States That Current Process is Damaging National Aerospace Development

US Senator Jerry Morgan is pushing the FAA to speed up the process for rocket launch licensing. He argues that the agency is failing to keep up with the quickly expanding aerospace department, therefore damaging the sector’s development.

Moran is the highest ranking Republican on the Democrat-led Senate Commerce Aviation subcommittee. On October 25, he sent a letter to FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker stating that its commercial space department “must rapidly improve its transparency, accountability, and pace of execution” for launch approvals.

These thoughts have been echoed across the industry, especially regarding SpaceX operations. The FAA has imposed “counterproductive” and “needless” restrictions, CEO Elon Musk expressed, on SpaceX’s test launches and Falcon 9 flights.

The FAA has given the difficult task of overseeing the unfamiliar and ever-growing space industry. Blue Origin, led by Jeff Bezos, is expecting to debut its New Glenn rocket by the end of the year, and United Launch Alliance is attempting to accelerate the launch date of its Vulcan spacecraft. Smaller, start-up aerospace companies are also continuously springing into a market without adequate regulation.

With SpaceX practically pulling the weight of the entire US space industry, however, the FAA has no true excuse for the amount of delays it has dished out. NASA has relied on the manufacturer for numerous missions, and has confirmed plans to use SpaceX’s Starship rocket in 2026 to bring astronauts to the moon for the first time in over 50 years. The US Space Force has also used SpaceX vessels to launch almost half of its national security space missions.

Whitaker spoke on the SpaceX licensing matters in late September, alleging that the setbacks “had to do with SpaceX filing an application and not disclosing they were in violation of Texas and federal law on some matters, and that’s a requirement to get a permit.”

SpaceX was quick to respond and debunk this claim, stating: “It is deeply concerning that the Administrator does not appear to have accurate information immediately available to him with respect to SpaceX licensing matters.”

FMI: www.spacex.com