SpaceX is in Touble! NASA Just DECLARED 'No Starship Lunar'... Musk Reacts!

Jim Free, a high-ranking official at NASA, has pointed out that there might be delays in the Artemis 3 mission, and it seems like there is a bit of worry and doubt about it. There are several reasons for the concerns including the delayed flight of Starship, challenges with refueling it in space, and making sure it can land on the moon successfully. Even with these worries, NASA has backup plans for every situation. They are working hard to make sure that the goals of Artemis 3 are met, no matter how Artemis 2 turns out.
Before moving forward, it's quite ironic to acknowledge that while NASA points out the delays from SpaceX, another government body, the Federal Aviation Administration, plays a substantial role in causing those delays. The stringent regulatory requirements and compliance hurdles imposed by the FAA have added a layer of challenges.
Indeed, the relationship between the FAA and SpaceX has been marked by a series of disagreements and hurdles, with the Federal Agency often in the way of SpaceX’s big plans.
For example, in SpaceX's early days, the FAA fined them a few times because they said SpaceX didn’t follow some federal rules. This showed the tension between trying new things in space technology and following existing safety rules.
In 2020, another big disagreement happened. SpaceX wanted to test their Starship prototype high in the sky, but the FAA said they broke some public safety rules and started investigating them. This situation showed the ongoing struggle between SpaceX wanting to move fast with new tech and the FAA making sure everything is safe and by the book. They said SpaceX went ahead with the test flight without the right approvals, showing the constant struggle between innovation and existing rules.
Of course, the reminds us about the recent past memories, particularly the delays imposed on SpaceX, prior to the first Starship launch on April 20. This date was realized after enduring numerous postponements and frustrations within the space community. It reached a point where the anticipation of the grant of the launch license almost overshadowed the excitement surrounding the actual launch of the revolutionary Starship rocket. And this is exactly what’s happening today.
Musk has been pretty open about his frustrations with the FAA. He’s said many times that he’s annoyed with how slow the approval processes are, especially when compared to how quickly technology is advancing. His complaints highlight the differences between a company wanting to change space travel and an agency that has to make sure these changes are safe.

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[Scot_in_Otium]

The FAA like most Federal agencies have many slow moving bureaucrats that work hard M - T and from 9 AM to 4 PM. And despite the many hazards of the job such as paper cuts and video conferences from home they manage to only delay SpaceX progress by mere months! Dare not compare the hazards of working for the FAA to designing, testing and operating a space ship!

[Militaryman]

SpaceX doesn't need NASA to go to the moon and beyond, , it's probably better because NASA bureaucracy will do nothing but slow then from achieving its own goals, , I wished they never get involved other than just supporting them with flights and that's it.

[matthewota]

NASA has not formally terminated its contract for the Starship Lunar Lander. Your title is incorrect and deceptive and stinks of yellow journalism..

[MililaniJag]

Bill Nelson Great to hear Artemiss is ON TIME AND ON BUDGET!!! Great Job!!

[davidrichards]

B.S. NASA dragging down the whole effort!

[michaelsalcau]

NASA has plenty of time, good salaries and a great pension plan !

[johnruckman]

Let's push multiple investigations into the faa and fws. I'd also question their ability to keep up with new innovation. The faa does appear to be behind the times and out of touch. The fws has been known to kowtow to dubious environmental wannabees without question.

[westphaliaphilosopher]

I enjoy your videos, but these misleading ledes have got to stop!

[olivergrumitt]

There is no chance of Starship landing astronauts on the Moon by the end of 2025, only a little over 2 years from now. After all, Starship has not even launched into space and Earth orbit yet (not successfully anyway) let alone flown to the Moon! With so many test flights required to prove Starship can do the job, it will at the very least be several years before it is ready to do so. Maybe longer. Especially if Starship has another launch failure, whether on the 2nd attempt or subsequent launches.

[Thealder]

Can Spaex land on the moon without NASA? They don't own it, do they?

[DaFleaster]

Such Delay's at SpaceX "NOT"

[rafaelreina]

As said, the solution for SpaceX is " To PAY " or to send privately as a Tourism trip, be orbital or stepping down. The difference between SpaceX and the rest of "Interested" are Billions of Dollar's. that "interested" are no willing to loose, as usuals.

[raytaylor]

I say again, Space X needs to go talk to several Countries at the Equator about building a launch tower and facility there in case USA keeps delaying them. NASA and The Military will have a cow and force the FAA and other government Alphabet agencies to leave Space X alone!

[mieczyslawherba]

Below some simple steps to successful launch with FAA approval.

[jmcondomialcorta]

Es increíble como la burocracia estatal es capaz de interferir y demorar proyectos de importancia estratégica para el futuro de su propio país y el de toda la humanidad con cuestiones menores que hacen a temas que pueden solucionarse sin mayores inconvenientes. En nuestro país denominamos a esas burocracias como "burro-cracias". Traducción Google: It is incredible how the state bureaucracy is capable of interfering and delaying projects of strategic importance for the future of its own country and that of all humanity with minor issues that can be solved without major inconveniences. In our country we call these bureaucracies "donkey-cracies"

[nevadajim]

Sounds like space x needs to fall under NASA.

[DEREKDMAYS]

The safety of the public and the protection of the environment is the FAA first and upmost priority and not a companies personal milestone. Spacex has done a extraordinary job, repairing the orbital launch mount and it's site, the upgraded water deluge system a magnificent accomplishment in such a short period of time, you have to calculate using more powerful engines into the equation, ( here's one of the main catch 22's so to speak) with the FAA and their licensing for the STARSHIP I have studied video's and comments for hours and days. SPACEX stated after the first orbital launch attempt that for a few sec. they (LOST CONTROL)of the STARSHIP we must prove without any doubt that we have (FULL CONTROL) of the vessel. DDM

[leisureenjoyer]

The Karman Line is the 60km-high stack of paperwork the bureaucrats insist on imposing on innovative companies.

[i-love-space]

NO ONE can launch inside the continental US without FAA approval. Other companies, including SpaceX can somehow manage approval, so SpaceX Starship needs to do the same. So this video is a government hating propaganda video. If anything, the FAA has been extremely accommodating with a company that pelted Boca Chica with huge chunks of concrete on their first launch attempt and couldn't terminate their vehicle for 50 SECONDS. That was a direct result of SpaceX being in such a hurry to launch that they didn't wait to install the flame deflection plate THAT THEY ALREADY KNEW THEY NEEDED AND WERE ALREADY DESIGNING AND FABRICATING. They also had not done proper testing of the Flight Termination System.
And Starship has yet to have a completely successful full engine hot fire test. They have in EVERY CASE had premature engine shutdown of some engines on every test so far.
So what good is "fail early and fail often" if you don't bother to actually FIX AND VERIFY THE FIX of the problems uncovered by failure???

I know we all want this thing to get going. But "go fever" and ignoring problems will cause an even bigger disaster that might delay the program YEARS rather than months.

Starship is a brand new system that is trying to achieve an extremely ambitious goal that has literally been impossible up to this time. The real delays are NOT government red tape. They are caused by the unknowns that are unavoidable in pushing the envelope of the possible. Even if they get a successful orbital flight, SpaceX has to master on orbit refueling of cryogenic propellants, and they have to test the Lunar HLS version of Starship in order to complete a lunar mission.
Remember the original Lunar Module took 7 YEARS to build a man-rated, flight worthy version that could land on the moon AND GET BACK UP OFF THE SURFACE. And that was at a time when Apollo had the highest national priority, and Grumman workers were working 24 hours a day. The Apollo 10 lunar lander in 1969 still was too heavy to achieve that goal, and they needed to test the abort system anyway. Hell, Starship doesn't even HAVE AN ABORT SYSTEM for either Earth launch or Lunar Landing!
So all these simpletons that expect SpaceX to just load it and go, like some kind of Robert A Heinlein novel are really naive.
And the guy that says that the NASA astronauts should just launch directly on Starship from Earth's surface is REALLY naive. The odds of NASA signing off on the idea that the "Titanic is its own best lifeboat" is dreaming. They learned their lesson on the Shuttle. YOU NEED AN ABORT SYSTEM TO MAN-RATE A VEHICLE... period.... fullstop.
Starship as currently designed will NEVER, EVER, EVER be man-rated by NASA, and likely not by the FAA.
SpaceX needs to separate Cargo and Fuel Tanker from the passenger version of Starship as the Augustine Commission recommended for NASA's vehicles back in 2010. That was the direct lesson for the Space Shuttle's 1 per 100 flight fatality rate.
Build a special smaller version of Starship that is specifically designed for human launch from Earth that eliminates the weight of cargo and uses that lift capacity for little escape capsules for crew and passengers. Or else make the entire nose cone the escape capsule. But bottom line is crew sits on top of hundreds of tons of rocket fuel because Starship IS the second stage of the vehicle.
All you breathless SpaceX fanboys who want to blame everyone but your little "god" Elon for the delays, need to take a chill pill and be GLAD the FAA is forcing SpaceX to be more careful. SpaceX needs the time anyway.
I bet the workers are very HAPPY that the FAA is slowing down Elon's slave driving long enough for them to complete the work they way they know it needs to be done.

[MrJengajam]

This is a terrible hit piece aimed only at deceiving people who don’t actively follow SpaceX or rocket history closely.