Elon Musk’s SpaceX rocket crashed and burned trying to come down from its first high-altitude flight — and now the billionaire is in hot water with the federal government for violating the terms of his test license, The Verge reported.
The Federal Aviation Administration launched an investigation shortly after the Dec. 9 launch of the Starship spacecraft, focusing on both the disastrous landing and SpaceX’s compliance with the license terms, two people familiar with the matter told Verge. They didn’t specify what terms were violated.
An FAA spokesperson refused to tell The Post whether SpaceX had violated the license terms, but stressed the agency will evaluate Musk’s application to modify his launch license but won’t act if the modification compromised public safety.
“We will approve the modification only after we are satisfied that SpaceX has taken the necessary steps to comply with regulatory requirements,” the spokesperson said.
SpaceX did not respond to a request for comment from Reuters.
Starship was supposed to fly at an altitude of 41,000 feet, Reuters reported. SpaceX, though, never made clear whether the rocket had reached that altitude.
An FAA spokesperson refused to tell The Post whether SpaceX had violated the license terms, but stressed the agency will evaluate Musk’s application to modify his launch license but won’t act if the modification compromised public safety.
“We will approve the modification only after we are satisfied that SpaceX has taken the necessary steps to comply with regulatory requirements,” the spokesperson said.
SpaceX did not respond to a request for comment from Reuters.
The flight ended in a fiery blast when the 16-story Starship hit the ground. The rocket was the prototype for SpaceX’s heavy-lift launch vehicle, developed to carry passengers and cargo on missions to the moon and Mars.
