FAA orders investigation into Blue Origin's New Glenn mishap | TechCrunch

Last day to exhibit your breakthrough to 10,000+ tech leaders at Disrupt is on Oct 2. Book Exhibit Table Now. Disrupt doors open Oct. 13. Get your pass and bring someone with you at 50% off. REGISTER NOW. The Federal Aviation Administration has instructed Blue Origin to perform an investigation into the apparent failure of the upper stage of its New Glenn rocket on Sunday, according to the Orlando Sentinel. That means the company won’t be able to fly New Glenn again until it completes the probe. That could put a damper on Blue Origin’s ambitions to launch as many as 12 more New Glenn missions this year, depending on how long the investigation lasts. The problem occurred during the third launch of Blue Origin’s New Glenn mega-rocket over the weekend. The launch got off to a good start, with the company reusing a New Glenn booster for the first time ever and landing that booster again on a drone ship in the ocean. Developing and proving rocket reusability is a major step forward for Blue Origin and could put it on a path to compete with Elon Musk’s SpaceX, the only other spaceflight company that can accomplish this feat, and the dominant player in the launch industry. But the primary