The FAA has completed its investigation into the failed landing of Blue Origin’s New Glenn debut flight. Despite successfully reaching orbit with the vehicle on their first try, Blue Origin was unable to relight the engines for New Glenn’s Stage 1 as it began to descend towards ‘Jacklyn’, its designated landing ship. The booster was lost as a result and an FAA investigation followed.

FAA Statement

The FAA said today that

The FAA-required investigation of the Blue Origin New Glenn-1 mishap that occurred on Jan. 16 is closed. There were no public injuries or public property damage.

The FAA oversaw and accepted the findings of the Blue Origin-led investigation. The final mishap report identified the proximate cause of the mishap as an inability of New Glenn’s first stage to restart the engines, preventing a reentry burn from occurring, and resulting in the loss of the stage.

Blue Origin identified seven corrective actions to prevent reoccurrence of the event. The FAA will verify that Blue Origin implements corrective actions prior to the launch of the New Glenn-2 mission.

The Blue Origin New Glenn vehicle is authorized to return to flight provided all other licensing requirements are met.  

Federal Aviation Administration, March 31, 2025

Blue Origin Statement

In a statement released by the company today, Blue said

“New Glenn launched successfully on January 16, achieving our goal to reach orbit and deploy Blue Ring. Our ambitious attempt to land the booster, “So You’re Telling Me There’s a Chance,” was unsuccessful due to our three BE-4 engines not re-igniting properly. Our review confirmed that all debris landed in our designated hazard area with no threat to public safety. The report identified seven corrective actions, focusing on propellant management and engine bleed control improvements, which we’re already addressing. We expect to return to flight in late spring and will attempt to land the booster again.”

Blue Origin, March 31, 2025

Dave Limp, Blue Origin CEO, said today that

Obviously the best data comes from flying, and we learned a lot from New Glenn’s first mission. We’re confident that the propellant and bleed control work we’re doing will increase our chances of landing the booster on our next flight. And like we’ve said all along, we’ll keep trying [to land the booster] until we do.

Dave Limp, Blue Origin CEO, March 31, 2025

With this, Blue Origin can now launch New Glenn again. The company has stated that late spring is their goal for the second flight of the 320-foot rocket, which implies in 6-12 weeks.

FAA Oversight

The FAA is responsible for investigating commercial space mishaps under several key U.S. laws and regulations:

1. Commercial Space Launch Act of 1984 (CSLA), as amended (51 U.S.C. Chapter 509)
   This law gives the Department of Transportation (delegated to the FAA) the authority to regulate and oversee commercial space launches and reentries to ensure public safety, protect property, and encourage the growth of the industry.
2. Title 14 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), Part 450 and Part 460
   • 14 CFR Part 450 governs the licensing and safety requirements for launch and reentry operations.
   • 14 CFR Part 460 sets crew and spaceflight participant safety regulations.
     These rules give the FAA the authority to investigate mishaps to determine whether licensed operators complied with safety standards.
3. 49 U.S.C. § 40113 and § 46101
   These statutes give the FAA broad authority to conduct investigations and enforce compliance related to transportation safety, including in the commercial space sector.

To that end, the FAA investigates commercial space mishaps to ensure public safety, maintain regulatory oversight, and improve the safety of future space missions. The process helps protect the health and safety of the general public.

When the FAA investigates a mishap, general practice is to ground the vehicle while the investigation takes place, but this is not set in stone as the FAA can and has allowed vehicles to return to flight in cases where the mishap never resulted in any risk to public safety or property.