SpaceX and the California Coastal Commission have settled a lawsuit filed by Elon Musk’s rocket company over the agency’s effort to regulate its flights from Vandenberg Space Force Base.
The two parties reached a settlement last week, but details will not be disclosed until it is approved by Los Angeles U.S. District Court Judge Stanley Blumenfeld Jr.
If the agreement is not accepted, the case will remain pending. SpaceX and the Coastal Commission did not respond to messages seeking comment.
The lawsuit was filed in 2024 after the agency that oversees the state’s coastal development rejected a plan by the rocket company to rapidly scale up its launches from the Santa Barbara County facility.
The rocket company is launching its Starlink broadband satellites into space from the site, raising concerns about its impact on wildlife.
Nearby residents have also complained about the sonic boom generated by the company’s Falcon 9 rocket.
SpaceX argues that the state does not have authority over its launches at the military base, and that there was alleged political bias after several commissioners noted Musk’s politics, including his support of President Trump, during a hearing on the case in 2024.
“Mr. Musk controls ‘one of the most extensive communications networks on the planet,’ and … ‘just last week’ Mr. Musk was speaking about political retribution on the national stage,” was a comment cited by SpaceX in the court papers.
Blumenfeld dismissed the suit in March 2025 but allowed SpaceX to amend and refile its complaint.
In August, he dismissed several causes of action in the second complaint, including claims for financial damages against individual commissioners, but allowed others to proceed.
It is unclear what practical effect the agreement might have.
Last August, the commission also rejected a plan to increase the number of flights to 95 per year. However, the Space Force has exercised its federal authority to launch more flights from the base despite agency disapproval.
Seventy-one rockets were launched last year, the majority of which were launched by SpaceX. A hundred or more people could fly this year, potentially making it the world’s busiest spaceflight.
SpaceX is also planning to launch it big falcon heavy Rocket from another pad. The rocket links three Falcon 9 rocket cores together and has 27 liftoff engines, compared to nine for the smaller rocket.
A Space Force decision in December is of more concern to critics Invite rocket companies Building and operating a “Super Heavy” launchpad with even more powerful rockets at the base.
The Space Force argues that it follows federal environmental laws and has launched studies to reduce the impacts of flights on wildlife and residents’ exposure to sound waves.
