FAA issues a launch curfew due to the shutdown
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) today issued a launch curfew that will ban all launches and re-entries from 10:00 pm to 6:00 am local time.
Accordingly, with respect to commercial space launches and reentries, under the authority provided to the FAA Administrator by 49 U.S.C. §§ 40103, 40113, and 46105(c), and authority delegated to the FAA Administrator under 51 U.S.C. § 50909(a), it is hereby ordered that, beginning at 6:00 a.m. EST on November 10, 2025, and until this Order is cancelled, Commercial space launches and reentries will only be permitted between 10:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. local time.
It appears the curfew has been imposed because of a shortage of air traffic controllers due to the government shutdown. Each launch needs to be coordinated with air traffic control, and it appears the FAA won’t have the people it needs to do this for these over night launches. This is part of the overall 10% reduction in flights at forty of the busiest airports nationwide imposed at the same time, also due to the shutdown.
This order is going to probably impact planned launches by SpaceX, Rocket Lab, and others, with SpaceX likely affected the most, though at the moment the exact impact remains unknown. A review of the known planned American launches after November 10th shows only one, by Rocket Lab of its HASTE hypersonic suborbital rocket (based on the first stage of its Electron orbital rocket) with a scheduled launch time within the curfew. Almost no SpaceX launches are listed after November 10th, but that isn’t surprising since the company tends to announce its schedule only a few days beforehand.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) today issued a launch curfew that will ban all launches and re-entries from 10:00 pm to 6:00 am local time.
Accordingly, with respect to commercial space launches and reentries, under the authority provided to the FAA Administrator by 49 U.S.C. §§ 40103, 40113, and 46105(c), and authority delegated to the FAA Administrator under 51 U.S.C. § 50909(a), it is hereby ordered that, beginning at 6:00 a.m. EST on November 10, 2025, and until this Order is cancelled, Commercial space launches and reentries will only be permitted between 10:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. local time.
It appears the curfew has been imposed because of a shortage of air traffic controllers due to the government shutdown. Each launch needs to be coordinated with air traffic control, and it appears the FAA won’t have the people it needs to do this for these over night launches. This is part of the overall 10% reduction in flights at forty of the busiest airports nationwide imposed at the same time, also due to the shutdown.
This order is going to probably impact planned launches by SpaceX, Rocket Lab, and others, with SpaceX likely affected the most, though at the moment the exact impact remains unknown. A review of the known planned American launches after November 10th shows only one, by Rocket Lab of its HASTE hypersonic suborbital rocket (based on the first stage of its Electron orbital rocket) with a scheduled launch time within the curfew. Almost no SpaceX launches are listed after November 10th, but that isn’t surprising since the company tends to announce its schedule only a few days beforehand.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News


”The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) today issued a launch curfew that will ban all launches and re-entries from 10:00 pm to 6:00 am local time.”
No, just the opposite.
So this will prohibit Transporter-15, Sentinel-6B, Starlink 6-85, Starlink 6-87, Starlink 6-89, and Starlink 11-30. Starlink 6-94 will have to launch right on time in the primary launch window (which SpaceX almost never does). Even a one-second delay would mean a scrub. Escapade had better get off the ground on Sunday, or it too will be grounded.
I might be wrong, but Electron’s Van launch probably falls under DoD authority, so it would likely be exempted from the curfew.