Elon Musk’s rocket company SpaceX plans to propose to Congress on Wednesday that it will extend the policy of “no safety supervision of commercial manned spaceflight” for several more years.
A SpaceX executive plans to argue at a Senate subcommittee hearing that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has struggled to keep pace with the rapidly changing rocket launch industry.
William Gerstenmaier, SpaceX’s vice president of construction and flight reliability operations, said in an interview: “We want to maintain a rapid pace of development as much as possible and don’t want to be hindered in unnecessary places.”
Gerstenmaier said that even within its traditional regulatory responsibilities, the FAA needs additional manpower to carry out its oversight duties. As of Tuesday, SpaceX alone has flown 73 missions in 2023, the company’s most launches in a single year.
He added: “They are supportive of us but we think they are overwhelmed and we think they are going to get busier and busier in the future.”
The FAA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The FAA has not established safety rules for commercial human spacecraft since 2004. People traveling to space on commercial spacecraft must acknowledge under the “informed consent” framework that the spacecraft they will be traveling on has not been certified by the government.
Supporters of the ban argue that the commercial space industry is still in a “learning period” and that premature regulation could stifle innovation.
The nearly 20-year-old ban was supposed to end on October 1. However, the US Congress extended the ban by three months to January 1 next year. It’s a stopgap measure to fund the federal government, and it’s unclear whether the ban will be extended again.
The issue will be discussed Wednesday at a hearing of the Senate Space and Science Subcommittee. Representatives from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin and Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic will testify alongside Gerstenmaier.
SpaceX also plans to make recommendations on Wednesday to speed up the FAA’s work. For example, SpaceX must wait for the FAA to conclude its investigation into the accident on the first Starship test launch before it can reapply for a launch license. Gerstenmaier says it’s best to be able to do these things simultaneously.
SpaceX has been critical of the rules and regulations surrounding the licensing process for rocket launches and spacecraft re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere, known as Part 450 of the FAA licensing process. Part 450 is designed to streamline rocket licensing by establishing performance-based requirements.
SpaceX believes the FAA is having trouble effectively enforcing the regulations because different companies have different ways of demonstrating similar requirements.
Gerstenmaier said: “I think the problem with Part 450 is that we may have introduced the regulations too quickly. While the intention was good and aimed at simplifying the process, in fact the devil is in the details, which actually slows down the process.” Our progress.”
In July, the FAA announced plans to form a rulemaking committee to determine new safety standards that might be implemented after the ban ends. The committee plans to gather input on these standards from members of the aerospace industry.
However, SpaceX would prefer to extend the ban while the FAA debates possible regulation. Under the “informed consent” framework, the FAA already has the power to intervene if a major accident occurs.
“The FAA already has tremendous power in today’s world,” Gerstenmaier said.
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