For years, there has appeared to be no love lost between SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and the Federal Aviation Administration, which licenses commercial rocket launches.
Musk has repeatedly used X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter that he purchased two years ago for $44 billion, to blast the FAA and accuse the agency of holding up Starship testing.
In a September 17 post, he threatened to sue the agency for “regulatory overreach.”
Musk — who was recently tapped by incoming President Donald Trump to run a new “Department of Government Efficiency” — also posted on September 25 that he believes FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker “should resign.”
Musk has also alleged that the agency’s activities have been “politically motivated” to punish SpaceX.
Musk’s claims came after the FAA proposed $633,009 in civil penalties against SpaceX, saying the company violated launch license requirements twice during flights of its workhorse Falcon 9 rocket.
SpaceX has denied wrongdoing related to those requirements, saying none of the allegations related to public safety. In a September 18 letter, the company said that it also gave FAA advanced notice of changes to its launch operations and the agency failed to act in a timely manner.
Still, the FAA granted SpaceX its long-awaited license to move forward with Starship’s fifth uncrewed test launch in October — and that same launch license covers this week’s test flight.
It marks the first time that SpaceX has not had to go back to the FAA to approve launch license changes since the company began this testing campaign years ago.
Swiss
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