The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), through its Office of Commercial Space Transportation (FAA/AST), is a regulatory agency responsible for overseeing and licensing commercial space launch and reentry operations in the U.S. It ensures public safety, protects property, and upholds national security and foreign policy interests while promoting the growth of the U.S. commercial space sector. The FAA partners with organizations like NASA and also issues licenses for spaceports. Associated keywords: commercial space transportation, launch licensing, reentry licensing, spaceport regulation, public safety.
All verified mentions of this organization in source documents.
The Federal Aviation Administration is continuing its environmental review of SpaceX’s Boca Chica Starship launch plans, and the FAA has delayed its decision twice, most recently to 2022-03-28.
Momentus must obtain a Federal Communications Commission license, a Federal Aviation Administration payload review, and a slight modification to its National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration imaging license to proceed with the June 2022 launch.
The Federal Aviation Administration issued a NOTAM restricting airspace downrange from Pacific Spaceport Complex–Alaska on Kodiak Island from 2022-03-13 to 2022-03-15 for space operations.
The Federal Aviation Administration extended the deadline for completing an environmental review required for Starship’s launch license from 2022-02-28 to 2022-03-28.
The Federal Aviation Administration expected to complete an environmental assessment of orbital Starship launches from Boca Chica by the end of 2021 before pushing the deadline to 2022-02-28.
Joby Aviation is the first and only eVTOL company to sign a G-1 (stage 4) Certification Basis for its aircraft with the Federal Aviation Administration.
Astra received a Federal Aviation Administration launch license for this mission on 2022-02-04.
Astra is the first company to receive a Part 450 license from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
The Federal Aviation Administration’s Office of Commercial Space Transportation must issue a launch license for Astra’s 2022-02-05 launch.
The VADR contract provides Federal Aviation Administration-licensed commercial launch services capable of delivering payloads ranging from cubesats to Class D missions to a variety of orbits.
The Federal Aviation Administration expects to complete the environmental review of SpaceX’s Boca Chica launch facility on 2022-02-28.
Momentus was unable to obtain a Federal Aviation Administration payload review for its first mission in early 2021 because of government objections to its Russian co-founders Mikhail Kokorich and Lev Khassis.
Elon Musk expressed a goal of obtaining a Federal Aviation Administration license for Starship launches by the end of 2021 to allow a first orbital launch as soon as January or February.
The Federal Aviation Administration awarded a launch site operators license to Camden County, Georgia for the proposed Spaceport Camden on 2021-12-20.
The six passengers on NS-19 will be eligible for Federal Aviation Administration astronaut wings, and the FAA will retire its astronaut wings initiative at the end of the year following a 2021-12-10 decision.
The Federal Aviation Administration will not award commercial astronaut wings to anyone, either crew members or spaceflight participants, who flies on FAA-licensed vehicles after 2021.
The Federal Aviation Administration will maintain a roster on its website of individuals who have flown to space on FAA-licensed vehicles, defined as reaching an altitude of at least 80.5 km or about 80 km.
The Federal Aviation Administration did not award commercial astronaut wings again until after the first SpaceShipTwo flight beyond the 50-mile boundary in December 2018.
The Federal Aviation Administration awarded two honorary commercial astronaut wings to Peter Siebold and the late Michael Alsbury, who were the pilot and co-pilot respectively of the first SpaceShipTwo vehicle, VSS Enterprise, destroyed in an October 2014 test flight.
After the 2021-07-01 flights of SpaceShipTwo and New Shepard, the Federal Aviation Administration revised the criteria for awarding commercial astronaut wings in a 2021-07-20 order.