We’re launching from New Zealand, but even if we were launching from the U.S. (which we’ll do in the future), it’s not an airspace issue. Since we are a U.S. company, the issue is U.S. compliance under the Outer Space Treaty. See: https://spacefrontier.org/2016/08/moonexpressapproval/

It’s true that the FAA regulates U.S. airspace, and commercial launches, but that’s not actually the approval issue we faced (we’re launching out of New Zealand). See our response above.

It actually wasn’t an FAA approval per se, it was the FAA notifying of approval on behalf of the U.S. government. Only government missions have ventured beyond traditional Earth orbit, so there is no existing regulatory framework in the U.S. yet for private missions as required under the Outer Space Treaty.