“We’re not gonna have landing legs. We’re gonna catch the booster in the air.”

BOCA CHICA BEACH, TX — Today, SpaceX did the unthinkable: many thousands of engineers and technicians put in many thousands of hours to successfully snatch an orbital-class rocket booster out of the air with incredible precision and control.

Over the last month, SpaceX and the FAA—the regulators who oversee civil spaceflight launches and reentries in the United States, and ensure the safety of their operations—have been quarreling quite publicly about various aspects of launch approval, licensing, and the reasons for the delay to Starship’s next flight being approved. Initially, the FAA carried a hard-line estimate of “late November” for the earliest issuance of a flight five launch license for Starship.

In a blog post on September 10 pushing back on this two-month delay to previous FAA estimates, SpaceX closed with: “We’re committed to continually pushing the boundaries of spaceflight, with a relentless focus on safety and reliability.”

Catching the booster on the first attempt today with absolute success, there’s no room left for criticism to the contrary.

Communication

Pre-launch, I thought it was a notable development, given the public comments at the time, that SpaceX was pushing so hard for a flight in the next week. It felt like a tit-for-tat, in the moment. Frankly, my reaction was that it was bad faith to push in this way.

I thought that there had to be a better way for these organizations to work together than a public, tit-for-tat battle.

Post-launch, the flight occurring exactly on the date SpaceX estimated it to occur nearly a week prior was a different story. I thought it would be interesting to review SpaceX’s “pending regulatory approval” tweets for each flight, the dates in which these flights were initially targeted for, and the date Starship actually launched.

What happened in-between September 10 and the eventual fifth flight of Starship on Oct. 13, 2024 is much better explained by space reporters much more connected than I, but behind the scenes, something clearly and swiftly changed.

Someone put pressure somewhere and got the launch license across the line.

Timing / Estimates

With each flight of Starship, SpaceX has received an estimate of potential license approval, publicly issued a target date pending regulatory approval, and has flown it on the first or second attempt a minimal number of days after their target dates.

Personally, given the FAA’s public comments at the time, I doubted the latest estimate and didn’t prepare myself well for flight five, but I wish I had made this chart sooner!

I missed the fifth flight of Starship, primarily because of this doubt and lack of preparedness.

I’m incredibly pumped for my friends at SpaceX for pulling off this insane feat and seeing everyone’s photos, thus far. I can’t wait to witness and capture both Super Heavy and Starship landing within the arms of the ‘mechazilla’ catch tower for myself.

A life with chapters; Trevor’s take

Personally, it’s been a challenging transition for me over the last several years having more dependencies than just myself. Gone are the days of simply dropping everything to go anywhere in the world to cover spaceflight events.

I recall vividly how I used to just up and start the 20+ hour drive from Florida’s Space Coast to South Padre Island on a complete whim, often only on the news of a potential road closure.

I’ve made a career out of traveling to obscure places, often staying weeks at a time, hoping to capture an event that occurs in just a matter of a few seconds or minutes. It’s quite a stressful career at times, but a love and passion for rockets and spaceflight is what got me started.

With the rising costs of most things, I’ve been forced to be much more cautious about how I allocate my time, money, and energy. This is particularly true this week, having just experienced my third hurricane in Florida in two years. (Ian, Nicole, and now Milton), with the latest being my first hurricane with skin in the game, rather than just renting someplace.

It’s this caution and this need for additional support, for one reason or another, that has ultimately led to the end of some professional relationships I have so enjoyed over the last decade and who have helped me become who I am.

But it doesn’t change the fact that it’s been a tumultuous and rollercoaster week, or that this transition into a new chapter of my life has been one that’s not easy to balance. Anxiety, luck, fear, hope, exhaustion, and relief all come to mind, hurricane involved or not.

With Milton, we had sustained winds of 70+ mph and gusts as high as 100 mph a few times, but thankfully avoided much property damage outside of large amounts of yard debris and trees to clean up — we truly have very little to complain about in the grand scheme of things.

Growing up and having much more responsibility has made me feel much more locked at home. And this week was a lot. I’m bummed to have made the decision to miss this launch, but in some ways, it feels like the right choice, too. All in all, I learned along the way and that’s I guess the most important part.

Members

My direct supporters have enabled me to directly counter this caution, funding my ability to continue doing what I do. They are the heroes in all of this. Being there for me, and most recently, reassuring me through each step that it’s important that I do what’s best for me, even if that means missing out on an event here or there.

In every transition I’ve been through as a photographer during my career, the people that continue to support what I am doing, what I am capturing, and now, what I am writing — mean the world to me.

I have a Discord group which serves as the communication hub of this membership, and if you’d like to help me continue to cover spaceflight events like this launch of Starship, tomorrow’s launch of Europa Clipper, and more, it would mean the world if you considered supporting me here.

You can get awesome perks besides keeping up with the latest in spaceflight:

• monthly allowances to full-res downloads of my latest photography.
• free or discounted, yearly wall calendars to proudly display the fruits of your membership in your home or office.
• camera settings to all my work, and access to me to help explain and understand how I went about capturing each shot.
• community engagement with other members just like you on Discord.
• discounts on my latest, limited-edition prints and products.
• and more!

All the while, you’ll support photojournalism just like this and allow me to better dedicate my time, energy, and effort to traveling to as many spaceflight events to report on the ground and in-person wherever possible.

2025 Calendars: Each of the photos and all of the writing in this story, is my own. I’m a self-employed photojournalist, navigating my own uncharted territory.

If you’d like to see more stories like this, the best way is to support this passionate work of mine and pre-order my Wall Calendars here or become a member and get one included with your membership!

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