GOP Senator Presses FAA to Speed Rocket Launch Licenses

U.S. Senator Jerry Moran has urged the Federal Aviation Administration to speed up its license review process for private rocket launches, writing in a letter seen by Reuters that the agency's current oversight of a fast-growing space sector is delaying national objectives.

Moran of Kansas, the highest ranking Republican on the Democratic-controlled Senate Commerce aviation subcommittee, wrote in an Oct. 25 letter to FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker that the agency's commercial space office "must rapidly improve its transparency, accountability, and pace of execution" in approving rocket launch licenses.

The letter adds to a chorus of industry frustration toward the FAA led in recent months mainly by Elon Musk's SpaceX, with its swift pace of Starship test launches and Falcon 9 flights that has challenged the regulator's ability to oversee the increasingly competitive U.S. space sector.

Musk this year has stepped up his criticism of the FAA as he backs former U.S. president Donald Trump's reelection bid with the hope of shedding what he has called "counterproductive" and "needless" regulations from the U.S. government.

The FAA's Office of Commercial Space Transportation, which regulates private launches and rocket sites to assure they do not impact the uninvolved public's safety, has long argued for more funding to grow its licensing team, though it has struggled to find suitable hires.

Still, the agency in recent weeks has moved faster on approving launches than previously. Earlier this month it greenlit SpaceX's Starship test launch license a month earlier than anticipated and wrapped up multiple mishap investigations into the company's Falcon 9.

Moran in his letter said multi-month delays in processing modifications to existing private launch licenses "threaten vital rocket development programs essential for national security missions and key initiatives like returning Americans to the moon."

SpaceX's rocket business currently dominates the U.S. space program.

NASA plans to use the company's Starship rocket in late 2026 to land the first astronauts on the moon since 1972, while the Pentagon relies on SpaceX to launch nearly half of its national security missions to space.