spacetoday.net: FAA delays SpaceX Starship environmental review

Posted: Thu, Dec 30, 2021, 2:28 PM ET (1928 GMT)
The FAA said Tuesday it needs at least two more months to complete an environmental review required for SpaceX Starship orbital launches. The agency said that the review, previously scheduled for completion by the end of this month, has been pushed back to the end of February in order to address more than 18,000 public comments and continue coordination with other state and federal agencies. SpaceX had earlier hoped to complete the review and get an FAA launch license to allow it to conduct its first orbital launch attempt in January or February. It is not clear, though, if the vehicle would have been ready on that schedule even if the environmental review was complete now.