ALBAWABA - The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has declared its intention to levy a punishment of over $633,000 on SpaceX for breaking its launch permits on two separate occasions in 2023, with Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX, saying that he would challenge this decision in court.
According to the FAA, a launch on June 18, 2023, in which SpaceX employed a “unapproved launch control room for the PSN SATRIA mission” at the company’s “Hangar X” facility at the Kennedy Space Center, and omitted the necessary "T-2 hour readiness poll," resulted in one set of penalties totaling $350,000.
The FAA argues that the company actually applied for the changes earlier in May, but was never granted clearance for the alterations. The FAA informed SpaceX soon before launch that it could not accept those improvements and revise the license in time, without providing reason. However, SpaceX bypassed the “T-2 hours” launch vote and utilized Hangar X.
Additionally, the SpaceX applied for permission to build a new rocket propellant plant in July but refused to wait for authorization before launching the EchoStar Jupiter 3 communications satellite on July 28th, 2023, the government said. The FAA recommends a $283,009 penalty for such violation.
FAA Chief Counsel Marc Nichols issued a comment on the proposed penalty, saying “Safety drives everything we do at the FAA, including a legal responsibility for the safety oversight of companies with commercial space transportation licenses,” adding “Failure of a company to comply with the safety requirements will result in consequences.”
From his side, Musk pushed legal action saying on his owned social media platform X (formerly Twitter) “SpaceX will be filing suit against the FAA for regulatory overreach.”
