Against a gargantuan backdrop of a stacked Starship SN20 and Super Heavy Booster illuminated, along with an equally massive launch tower, by powerful spotlights, SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk on Thursday night gave his second presentation on Starship development progress at the company’s Boca Chica site, dubbed Starbase.

In attendance were a crowded phalanx of media, local officials, SpaceX employees and others as Musk discussed developments since his last update, which took place at Boca Chica in September 2019. Following his presentation and a video rendering of a Starship flight to Mars, he fielded several questions, some technical and others more general in nature, from journalists.

Noting that SpaceX is awaiting the results of a Federal Aviation Administration review of the company’s plans for Starbase, which will dictate whether the company can proceed right away with its first orbital launch from Boca Chica, Musk said that launch could take place instead from Kennedy Space Center in Florida if necessary.

He called that the “worst-case scenario” for Starbase if the FAA decides a more thorough Environmental Impact Statement is warranted, which Musk said could set back launch activity at Boca Chica by months. Long term, Starbase would remain the company’s main research-and-development facility for Starship, he said.

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