Recently, President Trump issued an executive order entitled “Enabling Competition in the Commercial Space Industry.” Its text suggests that the real title should be “Making commercial space great again.”

Ars Technica has a good rundown about what the executive order is intended to do. It is intended to accomplish three things.

First, it instructs Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy, who happens to also be the interim NASA administrator, to streamline or even eliminate environmental and other regulations related to space launches. The idea is to accelerate launch license approval.

The provision is of particular interest to Elon Musk’s SpaceX. The company has been busy developing its Starship rocket by testing it, noting how the test failed, using the failure to enhance the rocket for the next test, and repeating.

Unfortunately, government regulations have compelled the Federal Aviation Administration to conduct exhaustive accident investigations that have taken weeks, even months, before SpaceX is allowed to fly again.

The situation has been a source of constant frustration, especially since the........

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