FAA GROUNDS BLUE ORIGIN AFTER NEW GLENN MISHAP

The Federal Aviation Administration has ordered Blue Origin to investigate a New Glenn launch mishap after the rocket failed to place an AST SpaceMobile satellite into its planned orbit, temporarily grounding the vehicle until the company completes a formal review and corrective actions are accepted.

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The mission delivered a mixed result for Jeff Bezos' space company. New Glenn lifted off successfully from Cape Canaveral, and its reusable first-stage booster returned safely, giving Blue Origin another important demonstration of reusability. But the mission's primary objective failed when the rocket’s upper stage underperformed, leaving AST SpaceMobile’s BlueBird 7 satellite in an orbit too low to sustain operations.

Blue Origin said preliminary data points to one of the upper stage’s BE-3U engines failing to produce enough thrust during a critical burn. As a result, the satellite was left in a roughly 95-mile orbit rather than the planned trajectory near 285 miles. AST SpaceMobile has treated the spacecraft as a loss and expects it to burn up in Earth's atmosphere.

NEW GLENN’S THIRD FLIGHT FALLS SHORT

The launch was New Glenn's third mission, making the failure especially significant for a rocket still working to prove itself in the commercial and government launch markets. New Glenn is Blue Origin’s heavy-lift vehicle, designed to compete more directly with SpaceX and to support missions ranging from commercial satellites to national security payloads and lunar infrastructure.

The vehicle's first stage performed the most visible part of the mission successfully. Booster recovery is one of the hardest and most important capabilities Blue Origin needs to master if it wants New Glenn to become a credible reusable launch system. The booster landing showed progress on that front.

THE UPPER STAGE TOLD A DIFFERENT STORY.