Blue Origin Flights to ‘Soon’ Resume After FAA Closes Investigation

The agency had grounded Blue Origin’s New Shepard suborbital rocket, which it uses to bring paying customers to the edge of the atmosphere.

Jack Daleo

Friday, September 29, 2023 at 03:23 PM ET

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Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket lifts off from Launch Site One in Texas for the company’s NS-22 mission in August 2022. [Courtesy: Blue Origin]

Key Takeaways:

The FAA has closed its investigation into Blue Origin's New Shepard rocket crash from September 2022, attributing the mishap to a thermo-structural failure in an engine nozzle.
Blue Origin must implement 21 corrective actions, including an engine redesign, to receive FAA clearance to resume flights.
The company plans to fly "soon," tentatively aiming for an uncrewed test flight early next month (from article's publication date) and crewed missions potentially by mid-February.
During its year-long grounding, Blue Origin has fallen behind competitors in space tourism but hopes to regain its lead with New Shepard's return.

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After a year of inactivity, Jeff Bezos’ space tourism venture could soon be back in orbit.

This week, the FAA closed its mishap investigation into New Shepard 23, an uncrewed, suborbital cargo mission that crashed in September 2022. The investigation, which looped in NASA and the National Transportation Safety Board as official observers, grounded Bezos-owned Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket, which in the months prior had ferried a total of 31 people to the edge of the atmosphere.