SpaceX’s rockets are creating a new air traffic headache for the FAA

The new space race has given the Federal Aviation Administration a next-generation job: clearing planes out of the way for rocket launches. But as launches become more ambitious and more frequent, protecting aircraft traveling through affected airspace has become an international matter. While American companies like Space X and Blue Origin receive launch licenses from the FAA, their vehicles sometimes travel through, or risk shedding debris over, airspace monitored by foreign governments. As a result, rocket launches from the United States can directly affect air traffic over Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean. Those concerns come on top of other space-related issues residents in those countries have already raised, including damage to local fish populations and rocket parts washing ashore. Letters of agreement recently obtained by Fast Company provide an expanded view into the knotty challenge of overseeing space launches in already congested skies. The documents detail what SpaceX was required to communicate to FAA air traffic control before a launch and offer insight into how the agency communicates with air traffic controllers about potential mishaps. They also reveal that not all countries are included in space launch preparations on the same terms. For instance, an FAA letter of agreement governing SpaceX Starship launches from Boca Chica, Texas—at the mouth of the Rio Grande and close to the Mexican border—includes Mexico as a party and references numerous Mexican air navigation officials. The letter was obtained by Fast Company. But no Caribbean country is mentioned, even though debris from Starship launches has sometimes dispersed over the region’s airspace. When asked about this, the FAA pointed to federal launch license requirements and said that “[a]greements exist between FAA’s ATO Space Operations, SpaceX, and foreign entities in compliance with this requirement.” (ATO stands for Air Traffic Organization, the FAA’s operational arm.) In comments to