Elon Musk says the FAA should make Boeing pay for putting the Starliner astronauts at risk, not fine SpaceX ‘for trivia’

Elon Musk said the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) should punish Boeing for its Starliner failures rather than impose “petty” fines on SpaceX.

In a Thursday X post, Musk expressed his displeasure with the FAA’s proposed $633,009 fine for SpaceX.

The regulator on Tuesday accused SpaceX of violating the terms of its launch licenses during two launches in 2023.

In its announcement, the FAA said that on one mission in May 2023, SpaceX used an unapproved launch control room while failing to conduct a required T-2 hour poll. The regulator further accused SpaceX of using an unapproved rocket propellant farm for a separate mission in July 2023.

“Safety drives everything we do at the FAA, including a legal responsibility for the safety oversight of companies with commercial space transportation licenses,” FAA Chief Counsel Marc Nichols said in the regulator’s Tuesday announcement. “Failure of a company to comply with the safety requirements will result in consequences.”

Musk took to X on Thursday, accusing the FAA leadership of spending resources to attack SpaceX “for petty matters that have nothing to do with safety while neglecting real safety issues at Boeing.”

“NASA deemed the Boeing capsule unsafe for astronaut return, turning, out of necessity, to SpaceX, yet instead of fining Boeing for putting astronauts at risk, the FAA is fining SpaceX for trivia!” he wrote.

In his rebuke of the FAA and Boeing, Musk also reposted SpaceX’s Wednesday letter to top congressional leaders.

In its letter, SpaceX said it “forcefully rejects” the FAA’s accusations.

“These distractions continue to directly threaten national priorities and undercut American industry’s ability to innovate,” the company said in its X post.

Musk and SpaceX had already been beefing with the FAA before his Thursday X post.

SpaceX issued a statement on September 10, slamming the FAA for delaying the next launch of its Starship vehicle to late November rather than letting it go up in mid-September. The company said the delay was “not based on a new safety concern, but instead driven by superfluous environmental analysis.”

The company said in the statement that the delays were “driven by false and misleading reporting, built on bad-faith hysterics from online detractors or special interest groups who have presented poorly constructed science as fact.”

Musk’s troubles with the FAA come amid his protestations on X about what he says is inefficiency and red tape in the US government. He’s floated the idea of working in former President Donald Trump’s government as part of the DOGE — or Department Of Government Efficiency — if Trump wins in November.

SpaceX and Boeing’s race to space

Musk’s statement about the FAA and Boeing comes after the beleaguered Boeing Starliner spacecraft returned to New Mexico on September 6 without its crew.

The spacecraft had suffered several issues with its thrusters and helium leaks ever since it docked onto the International Space Station on June 6, delaying the return of two astronauts — Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams.

The astronauts are scheduled to return to Earth via the SpaceX Crew Dragon in February 2025.

In 2020, SpaceX surged ahead of Boeing in the space race when it became the first private company to fly astronauts in space. Musk brought that win up in an X post about Starliner in May when he wrote: “SpaceX finished 4 years sooner.”

The FAA’s proposed penalties also come at a momentous time for SpaceX, shortly after the company completed its Polaris Dawn mission. On September 10, SpaceX launched four non-astronauts on its ambitious crewed spaceflight. During the mission, the crew also successfully conducted the world’s first commercial space walk.

Representatives of SpaceX, Boeing and the FAA didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment from B-17, sent outside business hours.