BROWNSVILLE, Texas – The Federal Aviation Administration has begun a programmatic environmental review of SpaceX’s proposal to conduct up to 456 Starship launches and 912 landings annually from its Starbase site in Cameron County.
The FAA said the proposal would be evaluated in two phases. The first contemplates up to 100 launches and 200 landings each year. A second phase would evaluate a maximum of 456 launches and 912 landings annually.
The agency is preparing a Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement and has opened a public scoping period. The review is part of the federal process that considers potential environmental effects before a decision on future launch operations is made.
The FAA has scheduled in-person public scoping meetings Nov. 17 at Texas Southmost College in Brownsville and Nov. 19 at the Port Isabel Event and Cultural Center. A virtual meeting is scheduled for Nov. 18. Public comments are due Nov. 30 under docket FAA-2026-12808.
The environmental review does not itself authorize the requested launch cadence. Any future operations remain subject to the FAA’s licensing and environmental-review processes.
Sources: Federal Aviation Administration; Space.com
