The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on Monday ordered space technology company Blue Origin to investigate the failure of the second stage of its giant New Glenn rocket.
Although the rocket successfully launched from Florida on Sunday, it failed to deploy the AST Spacemobile communications satellite into the correct orbit.
The FAA requires Blue Origin, owned by American billionaire Jeff Bezos, to investigate the crash and get agency approval for its final report before resuming flights. The agency is also demanding that the company take any necessary corrective action.
What do we know about the accident?
The rocket was launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Sunday. The reusable first-stage booster performed well, landing on a sea barge several minutes after flight.
However, the upper stage was unable to place the satellite into a high enough orbit to begin operations.
According to Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp, preliminary data shows that one of the upper stage engines did not generate enough thrust.
On Monday, the US Space Force said the rocket’s upper stage and satellite had re-entered the atmosphere.
competition in space
Sunday’s mission marked only the third flight of the 29-story New Glenn rocket, named for John Glenn, the first American to orbit Earth in 1962.
NASA plans to use New Glenn to launch the Blue Moon lunar lander for the Artemis lunar program. SpaceX’s Starship is also a contender to land astronauts on the Moon by 2028.
The New Glenn 3 launch this month came after several delays and follows NASA’s successful Artemis II mission, which sent a crew of four astronauts more than 252,000 miles above Earth, further than any humans had traveled before.
Edited by: Louis Olofse