in effect
Executive Order 14335, signed August 13, 2025, directs several federal agencies to reduce regulatory obstacles for commercial space launches, spaceport construction, and new types of space missions. It sets specific deadlines for agencies to streamline or eliminate review processes that slow down licenses and permits for companies launching rockets and satellites from the United States.
The Department of Transportation (acting through the FAA) must review and potentially eliminate or speed up environmental reviews under NEPA for launch and reentry licenses, including creating new “categorical exclusions” that would exempt certain launches from full environmental review. The FAA’s launch licensing rules in 14 CFR Part 450 must be reevaluated within 120 days, with particular attention to relaxing requirements for vehicles that already have automated flight safety systems or FAA airworthiness certificates. Within 180 days, the Departments of Defense, Transportation, and NASA must sign an agreement aligning their spaceport review processes and cutting duplicative steps. Within 150 days, the Department of Commerce must propose a new authorization process for novel space activities — things not clearly covered by existing rules but falling under the 1967 Outer Space Treaty — with firm timelines and clear requirements for applicants. On the organizational side, within 60 days the FAA must fill its top commercial space post with a senior appointed official, and the Commerce Department’s Office of Space Commerce must be elevated within the agency’s leadership structure.
U.S.-based commercial space companies — launch operators, satellite operators, and businesses developing spaceports — are the primary audience, as they face the licensing and permitting processes being reformed. State and local governments with land-use authority near federal spaceports may face federal scrutiny if their rules are found to conflict with federal law, including a review of state compliance under the Coastal Zone Management Act.