Thread by @Space_Jared

This is an excellent overview from @SciGuySpace about the situation with the SpaceX licensing issues. I would like to add some additional commentary to this as a former Deputy Chief and Acting Chief of Staff in the office.

https://twitter.com/sciguyspace/status/1355272397302214657

To start with, it is highly unusual for a launch license or an experimental permit to be issued on the “day of” for a launch. I can think of only a handful of times it has occurred.

I would note that most of the time, launch companies prefer to have their licenses or experimental permits in hand and ready to go before setting a hard launch date. There are many reasons for that, but certainly Thursday is a good example of why.

For example, I doubt ULA or Virgin Orbit/Galactic or Blue Origin have ever had this issue...

Additionally, as far as I am aware, the FAA has never “Denied” a launch license or experimental permit that would trigger an appeal process. Typically FAA will put the approval on hold and wait for the applicant to cure the application rather than deny it.

There are a lot of reasons why the FAA does this, but the short answer is that it is much easier to cure an application and just get on with the launch than it is to deny it and then go through the appeal process. After all, FAA is in the business of licensing launches.

Finally, it is important to remember than every launch licensed by FAA comes with indemnification from the taxpayer. FAA isn’t just licensing to protect public safety, they are licensing on behalf of the taxpayer to ensure we won’t have to pick up the tab if something goes wrong.

This indemnification puts the taxpayer on the hook for potentially BILLIONS of dollars if a SpaceX vehicle destroys a bunch of property. Congress still has to approve the payments, but what is the point of having indemnification if Congress doesn’t back it up.

When I was at FAA, I never thought folks at AST were intentionally slowing anything. They take their job seriously and are trying to ensure that things happen safely and that the industry succeeds. They have a statutory mandate to encourage, facilitate, and promote the industry.

The process can always be better, of course, but I think it is a mistake for the industry to publicly beat up on the agency that is working hard to carry out the laws and authorities that Congress has entrusted to it to faithfully execute.