In a letter to Congress, Space X has also complained about the “FAA’s inability to keep pace with the commercial spaceflight industry”.
Space X has alleged that the FAA’s “distractions continue to directly threaten national priorities and undercut American industry’s ability to innovate”.
Musk claimed that even after US space agency Nasa deemed the Boeing capsule “unsafe for astronaut return”, the FAA “neglected the safety issues” at Boeing and put human lives at risk.
He was referring to astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore’s prolonged stay in space against the Nasa initial plans.
Nasa, however, has announced that both the astronauts will return to Earth in February 2025 aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 spacecraft, following the determination that Boeing’s Starliner is not safe for re-entry.
“For nearly two years, SpaceX has voiced its concerns with the FAA’s inability to keep pace with the commercial spaceflight industry. It is clear that the Agency lacks the resources to timely review licensing materials, but also focuses its limited resources on areas unrelated to public safety. These distractions continue to directly threaten national priorities and undercut American industry’s ability to innovate,” SpaceX wrote in a letter to Congress.
Adding to his company’s letter to Congress, Elon Musk wrote on X: “The FAA leadership spends their resources attacking SpaceX for petty matters that have nothing to do with safety, while neglecting real safety issues at Boeing. This is deeply wrong and puts human lives at risk.”
He further wrote: “NASA deemed the Boeing capsule unsafe for astronaut return, turning, out of necessity, to SpaceX, yet instead of fining Boeing for putting astronauts at risk, the FAA is fining SpaceX for trivia! Enough is enough.”
The FAA on Tuesday proposed to fine SpaceX $633,000 for allegedly failing to follow license requirements and not getting approval for changes during two launches in 2023.
The FAA said SpaceX failed to get approval to revise its communications plan related to its license to launch from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida including adding a new launch control room at Hangar X and removing the T-2 hour readiness poll from its procedures before a June 2023 launch. SpaceX used the unapproved launch control room for the PSN SATRIA mission and did not conduct the required poll, the FAA said.
Last year, the FAA had proposed a $175,000 civil penalty against SpaceX for failing to submit some safety data to the agency prior to an August 2022 launch of Starlink satellites.