US EditionFAA orders investigation into Blue Origin flight mishap
Blue Origin said a BE-3U engine did not produce enough thrust, leaving AST SpaceMobile’s satellite in a lower-than-planned orbit.
- On Sunday, April 19, 2026, the Federal Aviation Administration grounded Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket after its third mission failed to place an AST SpaceMobile satellite into the correct orbit.
- Preliminary data indicates a BE-3U engine failed to produce sufficient thrust during the second burn, leaving the satellite stranded in an unsustainable 95 mile orbit instead of the planned 285 mile trajectory.
- AST SpaceMobile considers the satellite a "lost cause" that will burn up in Earth's atmosphere, though the company confirmed insurance coverage will offset the hardware loss.
- Blue Origin CEO David Limp stated the company is leading an anomaly investigation with FAA oversight to determine root causes and ensure public safety before returning to flight operations.
- This marks the second time New Glenn has been grounded, complicating upcoming NASA lunar missions and Amazon satellite deployments, though the reusable booster successfully landed on Sunday.
66 Articles
66 Articles
Blue Origin's New Glenn Rocket Works So Great It Ruins a Perfectly Good Satellite
This past weekend witnessed the third launch of one of the newest rockets around, the Blue Origin New Glenn. It was a perfect mission in some sense, but a complete disaster in another. And now, Jeff Bezos’ space company seems to have an idea of what went wrong. The flight, called NG-3, took ...
Blue Origin’s New Glenn Rocket Is Grounded After Launching Satellite Into the Wrong Orbit
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla.—Jeff Bezos’ rocket company, Blue Origin, blamed a bad engine Monday for a failed weekend launch that left a satellite in the wrong orbit, dooming it. Launches of the huge New Glenn rocket are grounded until Blue Origin and the Federal Aviation Administration complete their investigation. The rocket blasted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Sunday. The recycled first-stage booster performed well, landing on an oc…
Blue Origin failed to get the satellite into orbit using a rocket.
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