The public comment period for the Revised Draft EA closed on January 17, 2025.

The FAA held public meetings on the Revised Draft Tiered Environmental Assessment for SpaceX’s proposal to increase the number of launches and landings of its Starship/Super Heavy vehicle at the Boca Chica Launch Site in Cameron County, Texas (Revised Draft EA).

The Revised Draft EA analyzed:

• Up to 25 annual Starship/Super Heavy orbital launches, including:
  • Up to 25 annual landings of Starship (Second stage)
  • Up to 25 annual landings of Super Heavy (First stage)

The Revised Draft EA also addressed vehicle upgrades. 

An electronic version of the Revised Draft EA was available on this website for download.

The FAA was scheduled to hold in-person public meetings on January 7 and 9, 2025. However, due to the designation of January 9, 2025 as a National Day of Mourning to honor the late former President Jimmy Carter, the January 9 meetings were cancelled. The FAA continued to hold two in-person public meetings on January 7, 2025, as well as one virtual meeting on January 13, 2025.

The two in-person public meetings were held on: 

• Tuesday, January 7, 2025; 1:00 PM–3:00 PM & 5:30 PM–7:30 PM CT at the Texas Southmost College, Jacob Brown Auditorium, 600 International Boulevard, Brownsville, TX 78520 

The virtual public meeting was held on: Monday, January 13, 2025; 5:30 PM–7:30 PM CT

Close of Comment Period

The public comment period for the Revised Draft EA closed on January 17, 2025.

The FAA previously released the Draft Tiered Environmental Assessment for the SpaceX Starship/Super Heavy Vehicle Increased Cadence at the Boca Chica Launch Site in Cameron County, Texas (Draft EA) for public review and comment on July 29, 2024.  The FAA released the Revised Draft Tiered Environmental Assessment for the SpaceX Starship/Super Heavy Vehicle Increased Cadence at the Boca Chica Launch Site in Cameron County, Texas (Revised Draft EA) for public review and comment on November 20, 2024. All comments received on the Draft EA between July 29 and August 29, 2024, as well as the Revised Draft EA from November 20, 2024 through January 17, 2025 will be given equal weight and be taken into consideration.

All comments received via Regulations.gov are available at online comments. All comments submitted online and in other formats will be included in the Final EA.

During the in-person and virtual meetings, members of the public had the opportunity to watch a pre-recorded presentation on the Revised Draft EA. Copies of the presentation and script can be accessed below. 

Presentation

Access the presentation in English here.
Accede a la presentación en español aquí.

Script

Access the script in English here.
Accede al guión en español aquí.
Online copies of the display boards, brochure, and community flyer presented during the in-person meetings can be accessed and viewed below.

Display Boards

Access the display boards in English here.
Accede a los carteles en español aquí.

Brochure

Access the brochure in English here.
Accede al folleto en español aquí.

SpaceX applied to the FAA to modify its existing vehicle operator license for the operation of the Starship/Super Heavy launch vehicle from its existing Boca Chica Launch Site in Cameron County, Texas. The affected environment and environmental impacts of Starship/Super Heavy operations at the Boca Chica Launch Site were analyzed in the 2022 Final Programmatic Environmental Assessment for the SpaceX Starship/Super Heavy Launch Vehicle Program at the SpaceX Boca Chica Launch Site in Cameron County, Texas (PEA; FAA 2022). The FAA issued a Mitigated Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI)/Record of Decision (ROD) based on the 2022 PEA on June 13, 2022.

The FAA has developed a written re-evaluation (WR) addressing the proposed project updates to the location of the expended forward heat shield in the Gulf of America, additional information regarding sonic booms resulting from a landing of the Super Heavy booster, updates to sonic boom modeling, and updates to use of the water deluge system. The WR evaluates whether supplemental environmental analysis is needed to support the FAA’s decision to modify SpaceX’s operator license. 

Based on the WR, the FAA concluded that the contents of the 2022 PEA remain current and substantially valid and that the decision to issue a modification of the existing vehicle operator license for updated operations for the Flight 5 mission profile for Starship/Super Heavy operations at the Boca Chica Launch Site does not require the preparation of a new or supplemental EA or EIS to support the Proposed Action. 

The WR was signed on October 12, 2024. An electronic version of the document is available at the following link:

• October 2024 Written Re-Evaluation

The FAA will provide language interpretation services upon request. Please email spacexbocachica@icf.com to request services.

La FAA proporcionará servicios de interpretación de idiomas a solicitud. Por favor, envíe un correo electrónico a spacexbocachica@icf.com para solicitar los servicios.

For media inquiries, please contact the FAA press office at pressoffice@faa.gov.

The FAA is announcing the availability of the Final Tiered Environmental Assessment and Finding of No Significant Impact/Record of Decision (FONSI/ROD) for the SpaceX Starship Indian Ocean Indian Ocean Landings Final Tiered EA and FONSI/ROD. The FAA is the lead agency on this Final Tiered EA. 
The electronic versions of the Final Tiered EA and FONSI/ROD are available on this website for download. 

• Final EA
• FONSI/ROD

Under the Proposed Action addressed in the Final Tiered EA:

• The FAA’s Federal Action is to modify SpaceX’s vehicle operator license that would allow SpaceX to land its Starship vehicle in the Indian Ocean. The Proposed Action includes expanding the Starship section stage landing area into the Indian Ocean to accommodate new trajectories proposed by SpaceX. In addition, the FAA must also approve related airspace closures for Starship reentry operations.
• SpaceX’s Proposed Action is to conduct a total of ten nominal operations, including up to a maximum of five overpressure events from Starship intact impact and up to a total of five reentry debris or soft water landings in the Indian Ocean, within a year of issuance of a NMFS concurrence letter. 

SpaceX applied to the FAA to modify its existing vehicle operator license for the operation of the Starship/Super Heavy launch vehicle from its existing Boca Chica Launch Site in Cameron County, Texas. The additional information in the application includes more detail about the operation of a deluge system, the addition of a forward heat shield interstage to the vehicle, and the expansion of the Area of Potential Effects for cultural resources. The FAA published a Written Re-evaluation that evaluates, based on this new information, whether supplemental environmental analysis is needed to support the FAA’s  decision to modify SpaceX’s vehicle operator license. 

Based on the Written Re-evaluation (WR), the FAA concluded that the proposed modification to  the vehicle operator license for Starship/Super Heavy operations conforms to the prior environmental documentation, that the data contained in the 2022 Programmatic Environmental Assessment remains substantially valid, that there are no significant environmental changes, and all pertinent conditions and requirements of the prior approval have been met or will be met in the current action. 

Therefore, the preparation of a supplemental or new environmental document is not necessary to support the Proposed Action.

The WR was signed on November 15, 2023. An electronic version of the document is available at the following link:

Written Re-evaluation (WR)

•  WR Appendix A: 2023 Biological Assessment Addendum

• WR Appendix A: 2023 Biological Assessment Addendum Pages 1-100
• WR Appendix A: 2023 Biological Assessment Addendum Pages 101-200
• WR Appendix A: 2023 Biological Assessment Addendum Pages 201-300
• WR Appendix A: 2023 Biological Assessment Addendum Pages 301-400
• WR Appendix A: 2023 Biological Assessment Addendum Pages 401-505

•  WR Appendix B: Reinitiation #1 of Interagency Consultation 
•  WR Appendix C: 2023 Cultural Resources Documentation

FAA will provide language interpretation services upon request. Please email spacexbocachica@icf.com to request services.
La FAA proporcionará servicios de interpretación de idiomas a solicitud. Por favor, envíe un correo electrónico a spacexbocachica@icf.com para solicitar los servicios.

For media inquiries, please contact the FAA press office at pressoffice@faa.gov.

Since the 2022 Programmatic Environmental Assessment, SpaceX provided the FAA with additional information regarding Starship’s planned landing, Super Heavy’s planned soft water landing, and the Launch Pad Detonation Suppression System. The FAA has published a Written Re-Evaluation which evaluates, based on this new information, whether supplemental environmental analysis is needed to support the FAA Office of Commercial Space Transportation decision to issue a vehicle operator license to SpaceX for the operation of the Starship/Super Heavy launch vehicle at its existing Boca Chica Launch Site in Cameron County, Texas. 

In the Written Re-Evaluation, the FAA concluded that the issuance of a vehicle operator license for Starship/Super Heavy operations conforms to the prior environmental documentation, that the data contained in the 2022 Programmatic Environmental Assessment remains substantially valid, that there are no significant environmental changes, and all pertinent conditions and requirements of the prior approval have been met or will be met in the current action. Therefore, the preparation of a supplemental or new environmental document is not necessary to support the Proposed Action.

An electronic version of the document was uploaded on Friday, April 14, 2023 and is available at the following link:

•    Written Re-Evaluation for SpaceX Starship Super Heavy Reentry

FAA will provide language interpretation services upon request. Please email spacexbocachica@icf.com to request services.
La FAA proporcionará servicios de interpretación de idiomas a solicitud. Por favor, envíe un correo electrónico a spacexbocachica@icf.com para solicitar los servicios.

For media inquiries, please contact the FAA press office at pressoffice@faa.gov.

The FAA published the Final Programmatic Environmental Assessment (Final PEA) and Mitigated Finding of No Significant Impact/Record of Decision (Mitigated FONSI/ROD) for the SpaceX Starship/Super Heavy Launch Vehicle Program at the SpaceX Boca Chica Launch Site in Cameron County, Texas (PEA) on June 13, 2022. The documentation is available for download below. 

Spanish

• Hallazgo Mitigado de Impacto No Significativo/Registro de Decisión – Spanish (PDF) 1MB
• Resumen Ejecutivo – Spanish (PDF) 1MB

English

• Executive Summary of the Final PEA – English (PDF) 2MB
• Mitigated FONSI/ROD – English (PDF) 1MB
• Final PEA for SpaceX Starship Super Heavy at Boca Chica (PDF) 12MB
• Appendix A. References (PDF) <1MB
• Appendix B. Noise Assessment (PDF) 8MB
• Appendix C. National Historic Preservation Act Section 106 Consultation  (PDF) 3MB
• Appendix D. Endangered Species Act Section 7 Consultation (PDF) 25MB
• Appendix E. Department of Transportation Act Section 4(f) Consultation (PDF) 7MB
• Appendix F. Viewshed Supporting Images (PDF) 3MB
• Appendix G. Exhaust Plume Calculations (PDF) <1MB
• Appendix H. Jurisdictional Wetland Determination (PDF) <1MB
• Appendix I. Comment Response (PDF) <1MB
• Appendix J. TGLO Correspondence (PDF) <1MB
• Appendix K. MOA Between Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and SpaceX (PDF) <1MB

The FAA determined that the Proposed Action would not result in significant environmental consequences and has issued a Mitigated Finding of No Significant Impact/Record of Decision (FONSI/ROD). The Mitigated FONSI/ROD is available above. Required mitigation measures are listed throughout Chapter 3 of the final PEA. Should any future license or permit be issued to SpaceX to perform any aspect of the Proposed Action, the FAA will ensure that SpaceX implements these mitigation measures as conditions for licensure. 

As part of the Endangered Species Act Section 7 consultation process, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) issued a Biological Opinion (BO), which concludes the Proposed Action is not likely to jeopardize the continued existence of any federally listed species or adversely modify designated critical habitat. The BO is included in PEA Appendix D and available here (PDF).

As part of the National Historic Preservation Act Section 106 consultation process, the FAA, Texas State Historic Preservation Officer, National Park Service, Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, SpaceX, USFWS, and Texas Parks and Wildlife Department executed a Programmatic Agreement (PA). The PA outlines the measures to resolve adverse effects of the Proposed Action on historic properties. The PA is included in PEA Appendix C and available here (PDF).

The FAA published the draft PEA on September 17, 2021. The original comment period was from September 17, 2021 through October 18, 2021. In response to public requests, the FAA extended the comment period to November 1, 2021. The FAA held two virtual public hearings to solicit comments from the public concerning the scope and content of the draft PEA. The hearings were held October 18 and October 20, 2021. The comments can be found on this page. The PEA was revised based on public comments, and the final PEA includes responses to comments (see final PEA Appendix I).