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"This is welcome news for our community, state and nation," spaceport CEO Stu Witt said in the release. "This will prevent onerous regulations from hampering a burgeoning commercial space industry that will provide tremendous economic and technological advances, not only in California but across the nation."


George Whitesides, president & CEO of Virgin Galactic and The Spaceship Company, said the extension "will play a critical role in ensuring that the U.S. remains the home of aerospace innovation.


"The action taken by Congress will preserve the regulatory regime for commercial space which continues to attract space companies from around the world to do business in the United States," he said in a statement. "This regime, under which the FAA can generate any safety regulation for which real flight experience shows a demonstrated need, while avoiding regulations based on speculations or opinion about future events, allows new innovations to be tried as quickly as possible."