The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has classified Blue Origin’s recent New Glenn launch issue as a “mishap”. The US agency has grounded the rocket company owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and directed it to conduct a detailed investigation before resuming flights. The decision follows a launch from Cape Canaveral in which the rocket’s upper stage failed to place its satellite payload into the intended orbit, despite an otherwise successful liftoff. In a statement (seen by Orlando Sentinel), FAA said, “The FAA is aware that Blue Origin New Glenn 3 experienced a mishap during the second-stage flight sequence following a successful launch. The FAA notified NASA, the NTSB, and the U.S. Space Force about the classification of the incident. A mishap investigation is designed to enhance public safety, determine the root cause of the event, and identify corrective actions to avoid it from happening again. A return to flight is based on the FAA determining that any system, process, or procedure related to the mishap does not affect public safety.”
Why FAA has grounded Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin’s New Glenn rockets
Last week, the New Glenn rocket, flying its third mission, launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Launch Complex 36 using a previously flown booster for the first time. While the booster’s launch and second landing were successful, Blue Origin said the BlueBird 7 satellite payload for AST SpaceMobile was “placed into an off-nominal orbit.”The company did not share further details, but the mission plan had included a second-stage engine relight after reaching orbit to raise altitude before deploying the satellite. AST SpaceMobile later confirmed that this did not occur, stating the satellite was deployed at an altitude too low to operate. It also said the satellite lacked sufficient onboard thruster capacity to reach its intended orbit.As a result, the company will now need to deorbit the satellite, which would have been its eighth in orbit. The cost of the lost hardware is expected to be covered by insurance. Blue Origin also planned a third engine burn of the upper stage after deployment to guide it toward a controlled ocean crash landing, which did not occur.The FAA grounded multiple rockets in recent years following similar incidents, including SpaceX’s Falcon 9 and its in-development Starship. Blue Origin’s suborbital New Shepard rocket has also faced grounding in the past. Such investigations can take months before a rocket is cleared to return to flight. However, in some cases, timelines have been shorter, such as Falcon 9’s 15-day grounding in 2024 after an upper-stage issue.Blue Origin had approval to conduct up to 12 launches annually, and CEO Dave Limp had earlier indicated a target of at least eight New Glenn launches this year. At present, the company has announced two additional missions, including the MK1 Blue Moon lunar lander expected to launch before the end of summer. Amazon is also awaiting New Glenn for planned launches related to its Project Kuiper satellite constellation.New Glenn launched for the first time in January 2025, becoming the first commercial rocket to reach orbit on its debut flight. A second mission followed in November, carrying satellites toward Mars. This marks the second time New Glenn has been grounded. The first occurred after its debut mission, when the booster’s landing was unsuccessful, and the FAA cleared it to fly again about 2.5 months later.
