Commercial space companies say cut red tape or U.S. will lose its lead in spaceflight

"In his written statement, Gerstenmaier said that Starship has been ready to fly since mid-September and SpaceX is prepared to conduct the second integrated test flight “as soon as the end of this month,” but they have to wait until the regulatory process is concluded. ... “These delays may seem small in the big scheme of things, but a continuous delay of each and every test flight just adds up and eventually, we’ll lose our lead and we’ll see China land on the Moon before we do,” Gerstenmaier said."