Overview
- The FAA concluded that the May 22 Flight 12 launch resulted in a mishap when the Super Heavy booster suffered multiple engine anomalies and made a hard splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico.
- SpaceX’s upper stage completed a suborbital trajectory and deployed 20 dummy Starlink satellites, two of which used cameras and sensors to scan the vehicle in flight.
- The FAA activated a debris response area after the booster failure, which placed several commercial aircraft in holding patterns and delayed departures, though the agency reported no public injuries or property damage.
- The regulator has required SpaceX to lead a mishap investigation that the FAA will oversee and must accept before approving corrective actions or any return-to-flight, making another launch before the company’s planned IPO unlikely.
- Starship V3 introduced new Raptor 3 engines and other upgrades but the program’s iterative test history and prior FAA probes mean the duration of this grounding is uncertain and could delay Starlink deployments and NASA demonstration plans.