Space launch is officially in its Part 450 era.
The FAA announced Tuesday that US launchers had all transitioned to the five-year-old licensing requirements, leaving no one still operating under legacy regulations.
Context: The FAA established the Part 450 regulations in 2021 to streamline launch licensing for commercial space companies and to meet the Trump administration’s Space Policy Directive-2 requirements.
The new regulations were intended to:
- Consolidate multiple application processes;
- Allow for one license to cover multiple launch sites or missions;
- Simplify the burdensome and time consuming approval process.
Blowback: Dave Cavossa, head of the Commercial Space Federation, told Congress in 2024 that the regulation threatens to “substantially reduce the pace of innovation and progress within the domestic space sector, and impede national competitiveness with China.”
Industry has also broadly said the new regulations remain difficult to navigate. Companies have complained about a lengthy pre-approval process, prompting Congress to direct the FAA to move faster. Last year, lawmakers ordered a GAO review of whether the FAA is approving applications “in a timely manner.”
The FAA issued the first Part 450 license to Astra in 2022, but criticism continued, forcing the agency to establish a committee to review Part 450 in November 2024.
What’s next: Previous regulations and Part 450 existed in tandem for years, during a grace period that allowed existing launchers time to receive a license under the new rules. However, with the FAA’s announcement that Blue Origin, Firefly Aerospace, SpaceX, Rocket Lab, and ULA have all transitioned over, Part 450 is now the one and only law of the land.
In total, the FAA has approved 14 Part 450 licenses in the past five years.
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