FAA to Reorganize Commercial Space Transportation Office

The Federal Aviation Administration will reorganize its office that manages commercial space transportation to increase efficiency and address the growing number of license applications from industry, SpaceNews reported Friday. 

Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao said the FAA will provide the Office of Commercial Space Transportation a new structure as the agency streamlines the process for obtaining commercial launch and reentry licenses. AST is expected to receive more applications as the FAA wants to give companies more flexibility to  meet safety requirements and to use a single license to cover launches of one vehicle from multiple sites.

“As we work to restructure our organization, we’ll look to become more efficient in our processes,” said Kelvin Coleman, deputy associate administrator for commercial space transportation at FAA. “We will want to make sure that our organization is aligned appropriately to implement the new rule that we are currently working on.”

Wayne Monteith, associate administrator for commercial space transportation at FAA, will lead AST’s reorganization.