Hi, friends, i’s your Space Coast correspondent James Sparvero, and I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving.
As I come back to work after a nearly two-week vacation, I’m learning of another big triumph for SpaceX, but this time it wasn’t in space, it was in court.
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Elon Musk’s most powerful rocket ever now has the blessing of a federal judge who ruled Starship does not pose the kind of danger to the environment as a group in Texas alleged.
In a lawsuit filed in October, Save RGV (Rio Grande Valley) claimed Starship test launches were violating the Clean Water Act by releasing wastewater each time the nearly 400-foot mega rocket takes off.
The group sought to stop launches just months before the Musk-supported Trump administration retakes the White House, and just a couple of more years before Starship is supposed to land NASA astronauts on the moon.
When the lawsuit came down, SpaceX was quick to make a rebuttal, saying, “The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) conducted a technical review of Starship’s water-cooled flame deflector, which uses potable (drinking) water and determined that its use does not pose risk to the environment. Save RGV acknowledged that they are aware of these straightforward facts and still filed an unwarranted and frivolous lawsuit.”
And now, fortunately for the leader in commercial spaceflight, Judge Rolando Olvera (appointed by President Barack Obama, by the way) has denied stopping Starship launches, mentioning the implications.
“Being unable to launch would create various consequences for not only Defendant, but also the public at large. It would significantly delay and possibly destroy Defendant’s contracts with NASA to further the Artemis Program and Human Landing System Program — worth billions of dollars,” Olvera wrote.
As the judge ruled that SpaceX is not harming the environment, it reminded me of concerns some of you may have when Starship begins launching here.
NASA and the Space Force have hosted multiple local meetings about Starship’s future impact on our coast.
Then, there’s speculation about what Elon Musk and Trump’s partnership could mean for NASA’s moon rocket -- the over-budgeted SLS. Musk is supposed to work with the Trump administration to cut government spending. (I asked Bill Harwood, our longtime CBS space expert, about that).
For now, I’ll be looking forward to Starship’s seventh flight. Maybe by Christmas?
📧 Do you have any specific space topics you’d like to discuss? Send me an email here.
👋 Here’s a little bit more about me.
Little did I know when watching Apollo 13 in the third grade that 20 years later, I was destined for a thrilling career as your Space Coast multimedia journalist.
Chemistry and biology weren’t so interesting to me in high school science, but I loved my Earth and Space class (Thanks, Mr. Lang).
Then in 2016, I traded Capitol correspondent in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, for space correspondent. I’m proud that my first live report at News 6 happened to be the first time SpaceX landed a Falcon 9 booster on a barge. What seems so routine now was a really big deal that day in our newsroom!
From there, I’ve covered the Commercial Crew program and the return of human spaceflight to Kennedy Space Center (Demo-2 launched on my 33rd birthday!)
Now, as our coverage looks forward to missions to the moon and Mars, I often tell others I have the best job in local news. Because after all I’ve seen so far, I think I would be bored working somewhere else. I even bought a house near the Cape with a great view to the north so I never miss a launch even when I’m not working.
After eight years on the beat, though, I still consider myself a young space reporter and I always look forward to learning something new with every assignment.
Have a great launch into the rest of your week!
