SpaceX Building Launchpad "at Its Own Risk", FAA Warns

(RTTNews) - The SpaceX and FAA feud is getting hotter with each passing day as the aviation watchdogs has reminded the company that it has not yet approved SpaceX's launch tower, which will be included in the ongoing environmental inspection of the Texas facility.

The facility in contention here is located at Boca Chica in Texas. SpaceX is supposed to use this launchpad for the future launch of its starships. The company is supposed to build two towers, each 480 feet high.

In a letter to Elon Musk's company on May 6th, FAA had issued warning, stating, "It is possible that changes would have to be made at the launch site, including to the integration towers to mitigate significant impacts."

A spokesperson of FAA said on Wednesday that the environmental review is underway and the building of the tower is probably going to jeopardize and delay the process. The spokesperson said, "the company is building the tower at its own risk."

In May, SpaceX told FAA that it will use the tower only as an "integration tower for production, research, and development purposes and not for FAA-licensed or -permitted launches." However, the documents submitted by Musk's company say that the tower will be used for launches. It mentioned, "Super Heavy would be mated to the launch mount, followed by Starship mated to Super Heavy," phrases which makes the FAA find the company's description equivocal.

According to FAA, the administrator Steve Dickson had a half-an-hour long chat with the billionaire, Musk, on March 12 about the role of the agency and he said, "FAA's role in protecting public safety by ensuring regulatory compliance. He made it clear that the FAA expected SpaceX to develop and foster a robust safety culture that stresses adherence to FAA rules."

SpaceX and FAA have been on the loggerheads in recent times as Musk had recently tweeted after his launch had to be rescheduled after a flight entered the keep-out zone. However, the company has not responded to the recent brawl.