SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk is threatening to sue the Federal Aviation Administration for "regulatory overreach" after the agency said earlier this week it plans to fine the company $630,000 for allegedly bypassing regulations on two of its launches in 2023.
SpaceX on Thursday sent a letter to Congress to challenge the fine, and Musk attacked the FAA through his X account, reports The Post Millennial on Friday.
He accused the FAA's leaders of spending resources to attack his company "while neglecting real safety issues at Boeing" and said that puts lives at risk.
Musk also shared the letter SpaceX sent to Congress.
"For nearly two years, SpaceX has voiced its concerns with the FAA's inability to keep pace with the commercial spaceflight industry," the post under the company's name said. "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."
Musk further referred to the two astronauts who remain trapped aboard the International Space Station until next year after NASA determined that they could not return as scheduled because of problems with their Boeing Starliner capsule.
The capsule has returned but a SpaceX Dragon Crew will be bringing the astronauts back.
"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!" Musk posted. "Enough is enough.”
The FAA, in an email to Newsmax, clarified that "the Boeing Starliner reentry vehicle is not licensed by the FAA. It is operating under the authority of NASA."
The FAA is alleging that SpaceX violated regulations by using a "propellant farm at SpaceX’s launch site that FAA had not yet approved," and said the company "did not conduct a launch poll two hours prior to a launch."
SpaceX, in challenging the alleged violations, sent its letter to the chair and ranking member of the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, as well as the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
In it, SpaceX says it "forcefully rejects the FAA's assertion that it violated any regulations," and accused the agency of hindering the commercial space industry.
"For well over a year now, SpaceX has voiced its concerns with the FAA's inability to keep pace with the commercial space industry and the needs of US Government agencies that rely on commercial space launch capability for national security and national priorities," David Harris, a company vice president wrote.