SpaceX Ignored Last-Minute Warnings from the FAA Before Starship SN8 Launch

takyon writes:

SpaceX ignored last-minute warnings from the FAA before December Starship launch

Minutes before liftoff, Elon Musk's SpaceX ignored at least two warnings from the Federal Aviation Administration that launching its first high-altitude Starship prototype last December would violate the company's launch license, confidential documents and letters obtained by The Verge show. And while SpaceX was under investigation, it told the FAA that the agency's software was a "source of frustration" that has been "shown to be inaccurate at times or overly conservative," according to the documents.

[...] Neither SpaceX nor Musk has publicly commented on the SN8 violation. SpaceX didn't respond to a request for comment. The FAA confirmed the violation after a report by The Verge in January. But a confidential five-page report by SpaceX and letters between Shotwell and Monteith reveal what SpaceX employees knew before liftoff and detail how the company responded to its violation in the aftermath.

[...] SpaceX employees left the FAA meeting for the company's launch control room ahead of SN8's launch. Minutes before liftoff, an FAA safety inspector speaking on an open phone line warned SpaceX's staff in the launch control room that a launch would violate the company's launch license. SpaceX staff ignored the warning because they "assumed that the inspector did not have the latest information," the SpaceX report said.

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