WASHINGTON, Sept 19 (Askume) – SpaceX said on Thursday it “strongly rejects” the Federal Aviation Administration’s finding that Elon Musk’s company failed to comply with U.S. rules during two rocket launches, after the company was fined $633,000 for the alleged violations .
The FAA on Tuesday criticized SpaceX’s conduct ahead of planned launches from Cape Canaveral, Florida, in June and July 2023, after Musk said the fine was politically motivated and threatened to file a lawsuit to challenge it.
Musk has been frustrated by government incompetence for years and has fought federal regulators. SpaceX’s rocket launches and new technologies must be approved by the FAA.
Later Thursday, Musk said FAA leaders were “attacking SpaceX for minor things that have nothing to do with safety, while ignoring Boeing’s very real safety concerns. This is very wrong and puts human lives at risk.”
Musk cited NASA ‘s decision not to return to Earth aboard the Boeing (BA.N) Starliner spacecraft after a three-month test mission because of technical problems . Musk wrote
Neither the FAA nor Boeing responded to requests for comment following Musk’s remarks.
SpaceX’s vice president of legal affairs, David Harris, sent a letter on Wednesday to the leaders of the two congressional committees that oversee the FAA, detailing the company’s objections and emphasizing its commitment to safety.
“SpaceX vigorously denies the FAA’s assertion that it violated any regulations,” Harris wrote.
Harris wrote that the FAA “has failed to keep pace with the commercial space industry,” and said the fines may be the agency’s response to growing congressional scrutiny of the FAA’s oversight of the commercial space industry.
SpaceX said that for some time, the FAA’s commercial space office “lacked the resources to review licensing materials in a timely manner” and “erroneously shifted its limited resources to areas unrelated to public safety regulatory authority.”
When asked about the letter, the FAA said it “does not comment on ongoing enforcement matters.”
In a proposal for a penalty, the FAA said SpaceX failed to obtain approval to modify communications plans related to its license to launch a rocket carrying an Indonesian telecommunications satellite in June 2023. SpaceX added a new launch control room without approval and removed mandatory calls between the company, the FAA and other launch personnel about pre-launch preparation procedures, the agency said.
SpaceX said that although the FAA was notified of the changes six weeks earlier, it failed to review them in time before the launch and said the changes it made did not require regulatory approval.
The FAA also said SpaceX used an unapproved network of propellant tanks to deliver fuel to rockets ahead of launching the EchoStar communications satellite in July 2023. SpaceX said the FAA later approved the use of the tank network for another launch and determined there would be no safety implications.
SpaceX has 30 days to provide a formal response to the FAA.
In February 2023, the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) proposed a $175,000 civil penalty against SpaceX for failing to submit certain safety information to the agency before launching Starlink satellites in August 2022. According to the FAA, the company has paid the fine.
In September 2023, the FAA completed an investigation into SpaceX’s April 2023 test launch of its huge Starship rocket, requiring the company to implement dozens of corrective actions.
Republican presidential candidate Trump says if heIf he wins the November 5 election , he will establish a government effectiveness commission headed by Musk. Musk has always supported Trump.
