According to two people familiar with the incident, SpaceX’s first test flight of its Starship rocket, which was successfully launched but ended up in an attempted landing in December, has taken off. Both the landing blast and license violation resulted in a formal investigation by the FAA, which led regulators to conduct additional investigations into Elon Musk’s hurried Mars rocket test campaign.
The December launch of the “Serial Number 8” Starship prototype in SpaceX’s Boca Chica, Texas, facilities was considered a success by Musk: “Mars, here we come !!” the CEO tweeted moments after the rocket exploded on his landing, celebrating SN8’s successful 8-mile climb with his followers. The FAA, which oversees land safety and issues licenses for private launches, was not so lucky.
The so-called crash investigation was opened this week and focuses not only on the explosive landing, but also on SpaceX’s refusal to abide by the terms of what the FAA has approved, the two people said. It was unclear which part of the test flight violated the FAA license, and an FAA spokesman declined to specify in a statement to The edge.
“The FAA will continue to work with SpaceX to evaluate additional information provided by the company as part of the application to change the launch license,” FAA spokesman Steve Kulm said Friday. ‘While we realize that it is important to move quickly to promote growth and innovation in the commercial space, the FAA will not jeopardize its responsibility to protect the safety of the public. We will only approve the amendment once we are satisfied that SpaceX has taken the necessary steps to comply with the regulatory requirements. ”
The intensified investigation by regulators into the shooting board played a role in the fight against SpaceX’s latest “SN9” Starship test attempt, which according to the company would happen on Thursday. The shiny steel alloy, 16-story long rocket, was full of fuel and ready to fly. But at the time, FAA officials were still undergoing their license review process for the test due to several changes that SpaceX made to its license application, a source said. Musk, frustrated with the process, went to Twitter.
“Unlike its aircraft division, which is good, the FAA space division has a substantially broken regulatory structure,” he tweeted Thursday. ‘Their rules are intended for a handful of expenditures per year from some government facilities. According to these rules, humanity will never reach Mars. ”
The license violation (and the subsequent license review process) increased tensions between SpaceX and the world’s largest transportation agency. Musk and others in the space industry have been complaining for years about the centuries-old American regulatory framework for licensing as space and competition in space skyrocket. In response, the US Department of Transportation – which delegates its launching responsibilities to the FAA – last year introduced new streamlined licensing regulations for launch. They have yet to take effect.
Meanwhile, Musk’s tweet, in which he called on the FAA to its 44 million followers, was the latest embodiment of the billionaire’s dissatisfied attitude towards regulators who are dealing with the rapid pace of development of his businesses.
SpaceX, founded by Musk in 2002, has sued the Air Force twice, once successfully in 2014 for the right to compete for Pentagon launches, and another successfully in 2018 because they have competitive development funds for Starship and the others. lost rockets from the company. In 2018, when he was fined $ 20 million by the Securities and Exchange Commission for allegedly misleading Tesla investors via Twitter, Musk said. 60 minutes, “I do not respect the SEC. I do not respect them. ”
Hours before the SN8 Starship Test in December, while Musk was in Boca Chica to approve the FAA license that eventually violated SpaceX, he was in a virtual interview with The Wall Street Journal what role the government should play in regulating innovation. Musk replies, “The best thing the government can do is just get out of the way.”