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U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)

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gov civilFounded 1958
Washington, United States
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United Airlines received certification from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for the first mainline Starlink-equipped aircraft.

NARRATIVE GENERAL9/26/2025Latest News

A fiscal year 2024 budget increase allowed the FAA’s commercial space transportation office to grow to 158 employees, and the FAA is seeking a further staff increase in 2025 to help with licensing.

NARRATIVE GOVERNANCE9/10/2024Congress, industry criticize FAA launch licensing regulations

Spaceport America in New Mexico is pursuing funding for an Orbital Launch Challenge prize that would award $2,000,000 to the first company to receive an FAA license for and later attempt an orbital launch from Spaceport America.

NARRATIVE GENERAL2/3/2024Inland spaceports seek ways to host orbital launches

SpaceX must complete a mishap investigation approved by the FAA before the next flight.

NARRATIVE GENERAL11/20/2023Starship flies again

Varda is the first company to seek an FAA reentry license under the new Part 450 regulations.

NARRATIVE GENERAL10/23/2023Varda partners with Australian range for capsule landings

Pyka has received approval from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to operate its Pelican Spray aircraft for crop protection commercially nationwide.

NARRATIVE GENERAL8/2/2023Pyka Secures FAA Authorization for Automated Electric Drone in the US

Varda is the first company to seek a reentry license under the FAA’s Part 450 regulations.

NARRATIVE GENERAL7/25/2023Varda waiting on FAA license to return space manufacturing capsule

Task orders valued at $215,000,000 were executed at contract award to provide technical refresh and Dual Frequency Operation upgrades to the FAA’s Wide-Area Augmentation System (WAAS).

NARRATIVE FINANCIAL9/15/2022FAA contracts Raytheon I&S to modernize WAAS

Momentus Inc. received a favorable determination from the Federal Aviation Administration for its application for payload review to support the inaugural flight of the Vigoride orbital transfer vehicle on the SpaceX Transporter-5 mission targeted for launch this month.

NARRATIVE GENERAL5/8/2022The Inaugural Launch Of Momentus’ Vigoride OTV Cleared By The FAA

Astra is the first company to receive a Part 450 license from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

NARRATIVE GENERAL2/4/2022Astra Receives First Part 450 Launch License from FAA

The FAA issued a formal record of decision that supported up to a dozen launches a year of small launch vehicles from the proposed Spaceport Camden and identified mitigation measures for environmental impacts.

NARRATIVE GENERAL12/21/2021FAA issues license for Georgia spaceport

The Federal Aviation Administration completed its investigation into a problem on Virgin Galactic’s most recent SpaceShipTwo flight on 2021-09-29.

NARRATIVE GENERAL9/29/2021FAA clears Virgin Galactic to resume SpaceShipTwo flights

The FAA awarded the first commercial astronaut wings in 2004 to Mike Melvill and Brian Binnie for piloting the three SpaceShipOne flights that flew beyond 100 km that year.

NARRATIVE GENERAL7/21/2021FAA revises criteria for commercial astronaut wings

The FAA approved the modification to SpaceX’s launch license late 2021-02-01, concluding that SpaceX complies with all safety and related federal regulations and is authorized to conduct Starship SN9 flight operations in accordance with its launch license.

NARRATIVE GENERAL2/2/2021SpaceX violated launch license in Starship SN8 launch

American Robotics became the first company approved by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to operate automated drones without human operators on-site.

NARRATIVE GENERAL1/18/2021FAA approves American Robotics to run automated drones without human operators

Momentus will continue to work with the Federal Aviation Administration to obtain approval for its payloads.

NARRATIVE GENERAL1/7/2021Momentus Delays Their Vigoride Launch To Secure An FAA “OK”

Momentus is delaying its first operational mission, Vigoride-1, that was to fly on a SpaceX Falcon 9 later 2021-01 to later in the year because it was unable to obtain Federal Aviation Administration approval following an incomplete interagency review.

NARRATIVE GENERAL1/7/2021Momentus delays first Vigoride launch

The National Reconnaissance Office has procured commercial launches from Rocket Lab that are licensed by the Federal Aviation Administration.

NARRATIVE GENERAL12/19/2020SpaceX wraps up 2020 with Falcon 9 launch of classified NRO satellite

In 2019, Skyfire Consulting became the first consultancy to help obtain FAA approval for the nation's first active emergency response Certificate of Authorization (COA) with a Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) provision for public safety.

NARRATIVE GENERAL12/17/2020Skyfire increases officer and community safety through new drone as first responder program

Phase two of the FAA's unmanned aircraft traffic management pilot program has been successfully completed at the New York UAS Test Site at Griffiss International Airport in Rome.

TECHNICAL PRODUCT12/3/2020Phase 2 of FAA’s UTM pilot program concludes at New York UAS test site
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