Elon Musk wants the FAA to go after Boeing and leave SpaceX alone

After SpaceX was hit by a proposed fine by federal regulatorsElon Musk complains that they should focus on Boeing (BA) and leave his company alone.

“The [Federal Aviation Administration] “The leadership is wasting its resources attacking SpaceX over trivial issues that have nothing to do with safety, while neglecting real safety issues at Boeing,” Musk said. wrote late Thursday at X (META)The Social media platform that he owns.

“This is deeply wrong and endangers people's lives,” he said, adding: “Enough is enough.”

Musk particularly pointed out the problems that Boeing's Starlinerwhich traveled to the International Space Station with two astronauts in June for an eight-day mission. Two months later, after repeated delays and problems, Starliner returned to Earth without its crew in September after NASA certainly it was too risky. These astronauts will be on a SpaceX spacecraft instead.

The FAA proposed on Tuesday to penalize SpaceX, which dominates the market for commercial space launches $633,009 due to a series of problems that arose last year. Namely, SpaceX submitted requests to revise its space launch plans three times and implemented those changes without obtaining regulatory approval.

Musk described the agency’s actions as “lawfare,” the use of legal systems and institutions to delegitimize an opponent, a term that is often busy by his chosen presidential candidate, former President Donald Trump, against officials who are prosecuting him. The litigious Tesla (TSL) and the CEO of SpaceX also said his company would sue the FAA.

In a letter to members of Congress on Thursday, SpaceX said wrote that it “strongly rejects” the FAA's claim that it violated regulations. The company argues it provided “sufficient notice” to the agency's Office of Commercial Space Transportation and claims the penalties were proposed because the office was “unable to do its job” efficiently. SpaceX pointed to the approval of one of its changes, which came 110 days after the plan was submitted.

The rush comes about a week after SpaceX criticized the FAA, saying regulations prevented it from flying its rockets, citing fines and requests from government agencies. The aerospace company also said the FAA had approved its fifth test of the Spaceship Mega rocket from September to November due to “unnecessary environmental analysis”.

Musk agreed with a post on X on Friday morning in which he criticized Polly Trottenberg, the deputy secretary of the Department of Transportation, and asked“Shouldn’t the head of an organization responsible for regulating the safety of aircraft and missiles know how they work?”

Despite Musk’s post – and the post he responded to – Trottenberg has not led the FAA since October 2023when she was appointed as acting administrator after the resignation of her predecessor. Trottenberg said in September 2023 that the agency would Cooperation with SpaceX and is working on obtaining its second license to launch the Starship mega rocket as early as the following month. The approval was granted in November 2023.

In your opinion Employee biography pageTrottenberg is now focusing on a number of areas that Musk will be familiar with as CEO of Tesla. These include the creation of a national charging network for electric vehicles and leads the Department of Transportation's efforts in highway safety, technology and cybersecurity.