U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Wednesday to streamline federal regulation governing commercial rocket launches, a move that could benefit Elon Musk's SpaceX and other private space ventures.

SpaceX, though not mentioned by name in Trump's order, easily leads all U.S. space industry entities, including Nasa, in the sheer number of launches it routinely conducts for its own satellite network, the U.S. space agency, the Pentagon, and other enterprises.

The president calls on officials to ease permitting rules for rocket flights as more companies want to launch them.