FAA attempts to justify its red tape
The FAA today responded to SpaceX’s harsh criticism of the licensing process that is delaying the next test orbital launch of Starship/Superheavy, claiming the delays were entirely SpaceX’s fault for changing the flight profile of the mission, likely involving the landing of Superheavy at the launch tower rather than in the Gulf of Mexico.
The agency also claimed that this change meant that the “environmental impact” would cover a wider area, requiring imput from “other agencies.”
An FAA official reiteriated these claims at a conference yesterday, stating that the delay was “largely set by the choices that the company makes.”
All crap and utter rationalizations. The FAA has decided that any change of any kind in the launch operations will now require major review, including bringing in Fish & Wildlife, the Coast Guard, and others to have their say. This policy however has nothing to do with reality, as there is absolutely no additional threat to the environment by these changes. Nor is there any significant increase in safety risks by having Superheavy land at Boca Chica. Even if there were, the only ones qualified to determine that risk are engineers at SpaceX. The FAA is merely rubberstamping SpaceX’s conclusions, and taking its time doing so.
This is America today. Unless something changes soon, freedom is dead. To do anything new and challenging Americans will have to beg permission from bureaucrats in Washington, who know nothing but love to exert their power over everyone else. Under these circumstances, we shall see the end of a great and free nation.
The support of my readers through the years has given me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Four years ago, just before the 2020 election I wrote that Joe Biden's mental health was suspect. Only in the past two weeks has the mainstream media decided to recognize that basic fact.
Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Even today NASA and Congress refuses to recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
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The FAA today responded to SpaceX’s harsh criticism of the licensing process that is delaying the next test orbital launch of Starship/Superheavy, claiming the delays were entirely SpaceX’s fault for changing the flight profile of the mission, likely involving the landing of Superheavy at the launch tower rather than in the Gulf of Mexico.
The agency also claimed that this change meant that the “environmental impact” would cover a wider area, requiring imput from “other agencies.”
An FAA official reiteriated these claims at a conference yesterday, stating that the delay was “largely set by the choices that the company makes.”
All crap and utter rationalizations. The FAA has decided that any change of any kind in the launch operations will now require major review, including bringing in Fish & Wildlife, the Coast Guard, and others to have their say. This policy however has nothing to do with reality, as there is absolutely no additional threat to the environment by these changes. Nor is there any significant increase in safety risks by having Superheavy land at Boca Chica. Even if there were, the only ones qualified to determine that risk are engineers at SpaceX. The FAA is merely rubberstamping SpaceX’s conclusions, and taking its time doing so.
This is America today. Unless something changes soon, freedom is dead. To do anything new and challenging Americans will have to beg permission from bureaucrats in Washington, who know nothing but love to exert their power over everyone else. Under these circumstances, we shall see the end of a great and free nation.
The support of my readers through the years has given me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Four years ago, just before the 2020 election I wrote that Joe Biden's mental health was suspect. Only in the past two weeks has the mainstream media decided to recognize that basic fact.
Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Even today NASA and Congress refuses to recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are five ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation:
5. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above. And if you buy the books through the ebookit links, I get a larger cut and I get it sooner.
Those bureaucrats know nothing, including a feeling of respect and obligation to the citizens.
The Framers never intended for such people to have such power in the country, to act without the will of the people.
These agencies should have all their ruling and regulatory authority eliminated, and should serve merely advisory roles to the two ELECTED branches of our government.
Two points:
1. The FAA and entire world have known about SpaceX’s ambitions to return boosters to Boca Chica for years. That they have known this and done NOTHING to prepare themselves for licensing such missions when SpaceX deemed them feasible is just another reflection on the inefficiency of government.
2. The environmental concerns expressed about deluge water runoff are absolutely absurd as the ENTIRE wetlands reside within a coastal hurricane flood zone. NOAA itself documents the entire Boca Chica area as likely to experience a 3 to 10 foot tidal surge every 10-20 years or so. So all of the creatures they are so concerned about over a few swimming pools worth of drinkable fresh water (that immediately dissipates into the sand which has no ability to hold water like clay) are perfectly OK to live at the whim of mother nature who will regularly scrub them out of existence via saltwater inundation.
Sad.
I think one of the intentions is to confine SpaceX to low Earth orbit. That’s what NASA and the military need. Musk has a passion about Mars. Thwarting those efforts is the most effective way to punish him.
As the saying goes, “the process is the punishment.”
I think you might be onto something Gary.
They want weather/climate satellites as part of the kudgel used against companies.
Elon should refuse to launch them until this gets straightened out.
The FAA “process” enshrines stagnation. SpaceX is preforming rapid iterations of their Starship/Superheavy, making changes and improvements as they go. The FAA is stating that these “changes” require a new permit and paperwork each and every time. Meaning, if they simply flew the same thing, over and over, they wouldn’t have a problem. That’s insane!
This bureaucratic strangulation of iteration and improvement is illustrative of why we progressed so rapidly from 1945 to 1970, and then hit a brick wall. Only the advent of the PC and Internet have allowed innovation beyond the control of the bureaucracy, and they are ever jealous of this free space…
The book and film ELECTION shows someone’s drive to achieve power
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tracy_Flick
“Witherspoon’s performance as Tracy was widely acclaimed by critics and garnered her multiple awards and nominations, including a Golden Globe nod. The character has since become an icon, as her driven, focused personality and unpopularity among her peers have led to comparisons with many real-life public figures, particularly female politicians such as Hillary Clinton.”
“Roger Ebert began his review of Election, “I remember students like Tracy Flick, the know-it-all who always has her hand in the air, while the teacher desperately looks for someone else to call on. In fact, I was a student like Tracy Flick.” He goes on to compare Tracy to Elizabeth Dole: “a person who always seems to be presenting you with a logical puzzle for which she is the answer… She is always perfectly dressed and groomed, and is usually able to conceal her hot temper behind a facade of maddening cheerfulness. But she is ruthless. She reminds me of a saying attributed to David Merrick: ‘It is not enough for me to win. My enemies must lose.'”
“Tracy has often been a point of comparison in commentary on real-world political figures. Hillary Clinton has more than once been compared to her. In a January 2008 video mashup produced by Slate, campaign footage of Clinton was combined with clips from Election to draw a comparison between Clinton’s and Tracy’s feelings about the inferiority of their opponents”
It is difficult to express in polite words the anger, contempt and disgust I feel for the FAA and every single fed involved in this politicized obstruction. Too bad there is not a personal cost associated with wanton destruction of a business.
Tar. Feathers. Rinse. Repeat. Cheers –
When China “beats” us to the moon, you’re gonna have tons of politicians using it as fodder for their verbal diarrhea.
Not one of them will acknowledge the ideological divide between US and China.
They are willing to risk dropping boosters on their citizens. We sue when a company pours DRINKING WATER INTO THE OCEAN.
We have gone completely soft as a nation.
I’m not saying we should reverse course, but can we use a tiny bit of logic here people?
From the end of the Space News article:
Excellent defense of the FAA’s Part 450 red tape.
Reading the end of an article, or an annual report, can provide interesting information, and if you are going to stop reading something, skip to the end before stopping. In this case, we discover that even the FAA understands that its red tape is worse than before. The FAA encourages companies to help each other with the atrocious process, because it is just too difficult to understand how to get through it. The FAA even needs a new rule-making committee to help improve the supposedly unbroken process, because it has become very hard to launch anything new in the U.S. One can only wonder whether the FAA made this such a hideous process just to spite the industry or if they just aren’t competent.
So, in August when it became clear that no “previously allowed” approval was forthcoming before late September or early October (belying the FAA’s claim that Starship was allowed for multiple flights, if only they would repeat the same test over and over), SpaceX decided to use the extra time to move forward in its test regimen. Thus, the FAA’s initial failure to approve what they said was already approved becomes SpaceX’s fault, not the FAA’s fault. Bureaucratese is a very strange language, where seemingly English words have meanings found in other places in the dictionary.
SpaceX had a failed unmanned landing in the middle of the ocean, and they had to stand down from all launches while the FAA investigates … I don’t know, what do they investigate? Not safety, because it is in the middle of the ocean where safety isn’t a problem. Not environment, because dropping a booster into the ocean is standard operating procedure for every other U.S. launch provider, so what requires investigation, and why do launches have to be halted in the meantime?
On the other hand, Starliner’s thrusters fail, NASA thinks it is unsafe for astronauts to travel in, yet Starliner hasn’t been grounded, and there is no FAA investigation. It looks for all the world that the FAA wants to pick the winners and the losers.