近两年来，太空探索技术公司一直对美国联邦航空局(FAA)无法跟上商业航天部门的步伐表示担忧。显然，FAA缺乏及时审查许可证材料的资源，但也将有限的资源集中用于与公共安全无关的领域。这些分散注意力的情况持续威胁着国家的优先事项，削弱了美国工业的创新能力。
在7月和8月，SpaceX引起猎鹰火箭的二级故障和着陆失败，两次被FAA叫停发射，其中一次停止发射长达半个月。
相关链接
太空探索技术公司向美国众议院科学、空间和技术委员会主席弗兰克·卢卡斯，美国众议院科学、空间和技术委员会成员佐伊·洛夫格伦，美国参议院美国商业、科学和运输委员会主席玛丽亚·坎特韦尔，美国参议院商业、科学和运输委员会高级成员特德·克鲁兹写了一封信，施压政府加快FAA的审批速率。
原文：（译文在末尾）
Dear Chairs Cantwell and Lucas and Ranking Members Cruz and Lofgren:
For nearly two years, SpaceX and many in industry, legal practice,and academia have raised the alarm on the Federal Aviation Administration's(FAA) implementation of its commercial space launch and reentry regulatorymandate, which is administered by its Office of Commercial Space Transportation(AST).It has been clear for some time that AST lacks the resources to timelyreview licensing materials, mistakenly focuses its limited resources on areasunrelated to its public safety regulatory scope and has been unsuccessful inmodernizing and streamlining its regulations.
Most recently, the FAA alleged that SpaceX violated its regulationsand proposed a $633,009 penalty for these alleged violations. It is notablethat these violations and penalties were announced shortly after increasedscrutiny on AST by Congress for its failure to reasonably and timely executeits regulatory obligations. It is also notable that, in announcing thesepenalties, FAA's politically appointed Chief Counsel was quoted in the FAA'sannouncement on the matter. It is understanding that it is highly irregular,and perhaps unprecedented, for a Chief Counsel to be quoted on an enforcementmatter. SpaceX forcefully rejects the FAA's assertion that it violated anyregulations.
SpaceX is absolutely committed to safety in all operations. Withrespect to these matters, it is notable that in each instance, SpaceX providedAST with sufficient notice of these relatively minor license updates, which hadno bearing on public safety. The fact that AST was unable to timely processthese minor updates underscores systemic challenges at AST. The FAA allegesthree distinct violations: (I) that utilized a propellant farm at SpaceX'slaunch site that FAA had not yet approved; (2) that SpaceX used an updatedCommunications Plan that the FAA had not yet approved; and (3) that SpaceX didnot conduct a launch poll two hours prior to a launch, As it relates to theRP-I fuel farm, use of the RP-I fuel farm had been approved by our U.S.Government Range Safety Authority for an upcoming National Security SpaceLaunch (NSSL) program mission.
The system has been safely used repeatedly ever since, because thereis no public safety risk. Despite the Federal Range's approval, AST elected toinvolve itself and now proposes penalties against SpaceX because AST was unableto do its job in an efficient manner. The Communication Plan changes areentirely unrelated to public safety, and AST has no regulatory authority torequire a T-2 hour poll. SpaceX responds in detail to each allegation below foryour information and to the clarify the record.
FAA Enforcement Action — Quick Facts
A）FAA allegesthat SpaceX operated under an unapproved Communications Plan for the PSN MSFlaunch in June 2023. SpaceX denies this allegation.
B) SpaceX's only change to the Communications Plan was to change thelocation of the launch control center from one location on Kennedy Space Centerto another.No communications procedures, networks, or personnel changed.
C） On May 2,2023, SpaceX sent the FAA a revised SpaceX Falcon and Dragon CommunicationsPlan (v.5.4, May 2023) (Plan v5.4) for incorporation into its launch licenses.
D）Each weekafter SpaceX submitted Plan v5.4, during weekly licensing calls between the FAAand SpaceX, spaceX told the FAA that it required the plan by June 1 and askedthe FAA whether it had feedback.
E）During a callon June 13, SpaceX again asked FAA if it had feedback, because SpaceX had alaunch on June 18 that would use the new location of the launch control center.In response, and for the first time, the FAA told SpaceX that there were"too many" revisions in Plan v5.4 for it to be able to provide feedbackon it by June 18.
F）As such, onJune 15, submitted a new version of a revised Communications Ptan (Plan v5.3.I)that solely updated the location of the launch control center. This change tothe Communications Plan that SpaceX operated under was clearly a continuingaccuracy update, and therefore, per the regulations, did not require FAAapproval.
G）On June 16,the FAA finally began its review of Plan v5.3.1 , and minutes later, SpaceXresponded to the FAA's questions and offered a call to discuss any furtherquestions. The FAA responded stating it would not be able to complete itsreview ot Plan v5.3.1 before the June 18 launch. The FAA stated that SpaceX hadnot provided it with enough notice — even though SpaceX had told the FAASihNe-ekS-eaLli2L that it required use of the plan by June 1, and the date wasnow June 16. Again, approval was not required under the regulation for thiscontinuing accuracy update.
H）On June 22,2023, the FAA sent SpaceX minor comments on Plan v5.4, and this same day, sentresponses to the FAA. Hours after SpaceX responded, on June 22, 2023, the FAAapproved Plan v5.4 for incorporation into two of SpaceX launch licenses, but notin SpaceX's launch license for LC-39A.
译文：
尊敬的主席玛丽亚·坎特韦尔和弗兰克·卢卡斯，以及高级成员特德·克鲁兹和佐伊·洛夫格伦：
在将近两年的时间里，太空探索技术公司，以及许多业界、法律实践和学术界人士，对美国联邦航空管理局执行其商业太空发射和再入任务监管的情况提出了警告，该任务由FAA的商业太空运输办公室管理。一段时间以来，很明显，商业太空运输办公室缺乏及时审查许可材料的资源，错误地将其有限的资源集中在与其公共安全监管范围无关的领域，并且在现代化和简化其监管方面一直不成功。
最近，美国联邦航空管理局指控SpaceX公司违反了其规定，并提议对这些违规行为处以633,009美元的罚款。值得注意的是，这些违规行为和罚款是在美国国会对FAA的商业太空运输办公室未能合理及时地履行其监管义务而加强审查后不久宣布的。同样值得注意的是，在宣布这些处罚时，FAA的政治任命的首席法律顾问在FAA关于此事的公告中被引用。据了解，首席法律顾问在执法问题上被引用是极不正常的，也许是史无前例的。SpaceX公司强烈反对FAA关于该公司违反任何规定的断言。
SpaceX公司绝对致力于所有业务的安全。关于这些问题，值得注意的是，在每个实例中，SpaceX都向FAA的商业太空运输办公室提供了足够的通知，告知这些相对较小的许可证更新，而这些更新对公共安全没有影响。FAA的商业太空运输办公室无法及时处理这些微小更新的事实强调了FAA面临的系统性挑战。FAA指控三种明显的违规行为:(一)使用了FAA尚未批准的SpaceX发射场的推进剂场;(二)SpaceX使用了FAA尚未批准的最新通信计划;(三)SpaceX没有在发射前两小时进行发射调查，因为它涉及RP-I燃料场，RP-I燃料场的使用已经得到美国政府靶场安全局的批准，批准了即将到来的国家安全太空发射任务。
从那时起，该系统一直被安全地反复使用，因为不存在任何公共安全风险。尽管得到了联邦政府的批准，FAA的商业太空运输办公室还是选择了参与进来，现在提议对SpaceX进行处罚，因为商业太空运输办公室不能有效地完成它的工作。通信计划的改变与公共安全完全无关，商业太空运输办公室也没有监管机构要求进行T-2小时投票。SpaceX公司对以下每一项指控都做出了详细的回应，以获取您的信息并澄清记录。
FAA执法行动-快速事实:
(I)通信计划
A）FAA声称SpaceX在2023年6月未经批准的PSN MSF发射通信计划下运营。SpaceX公司否认了这一指控。
B）SpaceX公司对通信计划的唯一改变是将发射控制中心的位置从肯尼迪航天中心的一个位置改为另一个位置。通信程序、网络和人员都没有改变。
C）2023年5月2日，SpaceX公司向FAA提交了一份修订后的SpaceX 猎鹰火箭和龙飞船通信计划(2023年5月5.4版)，以纳入其发射许可证。
D）SpaceX每周在FAA和SpaceX之间的许可电话中提交5.4版计划后，SpaceX都会告诉FAA它要求在6月1日之前提交该计划，并询问FAA是否有反馈。
E）在6月13日的一次通话中，SpaceX再次询问FAA是否有反馈，因为SpaceX在6月18日有一次发射，将使用发射控制中心的新位置。作为回应，FAA第一次告诉SpaceX，Planv5.4中有“太多”的修订，以至于它无法在6月18日之前提供反馈。
F）因此，在6月15日，SpaceX提交了一个新版本的修订版本的通信计划(Planv5. 3.1)，仅更新了发射控制中心的位置。SpaceX运营的通信计划的这一改变显然是一个持续的准确性更新，因此，根据规定，不需要FAA的批准。
G）6月16日，FAA终于开始审查5.3.1计划，几分钟后，SpaceX回应了FAA的问题，并提出电话讨论任何进一步的问题。FAA回应说他们不能在6月18日发射之前完成对Planv5.3.1的评估。FAA表示，SpaceX公司没有向其提供足够的通知——尽管SpaceX公司告诉FAA，它需要在6月1日之前使用该计划，而现在的日期是6月16日。同样，根据规定，这次持续的准确性更新不需要批准。
H）2023年6月22日， FAA向SpaceX公司发送了关于Planv5.4的小意见，并在同一天SpaceX公司向FAA发送了回复。2023年6月22日，在SpaceX公司作出回应后的几个小时内，FAA批准了Planv5.4，并批准SpaceX公司的两个发射许可证，但是并不包含SpaceX公司的LC-39A发射许可证上。