Blue Origin 's latest mega-rocket, the New Glenn, has been given the green light by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to resume its flight operations.
The approval comes after an upper stage failure during an April launch attempt, which resulted in the loss of a commercial payload.
The company revealed that the upper stage of New Glenn "experienced an off-nominal thermal condition," leading to one of its three engines producing lower-than-expected thrust.
This technical glitch resulted in the AST SpaceMobile satellite, which Blue Origin was supposed to launch into orbit, burning up in Earth's atmosphere instead.
The company successfully reused the New Glenn booster stage for the first time and landed it on a drone ship in the ocean for a second time.
Blue Origin 's latest mega-rocket, the New Glenn, has been given the green light by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to resume its flight operations. The approval comes after an upper stage failure during an April launch attempt, which resulted in the loss of a commercial payload. The company announced this development via a post on X .
Technical glitch What caused the launch failure? The company revealed that the upper stage of New Glenn "experienced an off-nominal thermal condition," leading to one of its three engines producing lower-than-expected thrust. This technical glitch resulted in the AST SpaceMobile satellite, which Blue Origin was supposed to launch into orbit, burning up in Earth's atmosphere instead. However, AST SpaceMobile confirmed it had insurance coverage for the lost satellite.
Corrective measures Corrective measures were taken after the incident Following the incident, Jeff Bezos's spaceflight company submitted a report to the FAA and took "corrective measures." However, details of these measures were not disclosed. The mishap occurred during New Glenn's third-ever flight, which otherwise went off without a hitch. The company successfully reused the New Glenn booster stage for the first time and landed it on a drone ship in the ocean for a second time.
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