Re-Entry Licensing
How are commercial re-entries licensed, and how much does licensing constrain the sector?
Chapter summary
in the United States, commercial re-entry falls under the FAA's Part 450 rules, which require a licence for each re-entry or an operator licence covering a vehicle type, plus agreement from the owner of the landing site.
Key takeaways
- 1
Varda's first mission showed how binding this is: the FAA denied its re-entry application in September 2023, the Air Force initially declined landing at the Utah range, and the capsule waited until February 2024.
- 2
Varda then obtained the FAA's first Part 450 vehicle operator licence for re-entry (W-4) and moved landings to Australia's Koonibba range.
- 3
Licensing is now workable but remains a schedule risk and a reason for landing sites to cluster in a few places.
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