SpaceX

SpaceX is planning something different with its fifth Starship orbital test flight from Boca Chica, and things could get loud.

Evidence of debris stemming from return trips of SpaceX Dragon spacecraft has prompted the company to shift future landing operations from Florida to California.

A draft environmental assessment of SpaceX’s proposal to dramatically increase the number of launches from Boca Chica/Starbase is now available for public review, the Federal Aviation Administration’s SpaceX Boca Chica Project Team announced Monday.

SpaceX wishes to dramatically increase the number of Starship-Super Heavy launches it conducts out from the company’s Boca Chica production and testing complex, otherwise known as Starbase.

Shorebird nests were damaged by SpaceX’s June 6 Starship launch from Boca Chica, with shorebird nesting activity declining overall since the company began testing and launching rockets at the site, according to a report just released by the Coastal Bend Bays & Estuaries Program, or CBBEP.

SpaceX says it’s shooting for June 5 for the fourth orbital test flight of Starship, which will blast off from the company’s Boca Chica Starbase launch site.

Following a successful “wet dress rehearsal” of Starship-Super Heavy on Monday at Boca Chica/Starbase, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk wrote in a social media statement that the fourth orbital flight attempt would happen soon.

Starship S28 and Super Heavy B10, loaded with more than 10 million pounds of propellant, lifted off from Boca Chica/Starbase at 8:25 a.m. Thursday for SpaceX’s third Starship orbital flight attempt, after being granted permission by the Federal Aviation Administration on Wednesday.

As of Wednesday afternoon, everything appeared to be in place for SpaceX’s third Starship orbital flight attempt from Boca Chica Thursday morning — all that was missing was the required launch license from the Federal Aviation Administration.

SpaceX says a third orbital flight attempt with Starship-Super Heavy, launching from Boca Chica, could happen as soon as next Thursday “pending regulatory approval.”