Elon Musk‘s SpaceX on Tuesday slammed the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) administrator Mike Whitaker for his comments defending delays in greenlighting the next launch of its Starship launch vehicle.
What Happened: “…every statement he made was incorrect,” SpaceX wrote in a letter addressed to U.S. House of Representatives member Kevin Kiley (R-Calif.). “It is deeply concerning that the Administrator does not appear to have accurate information immediately available to him with respect to SpaceX licensing matters.”
Whitaker told lawmakers on the House Transportation Committee on Tuesday that the decision to delay Starship launches is grounded in safety and also backed the $633,000 fine proposed on SpaceX earlier this month. He said that the fines were proposed against SpaceX for using plans not approved by the agency last year during certain Falcon launch missions.
SpaceX Disputes Claims: SpaceX shot back at Whitaker, disputing the claims made by the agency in proposing fines against the company.
“SpaceX was fully licensed to conduct these Falcon launches and FAA has not alleged otherwise. With respect to Starship, neither of the two items he referenced, including the sonic boom, are related to public safety, but to environmental considerations that had been previously evaluated as posing no risk to the environment,” the letter signed by Matt Dunn, Director of Government Affairs at SpaceX, read. “Additionally, his assertion that SpaceX violated state law is simply wrong,”
Why It Matters: “Flight 5 (of Starship) is built and ready to fly. Flight 6 will be ready to fly before Flight 5 even gets approved by FAA!” Musk said on Thursday, referring to the delay in receiving approvals for Starship flights. Starship last flew in June, and the next test flight is now expected in November.
The CEO also accused the agency of favoritism towards Boeing after it proposed a fine of $633,009 on SpaceX for regulatory violations this month.
"The FAA leadership spends their resources attacking SpaceX for petty matters that have nothing to do with safety, while neglecting real safety issues at Boeing. This is deeply wrong and puts human lives at risk," Musk wrote on Thursday.
SpaceX also sent a letter addressed to key members of the U.S. Congress, including Rep. Frank Lucas (R-Okla.) and Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) denying the FAA's allegations of regulatory violations while also countering that the federal agency lacks the resources to review licensing commercial spaceflight operations.
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