{"id":17324,"date":"2021-01-05T13:32:39","date_gmt":"2021-01-05T13:32:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/saj.pachecostudios.com?p=17324"},"modified":"2021-01-05T13:37:01","modified_gmt":"2021-01-05T13:37:01","slug":"faa-announces-record-year-for-commercial-space-activity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/national-news\/faa-announces-record-year-for-commercial-space-activity\/%20","title":{"rendered":"FAA Announces Record Year for Commercial Space Activity"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>A record number of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.faa.gov\/data_research\/commercial_space_data\/launches\/\">launches<\/a>, new streamlined launch and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.faa.gov\/data_research\/commercial_space_data\/reentries\/\">reentry<\/a> licensing regulations, and a historic licensed crewed mission are some of the noteworthy commercial space transportation achievements of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in 2020. The FAA will build on these accomplishments in the coming year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThis record-setting year in launches, and the new\nstreamlined launch and reentry licensing regulations, bode well for continued\nrapid growth of America\u2019s commercial space sector,\u201d said U.S. Transportation Secretary\nElaine L. Chao.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In 2020, the FAA licensed 41 commercial space operations\n(launches and reentries), the most in the agency\u2019s history. Those operations\nincluded a record 39 FAA-licensed launches, including the first-ever NASA\ncrewed mission to be licensed by the FAA. For 2021, the FAA is forecasting the\nnumber of licensed operations could reach 50 or more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe FAA is well positioned to keep pace with the dramatic\nincrease in commercial space operations and support the innovation driven by\nthe aerospace industry while keeping public safety a top priority,\u201d said FAA\nAdministrator Steve Dickson. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Contributing to this year\u2019s accomplishments are the benefits\nof a recent reorganization of the FAA Office of Commercial Space\nTransportation. The changes increased the efficiency, effectiveness and\naccountability of the office, allowing it to dynamically scale its processes to\nmeet the burgeoning private sector licensing demand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The organizational changes will help the FAA implement a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.faa.gov\/space\/streamlined_licensing_process\/\">new rule<\/a> that modernizes how the agency regulates and licenses commercial space launch and reentry operations. The rule consolidates multiple regulatory parts to create a single licensing regime for all types of launch and reentry operations, replaces prescriptive requirements with performance-based criteria, and allows the aerospace industry to continue to innovate and grow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In 2021, the FAA will continue to provide policies and guidance to support the streamlined licensing rule by publishing advisory circulars that will identify possible means of compliance. Working with the Commercial Space Transportation Advisory Council (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.faa.gov\/space\/additional_information\/comstac\/\">COMSTAC<\/a>), the FAA also will prioritize its other regulations for updates and streamlining. Additionally, the agency anticipates the private sector will make notable progress toward commercially viable space tourism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the coming year, the FAA also will continue to test new technologies to further enable the safe and efficient integration of space-vehicle operations with other types of air traffic in the National Airspace System. Additionally, the FAA will establish an interagency working group to develop a recommended National Spaceport Strategy to advance a robust, innovative national system of spaceports. It will also support the directives and other tasks of America\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/National-Space-Policy.pdf\">National Space Policy<\/a> (PDF).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>An FAA license is required to conduct any commercial space\nlaunch or reentry, the operation of any launch or reentry site by U.S. citizens\nanywhere in the world, or by any individual or entity within the United States.\nOnce the FAA issues a license or permit, the agency works with operators to\nmake sure they are meeting the requirements to conduct launches and reentries.\nThis includes having FAA safety inspectors monitor licensed activities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A record number of launches, new streamlined launch and reentry licensing regulations, and a historic licensed crewed mission are some of the noteworthy commercial space transportation achievements of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in 2020. The FAA will build on these accomplishments in the coming year. \u201cThis record-setting year in launches, and the new streamlined [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":17325,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[115],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17324","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/space-launch-1.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17324","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17324"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17324\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17329,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17324\/revisions\/17329"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17325"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17324"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17324"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17324"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}