An environmental assessment by the agency has concluded that SpaceX’s plans for orbital launches will have "no significant impact" on the region along the Gulf Coast near Brownsville, Texas. But the F.A.A. is also requiring the company to undertake more than 75 actions to minimize the impact on the surrounding areas as it begins flights of Starship, a vehicle that is central to NASA’s plans to return to the moon as well as the vision of Elon Musk, the company’s founder and chief executive, to colonize Mars...

The decision means that a more comprehensive environmental impact statement, which would have likely added years to the project, is not needed. However, the regulatory move could face other legal challenges, and SpaceX still needs to obtain a license from the F.A.A. for launches.

SpaceX’s site is in a tiny village called Boca Chica, which the company has taken to calling Starbase.

There, for several years, SpaceX has been working on Starship, a stainless steel behemoth that would be the most powerful rocket ever. Together with a booster stage, it will stand nearly 400 feet high, taller than the Statue of Liberty and its pedestal.