I’m assuming they have clearance from the FAA now.
[Update a while later]
Here’s the story on what happened with the FAA. I’d like to understand more detail on it. I’d be surprised if SpaceX really knowingly launched without authorization. I wonder if there was a miscommunication?
…now this: “The Department of Justice filed a request for a court order to enforce an administrative subpoena in an investigation into Space X on a charge of discrimination in hiring. According to the filing, the DOJ’s Immigrant and Employee Rights Section (IER) said it received a complaint from a non-citizen in May, and Space X had not fully complied with information requests…”
I don’t know if this is hostility to SpaceX from the new administration, zealousness in “protecting” immigrants, or both.