FAA orders investigation into Blue Origin’s New Glenn crash

The Federal Aviation Administration has ordered Blue Origin to investigate the failure of its New Glenn rocket on Sunday. according to the Orlando Sentinel. This means that the company will not be able to fly New Glenn again until it completes the investigation.

That could hurt Blue Origin’s ambitions activate 12 more New Glenn missions this year, depending on how long the survey takes. The company did not comment on the high-profile failure and did not respond to emailed requests for comment.

The problem occurred during the third launch of Blue Origin’s New Glenn mega-rocket over the weekend. The launch got off to a good start, with the company using the New Glenn booster for the first time and landing that boost again on a drone-less ship in the ocean.

Designing and proving rocket reusability is a major step forward for Blue Origin and could put it on a path to compete with Elon Musk’s SpaceX, the only other space launch company that can do this, and a major player in the launch industry.

But the main goal was to send a space communications satellite to a paying customer: AST SpaceMobile. When the second stage of the New Glenn rocket successfully separated from the booster, something seemed to go wrong soon after. AST SpaceMobile said on Sunday that the rocket put the satellite in a “lower than planned” orbit – so low, that the company considers the satellite a cause of loss and will allow it to burn up in Earth’s atmosphere.

AST SpaceMobile said it has insurance that will cover the cost of the lost satellite. The company also said it has several new satellites nearing completion that it hopes will be ready to go into space in a few weeks. The company has agreements with other startup sponsors, too. AST SpaceMobile’s share price fell more than 10% on Monday morning before recovering slightly.

As for Blue Origin, the surface damage isn’t the only threat to potential operations. The company is working on a lunar mission and has big plans to be part of the Trump administration and NASA’s focus on putting humans back on Earth.

Blue Origin is also in the in the process of trying to find New Glenn has been approved by the US Space Force to conduct civil defense missions. The Space Force did not immediately respond to a request for comment.