FAA Clears Blue Origin's New Glenn for Launch After April 19 Upper-Stage Failure

8 articles · Updated · Gizmodo · May 25

Blue Origin said the FAA has approved its NG-3 mishap report and lifted the grounding of New Glenn, allowing the heavy-lift rocket to return to flight.
An April 19 second-stage anomaly left AST SpaceMobile's BlueBird 7 in an unusably low orbit; Blue Origin traced the failure to a cryogenic leak that froze a hydraulic line and cut engine thrust.
The company said it has implemented corrective measures after the malfunction disrupted a launch schedule that depends on New Glenn's partially reusable design.
That third mission still delivered a milestone: the reused first-stage booster landed successfully on the Jacklyn platform in the Atlantic, underscoring Blue Origin's push to raise launch cadence.
Blue Origin is also planning a broader scale-up, with a recent job posting pointing to a goal of producing 60 New Glenn upper stages by the third quarter of 2028.

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