Elon Musk has recently called out the Federal Aviation Administration for harassing his company, SpaceX, while simultaneously being lenient toward competitor Boeing. Today, we will look at what has prompted such a response from Musk and the situation as it stands.

The Situation

On Tuesday, September 17th, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) accused SpaceX of violating the terms of its launch licenses during two launches in 2023.

In this accusation, the FAA reported that in one mission in May 2023, SpaceX used an unapproved launch control room while failing to conduct a required "T-2 hour" poll. Furthermore, the FAA alleged that the company used an unapproved rocket propellant farm for a July 2023 mission.

Marc Nichols, the FAA's Chief Counsel, mentioned the following about this situation in the FAA's announcement on Tuesday:

"Safety drives everything we do at the FAA, including legal responsibility for the safety oversight of companies with commercial space transportation licenses. Failure of a company to comply with the safety requirements will result in consequences."

American aviation giant Boeing has also dipped into space exploration with its "Starliner" spacecraft. Unfortunately, like its recent string of issues with commercial aircraft, the Starliner craft has faced issues of its own.

Despite this, the FAA did not impose any regulatory action against Boeing, an issue Elon Musk made quite clear. The SpaceX CEO recently posted the following on X:

"The @FAANews leadership spends their resources attacking @SpaceX for petty matters that have nothing to do with safety while neglecting real safety issues at Boeing. This is deeply wrong and puts human lives at risk. NASA deemed the Boeing capsule unsafe for astronaut return, turning, out of necessity, to SpaceX, yet instead of fining Boeing for putting astronauts at risk, the FAA is fining SpaceX for trivia! Enough is enough."

SpaceX has since sent a letter to Congress protesting the moves made against it by the FAA. The company has "forcefully rejected" the FAA's accusations, calling them "distractions" that "threaten national priorities and undercut American industry's ability to innovate" in a recent X post.

History of Hot Water

It's no secret that Elon Musk is no big fan of the Federal Aviation Administration. The regulatory body has consistently been giving SpaceX issues.

Earlier this month, the FAA delayed the launch of SpaceX's "Starship" vehicle to late November. The craft was supposed to launch in September and SpaceX claims that this delay was "not based on a new safety concern but instead driven by superfluous environmental analysis."

Musk has a point in blasting the FAA for its lack of serious action against Boeing. On September 6th, the Boeing Starliner returned to New Mexico without one major thing: its crew.

The Starliner crew was forced to remain on the International Space Station as the craft suffered issues with its thrusters and helium leaks.

Both Starliner crewmembers, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, will return to Earth in February 2025 via the SpaceX Crew Dragon.

SpaceX became the first private company to send astronauts into space back in 2020. It has since surged ahead of Boeing as far as the "space race" is concerned.

It is currently an important time for SpaceX as it recently completed its Polaris Dawn Mission. The company also launched for non-astronauts on its crewed spaceflight. During that mission, the crew conducted the world's first commercial space walk.

It remains to be seen what will become of the FAA's proposed penalties against SpaceX. Furthermore, Congress' reaction to SpaceX's letter is also pending further action.