Space is getting busier than a local highway at rush hour, so it needs new traffic rules.

The Transportation Department, under the authority of the Federal Aviation Administration, proposed five rules on Tuesday to "streamline and modernize the commercial space launch and reentry regulations."

The rules will speed launch licensing, broaden launch corridors, and update weather rules, among other changes, to reduce costs and wait times.

The output is the work of the Department's SPACE task force. "The SPACE Task Force is moving quickly to execute on President Trump's vision to achieve America's continued superiority in space," said U.S. Under Secretary for Transportation Ryan McCormack in a news release. "The commercial space industry is moving at lightning speed, and our regulations need to keep pace."

The U.S. is on pace to launch about 170 rockets in 2026, after launching 180 in 2025. In 2016, the U.S. launched 22 rockets, roughly the same number that China and Russia launched.

America's growth has been impressive, and almost all of the growth comes from SpaceX, which lowered costs to reach orbit by pioneering reusable rockets. SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket launched in 2016. It will launch closer to 150 times in 2026.

Falcon 9 will eventually give way to SpaceX's larger fully reusable rocket Starship, which the company hope to launch thousands of times a year.

That makes the Transportation Department's proposed rules good for SpaceX. Regulation updates, however, don't always lead to immediate stock market moves.

SpaceX stock was down 2.1% in premarket trading on Wednesday at $168.26, while S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were down 0.2% and 0.4%, respectively.

Coming into Wednesday trading, SpaceX stock had been on fire, gaining 16.1% after three consecutive days in the green. No stock goes up in a straight line, though -- not even shares of a rocket company.