Taxing the final frontier

Launches by commercial space companies are becoming more frequent. Last year, the Federal Aviation Administration licensed 117, an all-time high. But these spaceflight companies aren't paying for all of the FAA's services that they use. Today, we explore why the government is looking to change that and dig into the larger debate over whether human activity in space is a public or private project. Related episodes:Economics in space Planet Money goes to space Space economics For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org. Music by Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Newsletter. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy