FAA orders Musk's SpaceX to take 63 corrective actions on Starship, keeps rocket grounded

CNBC ^ | 9/8/23 | Lora Kolodny

[CFW]

KEY POINTS

The Federal Aviation Administration said Elon Musk's SpaceX must keep its Starship Super Heavy rocket grounded.

The federal agency had been probing the April launch, which saw SpaceX's Starship explode in mid-flight.

The FAA called for SpaceX to take 63 corrective actions before it launches another Starship test flight.

The Federal Aviation Administration on Friday said Elon Musk's SpaceX must keep its Starship Super Heavy rocket grounded, saying the company needs to take 63 corrective actions before it is cleared for another test flight.

The FAA has now wrapped its probe into the April launch, which saw the rocket explode mid-flight.

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk had claimed Tuesday, in a post on X (formerly Twitter) which he now owns, that "Starship is ready to launch, awaiting FAA license approval."

[Jotmo]

Yes, most of us FReepers have little or no trust in the Fed Government.

It’s kind of our thing.

Have you not noticed this before now?

[discostu]

Sorry but that’s just not this. They’d ground Falcon if this was personal, that’s the one that actually makes money. Starship is still experimental.

[AAABEST]

lmao - where do you come with this $*!t?

[Sequoyah101]

I was relieved to find that Elon’s balls for space link are not illuminated like some near earth orbit billboard and are only visible at sunset. I am not just gratified but surprised since he is such a promoter. Can you imagine 40,000 or more of those things lighting up the night sky? Not a pleasant thought.

[liberalh8ter]

Dear Elon,

That's not a rocket, it's a weather balloon (wink, wink). Problem solved.

[Blennos]

They’d ground Falcon if this was personal

I disagree. These days too many countries and companies are dependent upon the Falcon9 to get to orbit. Including our own SpaceForce. They have contracts for years out. There would be a huge backlash if Falcon were impeded. Easier to stick it to Elon by hampering his pet project -- to get to Mars.

[discostu]

But you just proved it. Grounding Falcon would cost Elon a lot of money. Grounding Starship, which only has 4 test launches vaguely schedule in the next 18 months does NOTHING.

[NorthMountain]

No deep state conspiracy here.

Ahh ... so in the end, we're on the same page.

[NorthMountain]

Goodbye.

[NorthMountain]

For some people, distrust of the government is a rational thing.

Others have taken it to the point of mental pathology.

[NorthMountain]

A sarcastic response to your post would be something like "OK. Let's abolish the FAA entirely and see what happens to the accident rate in the aviation industry." I'm not doing that ...

Seriously, though ... we don't know the number of accidents, bad designs, etc. that have been prevented or stopped by FAA oversight. We only really know about the incidents they failed to stop. During the 737-MAX fiasco, people on this forum were complaining that the FAA was "owned" by the aviation industry; that the 737-MAX problems were the result of insufficient independent oversight. Now, people on this forum are complaining that the FAA's extreme caution regarding an experimental spacecraft whose only flight so far was terminated explosively by the range safety official is excessive, and "obvious" evidence of some vendetta against SpaceX. It's absurd.

[PIF]

or sell out to Besos or the nearest local CCP member.

[PIF]

I bet the Mexicans would love to have his company there.
—
So would the cartels.

[PIF]

Then again, that might be why FAA disagrees with SpaceX, Period.

[Blennos]

Grounding Starship, which only has 4 test launches vaguely schedule in the next 18 months does NOTHING.

The world is dependent upon Falcon9. NASA gets their astronauts to the space station on this vehicle. The US gets its secret satellites into orbit via Falcon9. It cannot be grounded. The FAA dare not ground it. This is not necessarily a financial attack against Elon. It is a way to diminish his prestige. Teach him a lesson. Ground his most important project. He does has a lot of money invested in StarShip. Probably billions.

[PIF]

no more reaching for the stars.
—
When the 0bama/Biden regime gets done we’ll be reaching for caves

[RainMan]

The only reason I replied to you was not because of a "deep state conspiracy" but rather because of your non-sequitur comparing the SpaceX launch to the Boeing 737-Max debacle.

FAA is responsible for air safety. Yes, they do have crash inspectors and they did find things that Boeing withheld from everyone (airlines, pilots, passengers, etc.) that lead to deaths. SpaceX did no such thing.

So to say the FAA did the right thing with Boeing while the clickbait title made it appear they were punishing SpaceX for testing an unmanned rocket is not a moral equivalence. That was your non-sequitur. By the way, even the body of the article did not reveal the salient details ... I had to click thru several links to get to the actual response from the FAA to SpaceX to figure it out for myself.

You saw hypocrisy on FR, but it wasn't. It was people upset with what appeared to be the FAA going outside their lane with SpaceX because of a poorly written title and article. We all know most people (not just on FR, but online in general) read the title and react. Only a fraction click on the link and read the full article. Fewer still dig deeper to get to the actual facts of the case. I was on Boeing's side when I first heard about the 737-Max because ... like I said ... I grew up in a Boeing family and could not fathom they were in the wrong. However, the truth eventually came out and my opinion of Boeing changed because of it. Likewise, a bad title and article here APPEARED as if the FAA was going after SpaceX, a company which most of us like (I am assuming you do too since you watched the launch in person). You drew a lot of criticism because of your false moral equivalency while calling all of us hypocrites.

[discostu]

Of course it can be grounded. ANYTHING can be grounded.

This isn’t an attack. His rocket blew up. FAA investigated, as they tend to do with things in the air the BLOW UP. And they said “you gotta fix this stuff”, which he obviously knew something had to be fixed because it BLEW UP. This is NOT his most important project. Falcon is the one making money. Right now this is a vanity project that might turn into something useful, at some point, if they stop BLOWING UP.

[NorthMountain]

your non-sequitur

I strongly disagree with your assessment. The comparison is apt. In both bases, the FAA grounded a craft that was demonstrably not flight-worthy.

You saw hypocrisy on FR,

Because it's right there in black and white.

[DouglasKC]

Yup. They want him gone. He’s letting X get to close to the truth.