FAA Reviews Proposal to Raise Starship Launch and Landing Limits at Starbase

The Federal Aviation Administration opened an environmental review of SpaceX’s plan to raise annual Starship-Super Heavy activity at Starbase, Texas, evaluating a proposal that would increase the site’s launch and landing limits.

SpaceX is authorized for up to 25 launches and 50 landings a year at Starbase. The landing allowance includes 25 for Starship and 25 for Super Heavy. The proposal’s first phase would permit up to 100 launches and 200 landings annually. A second phase would raise those limits to 456 launches and 912 landings, with launches restricted to weekdays.

The higher limits remain a proposal, not an approved change. The FAA’s public scoping period closes Nov. 30, and public meetings are scheduled for Nov. 17-19.

Reflect Orbital, based in Hawthorne, California, purchased two dedicated launches from India’s Skyroot Aerospace for future spacecraft. The first is planned for Vikram-1, which reached low Earth orbit on its first flight in July. The second is planned for Vikram-1U, which remains in development. The agreement complements Reflect Orbital’s planned launches from U.S. sites.

“There’s a real launch capacity shortage right now,” Reflect Orbital co-founder and CEO Ben Nowack said.

Stoke Space moved the upper stage for its Nova Pathfinder rocket from its Kent, Washington, factory to Moses Lake on Oct. 14. The work is expected to verify the stage under cryogenic conditions and culminate in a hot firing of its Andromeda engine. After testing, the stage is slated to ship to Cape Canaveral, Florida; no test dates were specified.

Stoke expects Pathfinder’s debut in early 2027, with several missions planned across 2027 and 2028. The FAA’s public scoping period for the Starbase review ends Nov. 30.