FAA wants to fine SpaceX more than $600,000 for Space Coast launch site violations

The Federal Aviation Administration announced Tuesday it is seeking more than $600,000 in fines against SpaceX for violating licenses from its Space Coast launch sites.

In a press release, the FAA detailed its proposed civil penalties for a June 18, 2023 launch from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 and a July 28, 2023 launch from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Pad 39-A.

The combined fine of $633,009 is for what the FAA alleges to be SpaceX’s failure to follow its license requirements for those two launches, according to the release. The fines follow civil penalty guidelines that are set in federal statutes, the FAA stated.

“Safety drives everything we do at the FAA, including a legal responsibility for the safety oversight of companies with commercial space transportation licenses,” FAA Chief Counsel Marc Nichols said in the release. “Failure of a company to comply with the safety requirements will result in consequences.”

For the Canaveral launch, the FAA said that in May 2023, SpaceX had submitted a request to revise its communication plan to its existing license that wanted to add a new launch control room at Hangar X and remove a T-2 hour readiness poll from its procedures.

That request had not been approved by the time SpaceX used the launch control room for the PSN SATRIA mission on a Falcon 9 rocket. SpaceX also skipped over the T-2 hour poll for that mission, the FAA said. Each violation should cost SpaceX $175,000, the FAA stated.

For the KSC launch issue, the FAA said that in July 2023, SpaceX submitted a request to revise its explosive site plan for its launch license to include a new rocket propellant farm that had been constructed.

The FAA said SpaceX had used the unapproved rocket propellant farm for the Falcon Heavy launch of the EchoStar XXIV/Jupiter mission, for which the FAA seeks a civil penalty of $283,009.

The release said SpaceX has 30 days from receiving the FAA’s enforcement letter to respond.

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