FAA Orders Investigation After Spacex Starship Faa Grounding on Flight 12
The FAA said the spacex starship faa grounding follows SpaceX’s May 22 Starship Flight 12 launch from Starbase, Texas, after it determined the flight resulted in a mishap. SpaceX cannot fly Starship again until it completes an investigation the agency oversees and the FAA approves the final report and corrective actions.
The agency said the mishap involved the Super Heavy booster as it flew back to the Gulf of America after stage separation. Telemetry shown during SpaceX’s webcast indicated the booster hit the water at nearly 1,500 kilometers per hour after the boostback burn ended in less than 20 seconds, well short of the roughly one-minute plan.
FAA May 27 Statement
In a May 27 statement, the FAA said, “After a thorough assessment of the operation, the FAA has determined the May 22 SpaceX Starship Flight 12 launch resulted in a mishap.” It also said, “The mishap involved the Super Heavy booster as it flew back to the Gulf of America after stage separation.”
The agency said it had been investigating anomalies involving the Super Heavy booster immediately after the launch. It defined a mishap as meeting one of several criteria, including the failure to complete a launch or reentry as planned.
Super Heavy Booster Flight
SpaceX intended Super Heavy to perform a boostback burn after the Starship upper stage separated. The company did not plan to return the booster to the launch site to be caught by the launch tower; instead, it planned a landing burn and soft splashdown in a region of the Gulf.
The booster appeared to suffer failures of several of its Raptor 3 engines shortly after the boostback burn began. The stage fell into a debris response area activated by the FAA, and there were no reports of damage.
Starship Flight 12 Effects
Several aircraft flights suffered departure delays or airborne holding events because of the Super Heavy anomaly, according to the FAA. Flight 12 was the first flight of version 3 of Starship, which included upgrades to both stages and the introduction of the Raptor 3 engines.
Despite the engine failure, SpaceX completed many of its stated test objectives, including deploying Starlink mass simulators and completing a soft splashdown of the upper stage in its targeted landing zone in the Indian Ocean. The practical effect now is simple: Starship stays grounded until SpaceX finishes the agency-reviewed investigation and the FAA signs off on the corrective steps.
