Comments on: Breakthrough on an FAA reauthorization bill; will it extend a CSLAA provision?

By: Byeman

Byeman — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 02:18:56 +0000

“the regulations of the FAA, but of the DOD Eastern Range,”
What would the FAA do any different than the USAF?
People who bad mouth the range usually don’t know what is going on. The FAA would keep the same type of regulations as the USAF. It isn’t the regs constraining anyone.

By: vulture4

vulture4 — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 19:52:02 +0000

I should point out that, IMHO, the regulations that really are detrimental to commercial HSF are not the regulations of the FAA, but of the DOD Eastern Range, which simply have to change if the Cape is to be commercially competitive.

The best thing that could happen to commercial space would be to take non-DOD commercial launches away from the DOD entirely and let the FAA manage them. Hey, what a revolutionary idea!

By: vulture4

vulture4 — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 19:45:47 +0000

It’s unlikely a Republican administration would be any more eager to stifle growth in this sector with regulation than the Obama administration.

However all the Republican candidates have promised massive cuts in non-defense federal spending, so it is unlikely they would put as much as Obama into NASA commercial crew, which is currently the anchor customer for all commercial HSF.

By: Rand Simberg

Rand Simberg — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 18:29:01 +0000

Most of the people at the meeting â€œwere not actively lobbying for an extensionâ€ of that restriction, he said.

I’m not sure that the people at that meeting were a useful sample of the people who care. As far as I know, CSF is still pushing hard to get the moratorium extended.

By: Coastal Ron

Coastal Ron — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 03:15:08 +0000

So do Wayne Hale et al. feel that the FAA will not actively seek regulations that will be detrimental to an emerging commercial crew service sector?

I guess that’s trusting that the current incarnation of the FAA – I wonder if that would change with a change of administrations?