SpaceX is continuing to sort through thousands of channels of data in regard to its September 1 accident, which led to the loss of its Falcon 9 rocket and its Amos-6 satellite during preparations for a static fire test. The company has nonetheless begun working toward an ambitious November return to flight for its rocket.

During a speech Tuesday in Paris, at the World Satellite Business Week meeting, SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell said the company "anticipates" a return to flight as early as November, most likely from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Details of the speech were first reported in a series of tweets by Peter B. de Selding, Paris bureau chief for Space News. A SpaceX official confirmed the validity of the information to Ars.

SpaceX's Launch Complex 40 sustained significant damage during the static fire incident, and it may take as long as a year for repairs to be completed. So a November launch in Florida would occur from the company's Launch Complex 39A, a historical site the company has been modifying after leasing it from NASA in 2014. The company had intended to use the refurbished launch pad primarily for commercial crew missions and its Falcon Heavy rocket. Shotwell also said the return to flight mission could take place at Launch Complex 4E at Vandenberg Air Force Base but seemed more confident in a launch from Florida. Both pads will be ready by November, she said, and the location will depend on the customer—as yet undetermined—for the mission.

A return to flight in three months appears to be aspirational, as SpaceX still has not identified the root cause of the anomaly that led to a rapidly spreading fire near the upper stage of the Falcon 9 rocket. Indeed, it remains unclear whether the problem occurred with ground systems or the rocket itself. On Friday SpaceX founder Elon Musk said the investigation was "turning out to be the most difficult and complex failure we have ever had in 14 years." Nevertheless, such a rigorous timeframe is consistent with SpaceX's accelerated operational tempo, and it did receive praise from NASA in 2015 after quickly returning to flight following an upper stage failure with the Falcon 9 rocket.

Shotwell also confirmed Monday that the launch of the Falcon Heavy rocket, which SpaceX had hoped to send up late in 2016, would slip at least until the first quarter of 2017.