The federal agency that will decide whether rockets fly from Pecan Island is rewriting the rulebook those rockets would fly under.

The Federal Aviation Administration on Thursday announced three proposed changes to its commercial launch safety rules and a final rule of technical fixes. The documents are on file with the Federal Register and are scheduled to be formally published on Monday, Nov. 9, according to the Register’s public inspection list. That starts a 30-day public comment period, which would run to about Dec. 9.

The rules cover every FAA-licensed commercial launch and reentry in the country. SpaceX’s planned Starbase Louisiana in Vermilion Parish, where construction is expected to start in 2027, would need FAA licenses to fly. The Vermilion Times read all four filings.

What the FAA is proposing

All three proposals amend Part 450, the set of licensing rules the FAA adopted in 2020. Each says it carries out a 2025 executive order from President Trump that told the Transportation Department to “reevaluate, amend, or rescind” those rules to make licensing faster.

  • When a rocket can keep flying (docket FAA-2026-9943). Today’s rules let an operator stop arming its “flight abort” system, the system that destroys or shuts down a rocket that strays off course, once certain safety conditions are met. The proposal says that exception applies phase by phase during a flight. The FAA’s release says the change would let operators switch abort capability on and off in flight.
  • When a rocket must be stopped (docket FAA-2026-9937). The FAA says launch companies have been confused by the wording on how to set “flight safety limits,” the lines that trigger an abort. It proposes rewriting that paragraph to spell out which inputs count.
  • Falling debris (docket FAA-2026-9942). When a spent stage or spacecraft falls back to Earth out of control, operators must show it won’t cause a disaster with many casualties. The proposal adds another way to pass that test: showing the vehicle would break up enough in the atmosphere, payloads included.
  • Technical corrections. A final rule fixes six typos and unclear passages and takes effect on publication. The FAA says it changes nothing of substance.

Environmental rules and new spaceports

In the same announcement, the FAA said it has also issued a proposed rule that would let it waive “unnecessary” environmental laws and regulations it says are slowing space companies down. The release did not identify that proposal by number, and The Vermilion Times could not find it in the Federal Register on Friday. The Times will report its details, and how to comment on it, when it is published.

The agency also said it is asking the public and the industry where new spaceports should be built and how to set aside “priority airspace” for launch routes. It said it expects as many as 1,000 launches a year by 2030 and 10,000 licensed launches and reentries a year by 2035, up from 217 U.S. commercial launches in 2025. A full overhaul of the licensing rules is planned for 2027.

Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy said the changes are about “getting rid of the outdated rules that hold innovators back” while “never compromising on safety.”

Update, Nov. 9: The three proposals were formally published in the Federal Register on Monday (91 FR 70813, 70817 and 70821). Comments are due Wednesday, Dec. 9, 2026.

How to comment

Anyone can comment once the proposals are published. Go to regulations.gov and search for the docket number (FAA-2026-9943, FAA-2026-9937 or FAA-2026-9942), or mail comments to Docket Operations, U.S. Department of Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20590. Comments are posted publicly, including any personal information you put in them.

The FAA is also hiring aerospace engineers for its commercial space office; it says applications are due Dec. 4.