GAO Report: FAA Should Improve Its Mishap Investigation Process

According to the GAO: “The commercial space industry is rapidly growing as private companies transport cargo, satellites, and people to space. But not all launches go smoothly. Some have exploded or otherwise failed, which can endanger the public. Usually, FAA is responsible for finding out what caused such mishaps. Although FAA can investigate a mishap itself, it has always opted to authorize the launch operator to investigate under agency supervision. But FAA doesn’t have criteria to determine when to authorize an operator to investigate its own mishap, nor has it evaluated how effective its investigation process is. We recommended that FAA address these issues.” Full Report