Smith's retirement from FAA/AST

During FAA Associate Administrator Patricia Grace Smith’s 13 years at the Office of Commercial Space Transportation she has helped the FAA become the recognized global leader on private human space flight issues. The FAA licensed inland commercial spaceports at Mojave, California and at Burns Flat, Oklahoma and also licensed the launch and reentry of the X-Prize-winning SpaceShipOne in 2004.

Under Smith’s guidance, the FAA published regulations for spaceflight crew and passengers as well as regulations for experimental permits allowing testing of reusable launch vehicles. She also led an effort with the U.S. Air Force to establish common safety standards making it easier for new entrants to know what regulations/standards are required.

At the FAA, Smith earned a reputation for a rigorous commitment to safety, building a strong organization and forging partnerships with other government agencies to advance the work of commercial space transportation.

It has been the professional honor, perhaps the greatest adventure, of my life to lead the Federal Aviation Administration Office of Commercial Space Transportation. While safety informs everything my office does, passion drives the dream of private human spaceflight as it also drives me.

My choice to move on is consistent with the nature of the commercial space transportation industry, always changing, always renewing itself, always growing on the strength of new ideas and new people. I am proud to have had that in my life. I intend to keep it. It is time now for others to make it their own.

I am profoundly grateful to the Department of Transportation (initially), and to the Federal Aviation Administration (ultimately), for giving me this opportunity. I am profoundly grateful to all those in the Federal Aviation Administration who have been patient and helpful and committed to the youngest sibling as it has grown up. Many good people here have quietly touched commercial space transportation and helped it move ahead, and many good people at the FAA have touched me. If you have not always had the public credit you deserve, you at least will have my everlasting personal thanks.

If we never reach the stars, at least we will have reached for them and helped make it possible for more people to try. There is both awe and honor in that, two feelings I take with me.

Our future is above us!