida Pad Receives Preliminary Approval from FAA
Upon determining that the company’s proposal will not negatively impact the human environment, the agency schedules a public review.
MERRITT ISLAND, Fla.—SpaceX’s launch operations on Florida’s space coast could ramp up to every three days, and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is opening the floor for public review of its Draft Environmental Assessment regarding this increase.
The private aerospace firm currently has permission to conduct 50 Falcon 9 rocket launches annually from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. It is now seeking to boost that number to as much as 120 per year and to establish a new landing area for the Falcon 9’s first stage at the launch site, which would support up to 34 landings annually.
In evaluating the possible ramifications on air quality, climate, noise levels, cultural and water resources, as well as measures to manage hazardous materials, solid waste, and pollution, the FAA remarked:
“Based on the above review … the FAA has preliminarily concluded that the Proposed Action would not significantly affect the quality of the human environment.”
The FAA is also collaborating with the Department of the Air Force for this draft environmental assessment, and has made the Air Force’s assessment available for public commentary.
A virtual public meeting is slated for April 16 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., and the public comment period regarding both the assessment and its findings will remain open until April 24.
This assessment is released concurrently with NASA’s evaluation of another SpaceX proposal, which seeks to establish a Falcon 9 landing zone near the historic Launch Complex 39A at Florida’s Kennedy Space Center and to increase operations at that launch pad to 36 launches a year, with up to five potentially using the three-piece Falcon Heavy rocket. The new landing zone aims to accommodate 20 landings, with others planned for a drone ship off the coast.
Currently, SpaceX utilizes both Launch Complex 40 and Launch Complex 39A for crewed and uncrewed space missions, having launched Crew-10 to the International Space Station from the latter on March 14, just two days after sending more Starlink satellites from the former.
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The Crew-10 mission is expected to dock with the space station on March 15, initiating a countdown for the return of two NASA astronauts whose brief eight-day mission extended to nine months.
Additionally, construction of a Starship launch tower has commenced at Launch Pad 39A, while test flights of the massive moon-and-Mars-bound spacecraft continue in southeast Texas.