Trump orders cull of regulations governing commercial rocket launches

Trump ordered Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, who also serves as the acting administrator of NASA, to "use all available authorities to eliminate or expedite ... environmental reviews for .... launch and reentry licenses and permits." In the order signed by Trump, White House officials wrote that Duffy should consult with the chair of the Council on Environmental Quality and follow "applicable law" in the regulatory cull.

The executive order also includes a clause directing Duffy to reevaluate, amend, or rescind a slate of launch safety regulations written during the first Trump administration. The FAA published the new regulations, known as Part 450, in 2020 and they went into effect in 2021, but space companies have complained they are too cumbersome and have slowed down the license approval process.

And there's more. Trump ordered NASA, the military, and DOT to eliminate duplicative reviews for spaceport development. This is particularly pertinent at federally-owned launch ranges like those at Cape Canaveral, Florida, Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, and Wallops Island, Virginia.