Elon Musk’s SpaceX appears to be making plans to launch its next Starship megarocket from South Texas as soon as Jan. 11, according to an email sent by NASA to the Federal Aviation Administration.

NASA has reportedly requested the FAA to expedite the process of licensing Starship launches to accommodate multiple flights over the Gulf of Mexico and Southwest Texas as soon as December 7. The Starbase site in Texas is where SpaceX launches Starship from.

The space agency announced a $256.6 million contract with SpaceX to support the launch of the Dragonfly mission – a rotorcraft lander mission under NASA's New Frontiers Program, which funds a series of medium-class spacecraft expeditions to explore the solar system. Dragonfly is the fourth mission in this program, and will cost about $3.35 billion.

Starship is tasked with carrying two astronauts from lunar orbit to the surface of the Moon as part of NASA's Artemis 3 mission.

NASA announced that it has selected SpaceX to provide launch services for its ambitious Dragonfly mission that will place a rotorcraft lander at Saturn's moon of Titan as part of its New Frontiers Program.

The powerful Falcon Heavy rocket will launch the Dragonfly spacecraft on a multi-year journey to Saturn’s largest moon Titan.

NASA’s Dragonfly mission will soon embark on one of the most ambitious space exploration endeavors to date. The mission, which will explore Titan, Saturn’s largest moon, is set to launch in July 2028 aboard SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket.