“SpaceX is responsible for its implementation and for local, state and federal compliance requirements,” FAA spokesperson Steve Kulm said via email on Sunday. Separately, the FAA is also carrying out an “anomaly response plan,” which is part of the Programmatic Environmental Assessment the FAA issued for Starship in 2022. The FAA’s review “will determine the root cause of the event and identify corrective actions the operator must implement to avoid a recurrence,” the agency said in an emailed statement last week. Such investigations are routine and have taken place after previous - but smaller-scale - Starship test launches in South Texas. The agency is also currently charged with overseeing a mishap investigation into what caused the Starship’s failed test flight last month. The FAA licenses commercial rocket launches and gave the green light for the SpaceX launch attempt after more than a year of back-and-forth. “You have so much in the area that recovering it could cause even more damage,” he said. Margolis said the impact of scattered debris from the explosion isn’t over yet environmental groups are concerned that recovery efforts of trucks and other heavy equipment to pick up residual metal and concrete could further harm wildlife. “There’s an incredible amount of heat and light from the launches even when they don’t go wrong.”

“It’s an incredibly important area for birds,” Margolis said.

Margolis argued that even when launches don’t end in a massive explosion, they still can present a danger to bird species that use the area for migratory routes. Margolis said a more in-depth environmental analysis from FAA could have issued a finding that SpaceX needed to use more water to cool down its launch pad, which ended up exploding. Environmental groups are suing the FAA in hopes the agency will go back and do a far more comprehensive environmental analysis of the impacts of the launch.

The House of Winter by Isobel Bird