Reinstate the FAA's Space Debris Rule for Commercial Rocket Stages

I’m writing to urge you to pressure the FAA and reinstate its proposed rule requiring commercial space companies to remove rocket upper stages from orbit within 25 years. Withdrawing this rule was a mistake that puts lives at risk and leaves a growing debris crisis unaddressed. The danger is real and documented. Researcher Ewan Wright at the University of British Columbia found a 20-29% chance that reentering rocket debris will kill at least one person in the next decade. That's not a theoretical risk — a SpaceX tank dropped on a Washington state farm in 2021, an 1,100-pound rocket ring fell on a Kenyan village in 2024, and ISS debris crashed through a home in Naples, Florida that same year. U.S. companies have abandoned 41 upper stages in orbit over the last three years, with 33 still up there. About half of all launches leave upper stages behind. The FAA's own 2023 analysis warned that unchecked debris threatens human spaceflight and the satellites we depend on for GPS, weather forecasting, and communications. SpaceX performed 300,000 collision-avoidance maneuvers in 2024 alone — that's not a sign of a self-regulating industry, it's a sign of a crisis. Please push the FAA to restore this rule and hold commercial launch companies accountable before the debris problem becomes irreversible. Thank you.

First sent on June 18 by Mark