FAA Administrator Michael Whitaker Announces His Resignation

Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Administrator Michael Whitaker announced Thursday he will resign Jan. 20 amid ongoing tensions with SpaceX over regulatory compliance and launch permits.

Whitaker, who began another five-year term in October 2023, will be succeeded by Mark House, the agency’s assistant administrator for finance and management, according to Reuters. FAA Deputy Administrator Katie Hobson is also stepping down Jan. 10.

The resignation follows the FAA’s $633,009 fine against SpaceX for alleged permit violations during two 2023 rocket launches. The agency accused SpaceX of launching missions in May and July 2023 without obtaining proper approvals for a new launch control room and fuel storage silo. SpaceX challenged these allegations, criticizing the FAA’s licensing process. (RELATED: FBI Director Christopher Wray Reportedly Resigns)

In a letter to the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, SpaceX argued that the FAA Office of Commercial Space Transportation lacks resources to review licensing materials effectively.

“It has been clear for some time that AST lacks the resources to timely review licensing materials, on areas unrelated to public safety regulatory scope and has been unsuccessful in modernizing and streamlining its regulations,” the letter reads.

For nearly two years, SpaceX has voiced its concerns with the FAA’s inability to keep pace with the commercial spaceflight industry. It is clear that the Agency lacks the resources to timely review licensing materials, but also focuses its limited resources on areas unrelated to… pic.twitter.com/2NJu00ZLiW

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) September 19, 2024

Whitaker defended the FAA’s actions in a September House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee hearing.

“SpaceX has been a very innovative company, but I think they’re also a mature company,” Whitaker said. “They’ve been around twenty years, and I think they need to operate at the highest level of safety, and that includes adopting an SMS program, and that includes having a whistleblower program.”

“The delay of the starship had to do with SpaceX filing an application and not disclosing it,” he continued. “They were in violation of Texas and federal law in some matters, and that’s a requirement to get a permit.”

SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk announced plans to sue the FAA for regulatory overreach and publicly criticized the agency on Twitter.

SpaceX will be filing suit against the FAA for regulatory overreach

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 17, 2024

The dispute is part of a broader pattern of regulatory challenges. The Department of Justice (DOJ) sued SpaceX for alleged hiring discrimination against asylum seekers and refugees in August 2023, which Musk characterized as government overreach. He added that hiring non-permanent U.S. residents would violate international arms trafficking law.

Exactly.

SpaceX was told repeatedly that hiring anyone who was not a permanent resident of the United States would violate U.S. international arms trafficking law, which would be a criminal offense.

We couldn’t even hire Canadian citizens, despite Canada being part of NORAD!

This…

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 25, 2023