Elon Musk's SpaceX wins earlier-than-expected approval to fly fifth starship

US air safety regulators approved the launch of SpaceX's fifth test flight of its Starship rocket of which, the booster will return and attempt to land upright

SpaceX received approval from US air safety regulators to launch the fifth major test flight of its massive Starship rocket — a pivotal mission that will see the booster portion return from space and attempt to land upright.

SpaceX logo and Elon Musk photo are seen in this illustration. (Reuters)

The Federal Aviation Administration, which licenses launches and reentries of rockets, granted the approval in an order on Saturday. Now with a license in hand, SpaceX is planning to fly Starship on Sunday from the company’s launch site in south Texas.

The approval for the flight came earlier than anticipated for SpaceX. In September, the company said the FAA notified it that the license for this mission wouldn’t be granted until late November — a timeline that SpaceX heavily criticized as slow and inefficient.

At the time, the FAA noted that changes to Starship’s flight profile had “triggered a more in-depth review” and that the FAA needed to consult other agencies about the flight’s environmental impact.