The FAA grounded New Glenn after it failed to put its payload into orbit.
Blue Origin can now make more concrete plans for New Glenn’s next flight after the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has cleared the rocket for launch. If you’ll recall, the FAA grounded New Glenn after failing to properly put its payload in orbit during its third mission. Now, in a post on X, the aerospace company announced that the agency approved its report for the flight and accepted the corrective measures it implemented. “NG-4 preparations continue — updates coming soon,” Blue Origin wrote, talking about the rocket’s next flight.
Back in April, the company successfully reused its first-stage New Glenn booster for the first time for New Glenn’s third mission (NG-3). Everything seemed to be going well until it was time to put the AST SpaceMobile satellite the vehicle was carrying into orbit. Blue Origin announced at the time that the vehicle placed the satellite “into an off-nominal orbit.” AST SpaceMobile revealed later on that its satellite separated from the vehicle, but its “altitude [was] too low to sustain operations with its on-board thruster technology and will de-orbited.”
The FAA grounded New Glenn after the incident, which it called a “mishap,” and opened an investigation to “determine the root cause of the event and identify corrective actions.” Shortly after the event, Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp said early data suggested that on the second burn of the rocket’s upper stage, one of its BE-3U engines didn’t produce sufficient thrust to reach its target orbit. The company’s new post on X echoes his announcement. “Prior to our second GS2 burn, we experienced an off-nominal thermal condition, and, as a result, one of the BE-3U engines didn’t achieve full thrust to reach our target orbit,” Blue Origin wrote.
In a statement sent to SpaceNews, the FAA revealed that the final report had identified the direct cause of the mishap “as a cryogenic leak that froze a hydraulic line and led to a thrust anomaly during the second-stage engine burn.” Blue Origin has taken nine corrective actions since identifying the issue to prevent the incident from happening again. The company has yet to announce the timeline for NG-4, but Limp recently posted a video of New Glenn’s transporter erector and revealed that Blue Origin is preparing for integrated hotfire testing, presumably for the upcoming mission.
Fun video showcasing “No, It’s Necessary” lifting on the Transporter Erector. Next stop integrated hotfire. “Never Tell Me The Odds” is in the house, too (well into it’s refurb cycle) pic.twitter.com/HnQO31inoq
— Dave Limp (@davill) May 22, 2026
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