STATEMENT OF 
COMMISSIONER BRENDAN CARR
Re: Commercial Space Launches Report and Order and Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, ET Docket No. 13-115.
Later this week, astronauts on board the Crew Dragon Endeavour will lift off from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center.  The spacecraft, propelled by the Falcon 9 rocket and piloted by NASA astronaut Megan McArthur, will power towards the International Space Station, which orbits approximately 220 miles above the Earth’s surface at over 17,000 miles per hour.  
For the next six months, these astronauts will work on a range of scientific experiments, including research that could help develop vaccines more quickly.  Upon completing their mission, the crew will make their way back to Earth and splash down into the Atlantic Ocean off the Florida coast. 
While the crew will complete their work far above our atmosphere, there is plenty of Earthly red tape associated with the mission.  For one, these and other launches require FCC authorizations for the critical communications systems used from launch to splash down.  And the current method for obtaining the required FCC approvals can be an arcane and often unpredictable process.  Rocket science is hard enough, so we don’t need an outdated regulatory process putting another obstacle in the way.
	Today, we launch a process that can streamline this approach.  And that would give another boost to America’s growing leadership in commercial spaceflight.    
In doing so, we seek comment on several spectrum bands that could be used for future launches.  One band in particular, 5650-5925 MHz, covers the top 75 MHz of the U-NII-2C band.  Last month, I identified this band as one that we should seek comment on because it is a vastly underutilized swath of spectrum today.  So I think we should build off this step we take today by starting a broader proceeding that looks at the entire U-NII-2C band and whether we can eliminate some of the cumbersome technical restraints that are holding it back.
I want to thank the staff of the Office of Engineering and Technology, as well as the Wireless, and International Bureau for all of their work on today’s item.  It has my support.