FAA
Every Cosmic Herald story on FAA — missions, launches, discoveries, and the business of space, newest first.
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Commercial
SpaceX Launches 27 Starlink Satellites on Record-Setting Booster's 35th Flight
A Falcon 9 booster flew for a record 35th time out of Vandenberg early Sept. 2, deploying 27 more Starlink satellites and sticking its droneship landing in the Pacific.
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Commercial
FAA Wants to Waive 13 Environmental Laws to Speed Up Rocket Launch Licenses
The FAA's new proposed rule would let it bypass NEPA, the Endangered Species Act, and 11 other statutes when licensing commercial rocket launches — the biggest shake-up of launch environmental oversight since 2021.
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Commercial
Starship Flight 13 Deploys First Operational Starlinks, but Booster Splashdown Gets Rough
SpaceX's Starship Flight 13 delivered 20 production Starlink satellites and an in-space Raptor relight, but Super Heavy limped to a hard splashdown on just five of 13 engines.
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Commercial
Washington Weighs a 'Light-Touch' Rulebook for Space Businesses No One Regulates Yet
A House subcommittee grilled the Office of Space Commerce on its plan for a single opt-in "Space Commerce Certification" to fast-track approval of orbital manufacturing, satellite servicing, and lunar ventures that fall outside FAA and FCC authority.
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Commercial
FAA Closes Starship Flight 12 Mishap Probe, Clears SpaceX for Flight 13
The FAA closed its Flight 12 mishap investigation on July 13, pinning the Super Heavy booster loss on heat effects and bad engine alarm settings, and cleared SpaceX for a Flight 13 attempt as soon as July 16.
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Commercial
The World's First Commercial Nuclear-Powered Satellite Just Reached Orbit
Miami-based City Labs flew its tritium-powered BOHR CubeSat on SpaceX's Transporter-17, becoming the first commercial mission to clear the FAA's NSPM-20 nuclear-launch pathway with Sandia's safety sign-off.
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Commercial
A Falcon 50 and a Big Bet: Mu-g Technologies Wants to Fill the Gap in Commercial Parabolic Flight
With Zero-G Corp grounded and NASA buying its own 737, a self-funded startup armed with a Dassault Falcon 50 is stepping into the commercial parabolic flight market to serve researchers left without a ride.
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Commercial
Starship's V3 debut: a working ship, a wrecked booster, and a grounded fleet
Flight 12 introduced the larger Starship V3 and got further than the headlines suggest — the ship flew its mission. But the booster crashed, the FAA has ordered a mishap investigation, and the capability Artemis is waiting for still hasn't been shown.
