The Federal Aviation Administration said on Wednesday that SpaceX is not yet clear for another test flight of its Starship Super Heavy launch vehicle.
The Federal Aviation Administration on Friday said Elon Musk's SpaceX must keep its Starship Super Heavy rocket grounded, saying it must take 63 corrective actions before it is cleared for another test flight.
The FAA has now wrapped up the probe into the April launch, which saw the rocket explode mid-flight.
SpaceX will need to continue Starship launches at its facility in Boca Chica, Texas, as determined by the FAA, and apply for and receive a'modification' from the FAA that addresses all of its safety and other environmental regulations.
SpaceX did not respond to a request for comment.
The FAA oversaw the SpaceX mishap investigation while NASA and the National Transportation Safety Board served as official observers. A full report of the incident will not be made public because it contains sensitive data including U.S. export control information.
The first Starship launch saw the nearly 400-foot-tall rocket fly for more than three minutes, but it lost multiple engines, caused severe damage to the ground infrastructure, and failed to reach space after the rocket began to tumble and was intentionally destroyed in the air.
The test flight and explosion resulted in a crater in the ground, fusing concrete debris into nearby tanks and other equipment, and impacted sensitive habitat that is home to some endangered species. It also sparked an approximately 4 acres fire on state park land.
Environmental and cultural heritage nonprofits filed a lawsuit against the FAA after the Starship test flight, alleging the agency did not conduct an appropriate environmental review before authorizing SpaceX to move ahead with its launch plans in Boca Chica. SpaceX has been a defendant in the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration.
SpaceX's Starlink is a global network of more than 4,000 satellites, offering internet service to more than 50 nations.
Although the service has allowed battlefield communication in Ukraine, Musk has also utilized Starlink to influence battlefield strategy and outcomes there. He ordered engineers at Starlink to withhold Starlink's satellite network service over Crimea to thwart a Ukrainian attack on Russian warships, according to a new biography of the CEO.