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

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

“The (Federal Aviation Administration) leadership is spending its resources attacking SpaceX over petty issues that have nothing to do with safety, while neglecting the real safety issues at Boeing,” Musk said. he wrote late Thursday on X (THE TARGET)THE the social media platform he owns.

“This is deeply wrong and puts human lives at risk,” he said, adding that “enough is enough.”

Musk specifically mentioned the surrounding issues Starliner from Boeingwhich traveled to the International Space Station in June with two astronauts for an eight-day mission. Two months later, after repeated delays and problems, the Starliner returned to Earth in September without its crew, according to NASA determined it was too risky. Those astronauts will return to Earth in March 2025 on a SpaceX spacecraft instead.

The FAA proposed on Tuesday to fine SpaceX, which dominate the market for commercial space launches, $633,009 for a series of problems that occurred last year. Namely, that SpaceX has filed three requests to revise plans for space launches and made those changes without receiving regulatory approval.

Musk called the agency’s actions “law,” or the use of legal systems and institutions to delegitimize an opponent, a term often employee by his presidential nominee, former President Donald Trump, against officials pursuing him. The controversial Tesla (TSLA) and SpaceX’s CEO also said his company would sue the FAA.

In a letter to congressional officials Thursday, SpaceX he wrote that it “strongly rejects” the FAA’s claim that it violated any regulations. The company claims it provided the agency’s Office of Commercial Space Transportation with “sufficient notice” and argued that the sanctions were proposed because the office “could not do its job” effectively. SpaceX indicated approval of one of its changes, which came 110 days after it submitted the plan.

The confusion comes about a week after SpaceX criticized The FAA and said regulations prevent it from flying its rockets, citing fines and questions from government agencies. The aerospace firm also said the FAA rejected its fifth test Starship mega rocket from September to November due to “superfluous environmental analysis”.

Musk on Friday morning agreed to a post on X criticizing Polly Trottenberg, the assistant secretary of the Department of Transportation and he asked“Shouldn’t the head of an organization responsible for regulating the safety of airplanes and missiles know something about how they work?”

Despite Musk’s post — and the post he responded to — Trottenberg has not led the FAA since October 2023when he served as acting administrator in the past resignation of her predecessor. Trottenberg in September 2023 stated that the agency was working together with SpaceX and is working to obtain a second license to launch the Starship megarocket as soon as next month. The approval was PROVIDED in November 2023.

According to her staff biography pageTrottenberg is now focusing on a number of areas that Musk should be familiar with as CEO of Tesla. This includes creating a the national electric vehicle charging network and leading the Department of Transportation’s road safety, technology and cyber security efforts.