SpaceX’s Starship rocket lifts off from Starbase, Texas, as seen from South Padre Island on August 26, 2025, for its tenth test flight. SpaceX’s Starship megarocket roared into the skies Tuesday on its 10th test flight, following a string of explosive failures that cast doubt about its ability to realize Elon Musk’s vision of colonizing Mars. (Photo by RONALDO SCHEMIDT / AFP)
February 17, 2026
NASSAU, Bahamas (CMC) — The Civil Aviation Authority of The Bahamas (CAAB) on Tuesday said it had granted approval to the private American aerospace and artificial intelligence company, SpaceX, to resume landing Falcon 9 rockets in The Bahamas.
In a statement, CAAB said that one landing is scheduled for Wednesday night between 5:00 pm and 9:30 pm (local time).
“All requisite regulatory and environmental reviews and clearances have been completed in accordance with established aerospace safety and operations protocols,” CAAB said, reminding the population that, depending on weather and atmospheric conditions, “one or more sound booms may be heard during the landing sequence”.
“The intensity and extent of these effects will vary based on environmental factors at this time of re-entry,” CAAB added.
Wednesday marks the anniversary of Falcon 9’s successful test landing in The Exuma Sound last year. Last March, another of SpaceX’s projects — Starship — disintegrated over The Bahamas during a test flight.
The failure of Starship’s test flight prompted Bahamian authorities to stop all SpaceX landings so that more environmental studies could be done to ensure their work in The Bahamas would not be hazardous to marine or terrestrial life.
SpaceX hoped to land 20 Falcon 9 rockets in The Bahamas last year but only completed its test landing before the programme stopped so environmental work could be done.