Delay Starship Launch License, FAA Criticized SpaceX And US Congress

Starship launch illustration (photo: Doc. SpaceX)

JAKARTA Members of Congress and the space industry criticized the Federal Aviation Agency (FAA) for implementing a launch license regulation called Section 450. The reason is, this license is difficult to obtain.

This criticism was delivered during the US House of Representatives' space subcommittee hearing on September 10. According to Congress and industry, the regulations the FAA has set since March 2021 have threatened US competitiveness in the space sector.

Prior to this criticism, SpaceX revealed that the FAA would delay its subsequent Starship launch license for more than two months, to be precise until the end of November. This action is considered an excessive environmental analysis.

On its official website, SpaceX revealed that the postponed license is very different from the one communicated in mid-September. For SpaceX, this permit granting process makes no sense because it does not focus on critical safety analysis.

"This (licence) position is driven by mis and misleading reporting, which is built on non-intentional hysteries from online interlocutors or groups of special interests who have presented the science that was built poorly as a fact," SpaceX said.

Regarding the criticism delivered by Congress and SpaceX, the FAA is trying to defend itself. The agency explained that the launch license will be granted in accordance with the choices made by the company. The FAA also alluded to licensing SpaceX.

"We are working very well with SpaceX. We have a very strong dialogue with them," said FAA Operational Safety Executive Director Dan Murray. "We are doing everything we can to work with them as efficiently as possible.

Murray said that the schedule for licensing issued by the FAA includes the licenses the company submitted, the timing of the information provided, the completeness of the app, and changes in information after the application submission.

"The driver on the current (Starship launch) schedule is an environmental review, in this case. Safety reviews haven't been carried out yet, but the schedule is shorter," explains Murray.