--- title: "FAA Grounds Starship SN9 Again, But SpaceX Rolls Out SN10 Instead" description: "SpaceX rolled out the new SN10 Starship instead of the SN9 version. Find out why the SN9 starship is no longer being tested by the FAA." date: "2021-01-29" modified: "2021-02-03" authors: - name: "Jon Christian" job_title: "Executive Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/jonc" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/faa-grounds-starship-sn9-spacex-sn10-instead" categories: - "Space" - "SpaceX" - "Starship" tags: - "FAA" - "SpaceX" - "Starship" - "the digest" --- # FAA Grounds Starship SN9 Again, But SpaceX Rolls Out SN10 Instead ![SpaceX raised eyebrows today by rolling out the SN10 version of Starship — instead of the SN9 version, which it had been planning to test.]() *\Image: Daniel Oberhaus via Flickr / Futurism\* ## Ground Control Yesterday afternoon, SpaceX's strange standoff with the FAA — in which it [continued to fuel its experimental Starship spacecraft]() even after the regulatory agency [scrubbed the launch]() — ended in an apparent détente when SpaceX stood down without incident. The plan was to launch Starship today instead, but the FAA [nixed that plan]() early this morning. "We will continue working with SpaceX to resolve outstanding safety issues before we approve the next test flight," [the agency said in a statement](). Intriguingly, though, SpaceX then raised eyebrows by [rolling out the SN10 version of the spacecraft]() — instead of the SN9 version, which it had been planning to test. ## Failure to Launch It's theoretically possible, [*NASASpaceflight* speculated on stream](), that SpaceX is considering a surprise test of SN10 instead of SN9 in response to the FAA scrubbing the SN9 test. But it's also plausible that it's just repositioning the experimental builds for another reason. We'll continue monitoring the situation all day. What is clear, beyond any shadow of doubt, is that CEO Elon Musk is unhappy with the FAA. "Unlike its aircraft division, which is fine, the FAA space division has a fundamentally broken regulatory structure," he [said yesterday](). "Their rules are meant for a handful of expendable launches per year from a few government facilities. Under those rules, humanity will never get to Mars." **More on Starship:** [*SpaceX Starship Explodes in Spectacular Fireball*]() ## Author I'm responsible for editing, assigning, and scouting at Futurism, as well as occasionally writing for the site. That work involves keeping an eye on a wide range of narratives and issues, but over the past few years I've become increasingly interested in how AI is shaping the future of media, the web, and information itself. My day-to-day often involves collaborating on reporting and commentary projects bylined by my colleagues, but I try to find time to do my own reporting as well; stories I've broken for Futurism have been cited by publications including the New York Times, the Washington Post, the New Yorker, Wired, Ars Technica, New York Magazine, the Columbia Journalism Review, Bloomberg, and more. I grew up in Southern Vermont and attended Vanderbilt University. Prior to Futurism, I contributed to outlets including the Boston Globe, Vice, Wired, Slate, the Atlantic, the Outline, Ars Technica and more, and did stints in farming and food service. I currently live in Brooklyn, New York, and in my free time I enjoy pinball, word games, cycling, running, and music production. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()