FAA grounds SpaceX Starship V3 as mishap probe begins

After SpaceX's Starship V3 debut on May 22, the FAA labeled the flight a mishap and grounded the vehicle pending a SpaceX-led investigation overseen by the agency. Return to flight will depend on corrective actions that do not affect public safety, with no timeline disclosed. Starship V3 is a 408-foot deep-space-capable variant; the May flight saw the upper stage survive reentry while the booster ended with a hard splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico.