No, the FAA isn't deliberately barring Starship flights.

Disclaimer: This article contains the opinion of the writer and not Cosmic Nxws as a whole.

SpaceX has decided to go on the offensive against the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, as the company's upper management had become irritated with the regulatory body.

In a lengthy update released on September 10th titled Starships Are Meant To Fly, SpaceX claimed that the Federal Aviation Administration, the U.S. regulatory body that ensures public safety during commercial space launches, was preventing the fifth flight of Starship-Super Heavy. In support of their argument, SpaceX said the following:

"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."

As well as:

"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."

What SpaceX avoids sharing about the delay are their own decisions that contributed to it. According to the Federal Aviation Administration on September 11th, SpaceX has been submitting information related to the next flight after flight four with additional new information being submitted as late as a few weeks ago, in mid-August.

In response, speaking via NASASpaceflight, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration said the following:

"SpaceX's current license authorizing the Starship Flight 4 launch also allows for multiple flights of the same vehicle configuration and mission profile. SpaceX Chose to modify both for its proposed Starship Flight 5 launch which triggered a more in-depth review. In addition, SpaceX submitted new information in mid-August detailing how the environment impact of Flight 5 will cover a larger area than previously reviewed. This requires the FAA to consult with other Agencies.
SpaceX must meet all safety, environmental and other licensing requirements prior to FAA launch authorization."

The fifth flight of Starship-Super Heavy aims to once again send the Starship second-stage on a barely sub-orbital trajectory with the new goal of landing the Super Heavy first-stage booster back on the launch towers 'chopsticks'.

Environmental concerns were naturally raised with this flight as a nearly 300-ton vehicle carrying potentially explosive propellants will be coming back towards U.S. soil, just 5.06 miles (8.15 kilometers) from a populated area. The launch pad at Starbase will also activate the water deluge system twice a few minutes apart, raising additional concerns about the amount of water being released into the local ecosystem in a short time. In addition, SpaceX has recently been fined 148,378 United States Dollars for violating clean water laws and for a fuel spill.

There is also a significant chance that the landing attempt will go awry and cause substantial damage to the launch site.

These concerns and SpaceX's late submissions of additional information are leading to a slow-looking regulatory process. The Federal Aviation Administration is also notoriously underfunded, unintentionally preventing the world's largest launch vehicle from flying a test mission.

Despite this, SpaceX and its Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk, a known misogynist, racist, and neo-nazi, have assisted in fanning the flames of deregulation via the lack of Starship-Super Heavy launches. Musk is notably linked to the Republican Presidential Campaign as a close ally of Donald Trump, who aims to overhaul the federal government after taking office if elected.

Republican Presidential Candidate Donald Trump has offered Elon Musk a position in government heading a so-called 'government efficiency commission'. This commission would supposedly cut "trillions of dollars" in federal government spending as part of "drastic reforms", according to Trump.

Musk stands to gain substantially should he be given a position in government heading this 'government efficiency commission'. SpaceX is a major recipient of federal government cash and contracts, this position could allow the company to become an absolute monopoly in the launch market and exempt from some rules, likely running with 'defense concerns' to pull it off politically.

What Musk has done due to the slow regulatory process is using SpaceX's most valuable tool in its arsenal, its public image. SpaceX has a fantastic public image due to pioneering commercially viable reusable rockets. By gambling it in this way they hope to galvanize people and politicians into loosening regulations over the Starship-Super Heavy development program as a whole.

In short, SpaceX's recent offensive against the Federal Aviation Administration is a calculated political maneuver by Elon Musk for his own political and capital benefit.