FAA Opens Environmental Review of Up to 456 Starship Launches a Year at SpaceX's Texas Site; Comments Due Nov. 30

What the FAA announced

The Federal Aviation Administration has announced that it will prepare a Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) on SpaceX's proposal to increase Starship-Super Heavy launch and landing operations at the Boca Chica Launch Site at Starbase, Texas, and to expand Starship landing and expenditure locations. The Notice of Intent was filed Oct. 13 and published in the Federal Register on Oct. 14, 2026, at 91 FR 65289 (Federal Register notice).

This review covers the Texas site only. It is not a review of the planned Starbase Louisiana site at Freshwater City in Vermilion Parish.

The numbers

The FAA says SpaceX is currently authorized for up to 25 launches and 50 landings a year at the Texas site: 25 of Starship and 25 of Super Heavy (Federal Register notice).

The PEIS will evaluate a maximum of up to 456 launches and up to 912 landings a year at the Texas site. The notice describes two phases (Federal Register notice):

- Phase 1: up to 100 launches and 200 landings a year. Launches and landings could occur on any day or at any time of the week.

- Phase 2: up to 456 launches and 912 landings a year. Launches could occur at any time of day, but only Monday through Friday. The FAA says this phase would be implemented "within several years."

For its analysis, the FAA assumes half of launches and landings would take place during the day (7 a.m. to 10 p.m.) and half at night (10 p.m. to 7 a.m.). The only alternative the notice lists is a No Action Alternative, under which SpaceX would keep its current approved cadence (Federal Register notice).

How to comment

The scoping period opened when the notice was published. The FAA asks that comments be submitted by Nov. 30, 2026, through regulations.gov under docket FAA-2026-12808 (regulations.gov docket), or by mail to Amy Hanson, FAA Environmental Protection Specialist, SpaceX Boca Chica, c/o Kimley-Horn, 767 Eustis Street, Suite 100, St. Paul, MN 55114 (Federal Register notice). Comments are posted publicly without changes, including any personal information.

Scoping meetings

The FAA will hold four in-person meetings and one virtual meeting. All times are Central (Federal Register notice):

- Tuesday, Nov. 17: 1 to 3 p.m. and 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., Texas Southmost College, Jacob Brown Auditorium, Brownsville, Texas.

- Wednesday, Nov. 18 (virtual): 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. The link and call-in number will be posted on the FAA project page.

- Thursday, Nov. 19: 1 to 3 p.m. and 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., Port Isabel Event & Cultural Center, Port Isabel, Texas.

Requests for accommodations beyond Spanish translation are due Nov. 2. A draft PEIS will be released for public comment at a later date (Federal Register notice).

The Louisiana angle

The Current, an outlet based in Lafayette, framed the Texas review as "a possible glimpse of what's to come in Louisiana." It noted that SpaceX wants to launch Starship from its planned Vermilion Parish spaceport "at an even higher clip of potentially thousands of launches per year" (The Current). The FAA notice does not address the Louisiana site. Starbase Louisiana would require its own federal environmental review.

Independent. Not affiliated with SpaceX, Vermilion Parish, or the State of Louisiana.