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“I agree that this is a vital mission, and I think SpaceX has been a very innovative company, but I think they’re also a mature company,” Whitaker replied. “They’ve been around 20 years, and I think they need to operate at the highest level of safety. That includes adopting an SMS (Safety Management System) program, and it includes having a whistleblower program.”
Asked what SpaceX could do to shorten the delay in the next Starship test flight, Whitaker replied: “Complying with the regulations would be the best path.”
SpaceX called Whitaker’s other claims in the House hearing inaccurate in a statement released Tuesday evening. Whitaker said the FAA levied fines on SpaceX for Falcon 9 launches last year because SpaceX launched the missions without a permit. SpaceX contends it was fully licensed, and the FAA has “incorrectly alleged non-compliances.”
One of the fines has to do with SpaceX’s relocation of a fuel farm at its launch pad at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Whitaker alleged SpaceX moved it “closer to the population and did not do a risk analysis before launching.” SpaceX says it moved the fuel farm farther from publicly accessible areas, and range safety authorities in Florida approved the change.
Elon Musk, SpaceX’s founder and CEO, has suggested a political motive for the FAA’s scrutiny of SpaceX. Musk has endorsed former President Donald Trump in this year’s presidential election. “America is being smothered by legions of regulators, often inept & politically-driven,” Musk wrote on X, his social media platform, referring to the FAA.
Shotwell took a different tone in Texas.
“We are not afraid of regulation,” she said. “It helps keep businesses thriving as well as the community safe… All I’m saying is, as this business grows, you will probably enhance the regulatory environment, and there’s just a caution that you really want to make sure that regulation doesn’t impede progress.”
