AviationNews – The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has officially concluded its mishap investigation into the failed return of a SpaceX Super Heavy booster in May. This critical regulatory clearance paves the way for the newly public aerospace company to execute the next Starship test flight from Texas as early as Thursday.
During the May 22 test mission—the twelfth flight of the Starship program—the Super Heavy booster successfully propelled the upper stage toward space but failed its controlled water landing in the Gulf of Mexico. Following a comprehensive review, the FAA accepted the company’s findings and its implementation of four primary corrective actions. This week’s anticipated Flight 13 marks a historic milestone, as it will be the first mission to carry an operational payload of twenty Starlink V3 satellites. Furthermore, it represents the manufacturer’s first major launch since its record-breaking $86 billion Nasdaq initial public offering in June 2026.
The investigation pinpointed severe heat damage sustained by propulsion components during ascent, combined with erroneous engine alarm system settings, as the root causes of the mishap. These technical faults placed the booster in an unexpected orientation immediately after stage separation, preventing five of its 33 Raptor engines from properly reigniting to slow the vertical descent. To prevent a recurrence, engineers drastically modified the engine startup sequence to ensure reliable directional control and upgraded critical hardware to improve engine relight reliability in atmospheric conditions.
“The final report identified heat effects on propulsion system components during ascent and erroneous engine alarm system settings as the two most probable causes of the mishap,” the FAA stated regarding the closure of the review.
As SpaceX transitions from developmental prototypes to operational delivery systems, successfully deploying the massive Starlink V3 satellites will definitively demonstrate the rocket’s commercial viability to public market investors. The ability to routinely launch and recover the world’s largest fully reusable rocket remains absolutely essential for continuous broadband network expansion and future lunar exploration missions. Aerospace stakeholders and financial markets must closely monitor Thursday’s launch window to evaluate how the company’s rapid-iteration engineering translates into reliable orbital success.
The swift resolution of the mishap review highlights a maturing regulatory framework perfectly suited for the ambitious Starship program. With targeted hardware and software modifications firmly in place, SpaceX now stands fully prepared to execute routine heavy-lift operations. If this upcoming flight achieves its primary objectives, it will permanently establish the mega-rocket as the foundational cornerstone of next-generation space infrastructure.
