
The following is an essay from the FAA’s website. It discusses the agency’s effort to both promote and regulate the emerging commercial space industry.
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It’s Next
“Leaving Earth†is a five-part series that examines the role FAA’s Office of Commercial Space Transportation plays in the fast-growing and exciting field of commercial space. Its mission, similar to what FAA’s mission was up until 1996 when it promoted the airline industry, is to encourage, facilitate, and promote U.S. commercial space transportation. Each part of this series will discuss important factors that will shape the future of the commercial space industry.
[Editor’s Note: The FAA got out of the business of promoting the airline industry after ValuJet flight 592 caught on fire and slammed into the Everglades, killing all 110 people on board. The subsequent investigation revealed lax safety standards at ValuJet, weak safety oversight by the FAA, and a tendency to put industry concerns above passenger safety. Read more here.]
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