Kelly Garehime, associate general counsel of regulatory affairs at United Launch Alliance, has said ULA believes the Federal Aviation Administration should re-engage with the aviation rulemaking committee in developing new launch licensing regulations in order to ensure public safety during space launches.

“The Streamlined Launch and Reentry Licensing ARC was conducted on an incredibly short timeline of just a few weeks and is no longer able to interface formally with the FAA to provide comments and feedback as the FAA develops proposed rules,” Garehime said Tuesday at a hearing of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee’s aviation subpanel.

“The FAA is working under a tight deadline to propose new regulations by early next year, and we fear that in this rush to produce a product, the FAA will forgo the inputs of the rushed ARC and rely heavily on inputs provided by a select group of new and aspiring launch companies that the FAA has been meeting with in private regarding new launch regulations for more than a year,” she added.

Garehime also mentioned the Boeing–Lockheed Martin joint venture’s recommendations to reform the launch licensing process and one is to reduce the number of requirements for mission compliance following the issuance of a license through the adoption of a performance-based approach.

She told lawmakers that ULA also calls for the government to consolidate requirements among agencies that are involved in regulating launch sites.

NASA has set March 30, 2021, as the new launch date for the James Webb Space Telescope after the independent review board released its findings and recommendations for the program.

NASA said Thursday IRB recommended that development work on the Webb telescope should continue and that the revised launch date seeks to accommodate schedule changes in light of work and environmental testing challenges that Northrop Grumman experienced with the observatory’s propulsion system and sunshield.

The new launch date brings the telescope’s total lifecycle cost estimate to $9.66 billion and development cost estimate to $8.8 billion.

“Despite major challenges, the board and NASA unanimously agree that Webb will achieve mission success with the implementation of the board’s recommendations, many of which already are underway,” NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said.

Some of the board’s recommendations include the designation of a commission manager; implementation of sunshield hardware and simulation elements; and the need for Northrop to establish corrective actions in training, processes, personnel certification and other areas.

NASA will use Arianespace’s Ariane 5 rocket to launch the telescope that will work to examine the solar system and address questions about cosmic origins.

NASA works with the European Space Agency and Canada’ space agency on the Webb telescope project.