The billionaire owner of Tesla and SpaceX, Elon Musk, has announced his intention to launch legal proceedings against the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) for what he terms as “regulatory overreach” by the US regulator. The announcement comes in retaliation for the FAA imposing a $633,000 fine on SpaceX for alleged “regulatory violations” in an act that Musk views as a protectionist measure against SpaceX’s closest competitor, Boeing with its Starliner spacecraft.
Musk’s latest foray into the spotlight came just a matter of hours after the FAA announced it was imposing a fine on SpaceX relating to three violations across two launches that occurred in 2023. The launch of the Satria-1 mission on June 18, 2023, as well as the XXIV/Jupiter launch in July 2023 both saw violations, according to the FAA.
SpaceX proposed revisions including adding a new launch control room at Hangar X and removing the T-2 hour readiness poll from its procedures related to the Satria-1 launch, both of which were unauthorized and were not in accordance with license requirements according to FAA papers.
Although SpaceX alleged that the necessary paperwork for these two revisions was filed with the FAA as required, neither was approved by the FAA in time for the launches. SpaceX performed them anyway, and each could cost the company $350,000 in total, for both violations should the fine stand after the litigation.
Additionally, SpaceX submitted a request in July 2024 to the FAA to modify its explosive sight plan for its XXIV/Jupiter launch, a newly constructed rocket propellant farm. Once again, although the FAA did not respond to the mission in time, SpaceX went ahead and used the new rocket propellant farm anyway. For this breach, the FAA has proposed a $283,009 penalty. SpaceX has 30 days to respond to the imposition of both fines, although Musk is seeking legal redress instead.
However, not only is the dispute about the fine itself, as Musk has re-ignited his feud with the FAA regarding Boeing with its Starliner project, which recently returned to Earth without its astronauts after a technical failure upon its ascent to the International Space Station.
Musk has questioned why Boeing was not fined despite NASA deeming their spacecraft unsafe for returning the astronauts. Writing on his own social media platform X, Musk made his thinly veiled attack on the FAA using his normal outspoken tone.
“Amazingly, no Starliner fines for Boeing!” he said. “The FAA space division is harassing SpaceX about nonsense that doesn’t affect safety while giving a free pass to Boeing even after NASA concluded that their spacecraft was not safe enough to bring back the astronauts.”
Musk also called for the resignations of senior members of the FAA leadership team because of what he sees as favoritism being shown towards Boeing over SpaceX.
