Live Updates: SpaceX Launches Starship Test Flight May 6

For years, there has been no love lost between SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and the Federal Aviation Administration, which licenses commercial rocket launches.

Musk has repeatedly used X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter that he bought two years ago for $44 billion, to blast the FAA and accuse the agency of abandoning the Starship test.

In a September 17 posthe threatened to sue the agency for “violation of the law.”

Musk — who was recently tapped by President-elect Donald Trump to lead a new “Department of Government Efficiency” — also signed on September 25 that he believes FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker “should resign.”

Musk has also claimed that the agency’s activities have been “politically motivated” to punish SpaceX.

Musk’s claims followed FAA suggested $633,009 in civil penalties against SpaceX, which said the company violated launch license requirements twice during flights of its workhorse Falcon 9 rocket.

SpaceX has denied wrongdoing in connection with these claims, saying none of the allegations are related to public safety. In a Sept. 18 letter, the company said it also gave the FAA advance notice of changes to its launch operations, and the agency failed to act in a timely manner.

Still, the FAA gave SpaceX its long-awaited license to go ahead with Starship’s fifth unmanned test launch in October — and the same launch license covers this week’s test flight.

This is the first time that SpaceX has not had to go back to the FAA to approve changes to the launch license since the company began this test campaign years ago.