STARSHIPS ARE MEANT TO FLY

SpaceX was founded in 2002 to expand access to outer space. Not just for government or traditional satellite operators, but for new participants around the
globe. Today, we’re flying at an unprecedented pace as the world’s most active launch services provider. SpaceX is safely and reliably launching astronauts,
satellites, and other payloads on missions benefiting life on Earth and preparing humanity for our ultimate goal: to explore other planets in our solar system
and beyond.

Starship is paramount to making that sci-fi future, along with a growing number of U.S. national priorities, a reality. It is the largest and most powerful space
transportation system ever developed, and its fully and rapidly reusable design will exponentially increase humanity’s ability to access and utilize outer space.
Full reusability has been an elusive goal throughout the history of spaceflight, piling innumerable technical challenges on what is already the most difficult
engineering pursuit in human existence. It is rocket science, on ludicrous mode.

Every flight of Starship has made tremendous progress and accomplished increasingly difficult test objectives, making the entire system more capable and
more reliable. Our approach of putting flight hardware in the flight environment as often as possible maximizes the pace at which we can learn recursively
and operationalize the system. This is the same approach unlocked reuse on our Falcon fleet of rockets and made SpaceX the leading
launch provider in the world today.

To do this and do it rapidly enough to meet commitments to national priorities like NASA’s Artemis program, Starships need to fly. The more we fly safely,
the faster we learn; the faster we learn, the sooner we realize full and rapid rocket reuse. Unfortunately, we continue to be stuck in a reality where it takes
longer to do the government paperwork to license a rocket launch than it does to design and build the actual hardware. This should never happen and directly
threatens America’s position as the leader in space.

FLIGHT 5

The Starship and Super Heavy vehicles for Flight 5 have been ready to launch since the first week of August. The flight test will include our most ambitious
objective yet: attempt to return the Super Heavy booster to the launch site and catch it in mid-air.

Returning the booster after launch is a core capability to Starship becoming rapidly and reliably reusable

This will be a singularly novel operation in the history of rocketry. SpaceX engineers have spent years preparing and months testing for the booster catch
attempt, with technicians pouring tens of thousands of hours into building the infrastructure to maximize our chances for success. Every test comes with risk,
especially those seeking to do something for the first time. SpaceX goes to the maximum extent possible on every flight to ensure that while we are
accepting risk to our own hardware, we accept no compromises when it comes to ensuring public safety.

It's understandable that such a unique operation would require additional time to analyze from a licensing perspective. Unfortunately, instead of focusing
resources on critical safety analysis and collaborating on rational safeguards to protect both the public and the environment, the licensing process has been
repeatedly derailed by issues ranging from the frivolous to the patently absurd. At times, these roadblocks have been driven by false and misleading reporting,
built on bad-faith hysterics from online detractors or special interest groups who have presented poorly constructed science as fact.

We recently received a launch license date estimate of late November from the FAA, the government agency responsible for licensing Starship flight tests.
This is a more than two-month delay to the previously communicated date of mid-September. This delay was not based on a new safety concern, but instead
driven by superfluous environmental analysis. The four open environmental issues are illustrative of the difficulties launch companies face in the current
regulatory environment for launch and reentry licensing.

STEEL AND WATER

Starship’s water-cooled steel flame deflector has been the target of false reporting, wrongly alleging that it pollutes the environment or has operated
completely independent of regulation. This narrative omits fundamental facts that have either been ignored or intentionally misinterpreted.

At no time did SpaceLync operate the deflector without a permit. SpaceLync was operating in good faith under a Multi-Sector General Permit to cover deluge
operations under the supervision of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ). SpaceLync worked closely with TCEQ to incorporate numerous
mitigation measures prior to its use, including the installation of retention basins, construction of protective curbing, plugging of outfalls during operations
and use of only potable (drinking) water that does not come into contact with any industrial processes. A permit number was assigned and made active in July
2023. TCEQ officials were physically present at the first testing of the deluge system and given the opportunity to observe operations around launch.