“Most recently, the FCC’s review of SpaceX's proposed flight plan has focused on the effects of the rocket's sonic boom as it comes back to Earth.”
Interesting, what new effect could there possibly be? Humanity has run tens of thousands of tests over the last <century.
Its probably more about the areas that will be affected by the sonic boom. Generally people don't like them happening over populated areas.
>"I think the two-month delay is necessary to comply with the launch requirements, and I think that's an important part of safety culture," said Michael Whitaker, the FAA administrator
Sums up why it's taken so long to get approval.
Q: Why are they trying to catch it instead of landing like the Falcon 9s?
To speed up turnaround. Musk used to talk about a goal of having turnaround times including refueling and payload loadout be similar to those of passenger aircraft - much less than a day, not the ~half a week of the Falcon 9.
Also to save weight by not having landing legs
What about the first trip to Mars?
(I guess it's easier to land there bc. reduced gravity?)