By Kenneth Schrupp | The Center Square
The California government denied an Air Force request to allow Elon Musk’s SpaceX to increase its California rocket launches, citing Musk’s politics.
The Department of Defense and a large bipartisan coalition of lawmakers endorsed the launch expansion, with some center-left housing activists attacking the vote as no different than the California Coastal Commission’s consistent denial of housing.
The Air Force and Space Force had requested that the California Coastal Commission allow SpaceX to increase its annual permitted launches from Vandenberg Air Force Base in Santa Barbara from 36 to 50.