SpaceX is asking the federal government to let it fly Starship from South Texas as many as 456 times a year, and to bring its giant boosters and ships down in the Gulf of America, the same water that washes up on Vermilion Parish’s coast.

People along the Louisiana coast can now weigh in without driving to Texas. In a notice filed Monday and set to be printed in the Federal Register on Tuesday, the Federal Aviation Administration said every public meeting on the plan will be held online, and it pushed the comment deadline back a week, to Dec. 7.

What SpaceX is asking for

Today SpaceX may launch Starship up to 25 times a year from its Boca Chica site at Starbase, Texas, with up to 50 landings, according to the FAA’s original Oct. 14 notice. The new review covers a two-step increase:

  • Phase 1: up to 100 launches and 200 landings a year, on any day of the week, day or night.
  • Phase 2: up to 456 launches and 912 landings a year, weekdays only, which the FAA describes as a mature program it expects “within several years.”

The FAA assumes half of the flights would happen at night, between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m.

Where the rockets would come down

This is the part with a Gulf angle. Under the plan, the Super Heavy booster would land back at the launch site, make a soft landing in the Gulf of America, or be used up during flight. The Starship upper stage could land back at the site, set down in the Gulf, or splash down or be discarded in the open ocean, the notice says.

Rockets would head out on launch headings from northeast to east-southeast, toward the open Gulf. The notice does not say how close to Louisiana any water landing could come. That is exactly the kind of question the scoping period is meant to collect.

The FAA says it will study noise, air quality, fish and wildlife, coastal resources, wetlands and water, among other effects, and is consulting with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service on protected species. The only alternative it lists is “No Action,” which would keep SpaceX at today’s limits.

How to take part

The FAA will hold five identical online meetings. Each opens with a half-hour presentation, then the public may speak for up to three minutes. Registration is required on the FAA’s project page.

  • Tuesday, Nov. 17: 1-3 p.m. and 5:30-7:30 p.m. Central
  • Wednesday, Nov. 18: 5:30-7:30 p.m. Central
  • Thursday, Nov. 19: 1-3 p.m. and 5:30-7:30 p.m. Central

Written comments go to Regulations.gov, docket FAA-2026-12808, by Dec. 7. Paper comments go by mail to the address in the notice: “Ms. Amy Hanson, FAA Environmental Protection Specialist, SpaceX Boca Chica, c/o Kimley-Horn, 767 Eustis Street, Suite 100, St. Paul, MN 55114.” The FAA warns that everything sent to the docket is posted online as written, including names and addresses.

Earlier plans called for four in-person meetings in Texas and one online. The agency did not give a reason for the switch beyond saying it wants to keep communities informed.

What it means here

This review is about the Texas site. Pecan Island is not in it, and nothing in the notice changes the timeline for Starbase Louisiana.

But it is the clearest look yet at the pace SpaceX has in mind for Starship, and Texas is where the company is testing the cadence it may one day want in Vermilion Parish. It is also the second FAA action on commercial launches in a week. The agency proposed easing several launch safety rules on Nov. 6, with comments due Dec. 9. [Read that story.](/news/faa-loosens-launch-rules-starbase-louisiana/)

A draft environmental study, with another round of public comment, will come later, the FAA says.

Follow every development on the Times’ [Starbase Watch page](/starbase/).