SpaceX, Blue Origin may get quicker launch OK with fewer environmental

The Trump administration on Tuesday said it was moving to waive what it called “unnecessary environmental laws and regulations” to speed up the approval process for commercial space rocket launches and reentries.

The proposed rule by the Federal Aviation Administration would be a boon for Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Blue Origin, founded by Jeff Bezos, as well as other rocket launch companies.

The FAA’s rule would allow the agency to waive requirements imposed on certain commercial space licenses and permits under 13 laws, including the National Environmental Policy Act, the Endangered Species Act, parts of both the Clean Water and Clean Air acts, the National Historic Preservation Act and the Marine Mammal Protection Act.

“Requirements that are needed to protect public health and safety, property, national security, or U.S. foreign policy interests would not be impacted” under the proposed rule, the U.S. Department of Transportation said in a statement. The FAA is part of the DOT.

The DOT said that despite a sharply growing number of commercial space operations authorized by the FAA in recent years, “applicants face pointless, time-consuming requirements and expenses preparing environmental studies and providing information for overlapping reviews from multiple federal agencies.”

There were a record 205 commercial space operations authorized by the FAA in the fiscal year 2025, and the agency’s commercial space forecast projects up to 4,288 such operations over the next decade, according to the FAA.

FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford in May said SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell told him her company aimed to reach 10,000 launches annually within the next five years, Reuters reported at the time. Bedford cautioned “we need to see a lot more reliability” for that to happen.

The move to lessen regulations surrounding private-sector launches comes nearly a year after President Donald Trump issued an executive order entitled “Enabling Competition in the Commercial Space Industry.”

That order directed Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy “to eliminate or expedite” his department’s environmental reviews for space launch and reentry licenses.

“America won the first Space Race, and we can do it again — but only if we get government red tape out of the way,” Duffy said in a statement on Tuesday announcing the FAA’s proposed rule.

“That’s why President Trump has charged USDOT with unlocking the final frontier and re-establishing the United States’ dominance in space,” Duffy said.

The proposed rule is subject to a 30-day public comment period.

The DOT said the FAA “will thoroughly review all relevant comments before issuing a final rule.”

SpaceX, Elon Musk and Blue Origin did not immediately…