The 38-page document, released Wednesday, paints the manufacturer’s quality control practices as inadequate and its workforce as insufficiently trained, blaming it for cost increases and schedule delays in the development of NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) Block 1B. Yet the space agency has neglected to punish Boeing financially for these flaws, arguing that doing so would run contrary to the terms of its contract.

The heavy-lift rocket, a more powerful configuration of NASA’s existing SLS Block 1, is intended to make its maiden voyage in 2028 on the Artemis IV mission, a crewed lunar landing. It has been under development since 2014. Boeing is under contract to build Block 1B’s Exploration Upper Stage (EUS)—which will increase the SLS’ cargo capacity by about 40 percent—as well as the core stages for Block 1 on Artemis I and the upcoming Artemis II. Other SLS contractors include Aerojet Rocketdyne and Northrop Grumman.

A Day Late, A Dollar Short

Originally, the EUS was allocated a budget of $962 million and intended to fly on Artemis II, which in January was pushed to no earlier than September 2025. But by the OIG’s estimate, EUS costs are expected to balloon to $2 billion through 2025 and reach $2.8 billion by the time Artemis IV lifts off in 2028.

The office projects total SLS Block 1B costs will hit $5.7 billion before then—that’s more than $700 million over the Agency Baseline Commitment (ABC) NASA made last year. The EUS, at nearly triple its original budget, would account for close to half of those costs.

Add to that an expected six-year delay in the delivery of the system, and the OIG predicts Artemis IV’s launch could be postponed.

“NASA’s fiscal year 2024 SLS Program budget projections do not account for the additional funds needed for EUS development in fiscal years 2024 through 2027,” the report says. “Without additional funding, scheduled work will continue to be pushed into subsequent years as has been the case for the EUS over the last decade, leading to further cost increases and schedule delays.”

For example, the OIG says, NASA is evaluating potential risks to the EUS stage controller and avionics that could delay its delivery by another 14 months. NASA officials disagreed with the analysis.

Mismanaged and Inexperienced

The OIG interviewed officials at NASA headquarters, Marshall Space Flight Center, Michoud Assembly Facility, the Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA), and Boeing. It also reviewed NASA and its contractors’ budgets, contract obligations, and quality control documents, among other materials.

In short, the office found that Boeing’s quality management system at Michoud does not adhere to NASA or international standards.

For example, Boeing Defense’s Earned Value Management System (EVMS)—which NASA uses to measure contract cost and schedule progress and is required on all projects with a lifecycle cost greater than $250M—has been disapproved by the Department of Defense since 2020. Officials claim this precludes Boeing from reliably predicting an EUS delivery date.

“Boeing’s process for addressing contractual noncompliance has been ineffective, and the company has generally been nonresponsive in taking corrective actions when the same quality control issues reoccur,” the OIG says.

The DCMA has issued several corrective action requests (CARs), handed down when quality control issues are identified, for the EVMS. Between September 2021 and September 2023, the agency issued Boeing a whopping 71 CARs after identifying quality control issues in the manufacturing of core and upper stages at Michoud. According to officials, that’s a massive number for a system that has been in development for so long.

“Boeing officials incorrectly approved hardware processing under unacceptable environmental conditions, accepted and presented damaged seals to NASA for inspection, and used outdated versions of work orders,” the report says. “DCMA also found that Boeing personnel made numerous administrative errors through changes to certified work order data without proper documentation.”

According to Safety and Mission Assurance officials at NASA and DCMA officials at Michoud, Boeing’s quality control issues stem from a workforce that is, by and large, unqualified.

During a visit to Michoud in 2023, for example, inspectors discovered that welding on a component of the SLS Core Stage 3 did not meet NASA standards. Per the report, unsatisfactory welding performed on a set of fuel tanks led directly to a seven-month delay in EUS completion.

“According to NASA officials, the welding issues arose due to Boeing’s inexperienced technicians and inadequate work order planning and supervision,” the OIG says. “The lack of a trained and qualified workforce increases the risk that Boeing will continue to manufacture parts and components that do not adhere to NASA requirements and industry standards.”

Complicating matters further is the relocation of SLS core stage production for Artemis III from Michoud to Kennedy, which will require Boeing to transition a decade of production processes developed at the former site to the latter.

The OIG said the manufacturer is developing a more robust, hands-on training program that could revamp its workforce but is long overdue.

“Some technicians reported they had to hunt through layers of documentation to identify required instructions and documentation of work history and key decisions related to the hardware,” the report says.

Further, maintaining that workforce may be difficult—the OIG predicts Boeing will spend an average of $26 million per month on EUS personnel through 2027. That was the norm for the company from February to August 2023.

Boeing management has also dropped the ball at higher levels. For instance, in the leadup to Artemis I, Boeing underestimated the complexity of building the SLS core stage, and EUS funding had to be redirected to that project.

“This ultimately led to a nearly one-year delay in EUS work and an additional $4 billion in funding to Boeing to cover the costs for the core stage development work,” according to the OIG.

In addition, NASA officials believe Boeing’s supply chain woes are of its own making, stemming from late negotiations and contract agreements.

Next Steps for NASA

The OIG report paints the picture of a company in disarray from top to bottom.

The office did not pin the blame entirely on Boeing. It criticized NASA, for example, for spending more than $3 billion over ten years without submitting an ABC to Congress and the Office of Budget and Management. The ABC is the only official cost and schedule baseline used to measure project performance against expectations.

The office’s four recommendations, however, center around the manufacturer.

First, the OIG calls on the associate administrator of NASA’s Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate (ESDMD), alongside the agency’s assistant administrator for procurement and chief of safety and mission assurance, to collaborate with Boeing on a more robust, NASA-approved quality management system. It also recommends officials penalize the company financially for its previous violations.

The OIG further directs the ESDMD to conduct a cost overrun analysis of Boeing’s EUS contract to minimize the impact to Artemis missions. Finally, it asks the associate administrator to coordinate with the DCMA to ensure Boeing’s compliance with EVMS requirements.

NASA agreed with three of the four recommendations and proposed actions to take. Interestingly, though, it rejected the suggestion of fining Boeing.

“NASA interprets this recommendation to be directing NASA to institute penalties outside the bounds of the contract,” said Catherine Koerner, deputy associate administrator of the ESDMD, in NASA’s response to the report. “There are already authorities in the contract, such as award fee provisions, which enable financial ramifications for noncompliance with quality control standards.”

Essentially, the agency believes it can keep Boeing in check by rewarding good behavior rather than penalizing mismanagement. The OIG, predictably, disagrees, characterizing NASA as “unresponsive” to what it considers significant safety concerns.

“In the end, failure to address these issues may not only hinder the Block 1B’s readiness for Artemis IV but also have a cascading impact on the overall sustainability of the Artemis campaign and NASA’s deep space human exploration efforts,” the report says.

Boeing will look to improve some of its quality control issues under the leadership of new CEO Kelly Ortberg, the ex-boss of Rockwell Collins who took over after the ousting of former CEO Dave Calhoun.

Calhoun’s departure this month comes as the company continues to be grilled over the loss of a door plug on a Boeing 737 Max 9 in January as well as persistent issues with Starliner, its semireusable spacecraft under contract with NASA for astronaut rotation missions to the  International Space Station. Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams may end up spending eight months on the orbital laboratory, rather than eight days as intended.

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Each nation is allotted one seat on an upcoming Blue Origin flight, and applicants can secure a slot for just $2.50.

“India has achieved remarkable milestones in its space journey the past few years, including becoming the first country to reach the moon’s southern pole,” said Joshua Skurla, co-founder of SERA, of the program’s newest partner nation.

The U.S. and India last month strengthened their collaboration on human spaceflight and space security. NASA is also training an Indian astronaut for a trip to the International Space Station as early as this year.

SERA works with countries that have had few or no citizens reach the final frontier. In April, it purchased six seats on Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket that will fly citizen astronauts to the Kármán line, which at 100 kilometers is considered the boundary between Earth and space.

Formerly known as the Crypto Space Agency and funded by NFTs, the program played a role in Blue Origin’s fifth crewed spaceflight, NS-21, awarding a seat to Brazilian civil engineer Victor Hespanha, that country’s second astronaut, through a raffle.

According to SERA, more than 8 in 10 astronauts come from just three countries: the United States, Russia, and China. In June, it partnered with Nigeria’s National Space Research and Development Agency to send that country’s first citizen to space.

“Our mission is to democratize space by enabling citizens from over 150 countries with limited access to space to participate in ground-breaking research and create history,” said Skurla. “Our aim is to empower people globally to have a voice and stake in the future of space exploration.”

In an unprecedented move, SERA will allow people around the world to vote on which citizens will take the approximately 11-minute journey.

Anyone living in one of the program’s partner nations can apply to secure a seat. Applicants must be proficient in English, at least 18 years of age, and meet Blue Origin’s parameters for height, weight, physical fitness, and citizenship.

Five of the seats will be allocated to specific nations, and candidates will be voted on by citizens of those nations. The sixth will be open to anyone within a SERA-partnered country and chosen through a global vote. Remaining seat assignments will be announced later this year.

During the second quarter of 2024, voters will choose from 24 final candidates. After that, they will design and vote on the experiments the astronauts will perform during the flight. Later this year, a prelaunch docuseries will reveal the winning experiments.

Following three days of training at Blue Origin’s launch site in West Texas, the civilian crew will strap themselves into New Shepard sometime after the third quarter. The company’s next mission, NS-26, does not yet have an expected launch date.

“By giving communities the power to choose their astronauts, we ensure this mission is driven by people, for people,” said Sam Hutchison, who co-founded SERA alongside Skurla. “This approach will ignite national conversations on space and foster international collaboration in space exploration.”

Hutchison previously served as president of Boeing-backed Reaction Engines, which designs rocket engines intended for hypersonic flight.

SERA says its upcoming mission will be the first of several flights in partnership with Blue Origin. The company’s New Shepard rocket in December made a return to action following a grounding and FAA investigation into a September 2022 incident and in May launched another mission—its first crewed flight in nearly two years.

The spacecraft so far has performed as expected, which should give SERA confidence in being able to send more civilians to space in the near future.

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The agency says it plans to prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS) on the potential effects of awarding a commercial launch vehicle operator license for Starship operations at Kennedy’s Launch Complex-39A. To date, all Starship test flights have launched from SpaceX’s Starbase launchpad in Boca Chica, Texas, which serves as its primary research, development, and flight test facility for the gargantuan rocket.

SpaceX will need to obtain a vehicle operator license before launching Starship from Kennedy, an action that falls under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the FAA says. As such, it and NASA determined an EIS to be the appropriate level of scrutiny. 

SpaceX will prepare the assessment itself under FAA supervision, at NASA’s request. Obtaining the EIS would not guarantee the issuance of a vehicle operator license, but it is a required step under NEPA.

SpaceX’s proposal calls for the construction of launch, landing, and other infrastructure at Launch Complex-39A that would support as many as 44 launches per year using Starship and the company’s Super Heavy booster. The site hosts launches of its Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets.

The new infrastructure would allow Starship—which is designed to be reusable—to land back on the launchpad or a droneship, a sea-borne landing platform. The proposal also calls for expendable rocket and booster landings in the Atlantic Ocean.

The FAA will hold one virtual and three in-person public scoping meetings, inviting relevant agencies and organizations, local Native American tribes, and members of the public to submit comments on the potential environmental impacts of the proposal.

The submission period for public comments opened Friday with the publication in the Federal Register of an FAA notice of intent to prepare the EIS. Stakeholders can attend in-person scoping meetings on June 12 and 13, followed by a virtual meeting on June 17. More information is available on the FAA website.

Starship so far has flown three uncrewed orbital test flights, each more successful than the last. However, the first of those flights, which launched in April 2023, caused a litany of unintended environmental effects, shattering windows and sending plumes of ashy particulate as far as 6 miles away from Starbase.

The debris field created by the launch had a far wider radius than anticipated, due in part to SpaceX’s decision to forgo the installation of a water-cooled steel plate beneath the launchpad. A water deluge system was installed for Starship’s second test flight, which greatly improved containment of the debris field.

Following Starship’s first test flight, a coalition of environmental groups also sued the FAA over its handling of the launch. The groups accuse the agency of allowing SpaceX to take the reins on evaluating the rocket’s environmental impact.

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Tuesday marked the swan song for Delta IV Heavy, a heavy-lift launcher headed for retirement. The spacecraft was built by United Launch Alliance (ULA)—a joint venture between Lockheed Martin and Boeing—and is considered one of the most prolific in U.S. history.

Delta IV Heavy, standing 235 feet tall, is part of ULA’s Delta family of rockets, which along with its Atlas family is used primarily by the U.S. government. Tuesday’s launch was conducted in partnership with the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), which is responsible for designing, building, launching and maintaining U.S. intelligence satellites.

The mission, NROL-70, is ULA’s 35th for the NRO and 99th for U.S. national security. Its payload is classified.

NROL-70 also represented the 389th Delta launch since 1960 and the 294th to lift off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. It was ULA’s 45th and final launch of a Delta IV rocket and its 16th in the Heavy configuration.

ULA is in the process of transitioning launches from Cape Canaveral and Vandenburg Space Force Base in California to its Vulcan Centaur, the successor to Delta and eventually Atlas. Vulcan completed its maiden voyage in January, carrying a Peregrine lunar lander for commercial customer Astrobotic.

On Tuesday morning, teams at Cape Canaveral reported 90 percent favorable conditions for the launch, which was originally scheduled for March 28. Crews promptly began filling the rocket’s eight cryogenic tanks with 470,000 gallons of supercooled liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen.

The tanks power the spacecraft’s three common core boosters, which fuel three RS-68A engines each producing 700,000 pounds of thrust at sea level. The RS-68A is the largest hydrogen-burning engine in existence, per ULA.

The tanks also fuel Delta IV Heavy’s Delta Cryogenic Second Stage (DCSS), which is powered by a single RL10C-2-1 engine producing nearly 25,000 pounds of thrust. The DCSS avionics system provides guidance and flight control for the booster.

At 12:24 p.m. EST, ULA received confirmation that weather conditions were “green.” Minutes later, NRO mission director Colonel Eric Zarybnisky gave the final “go” for launch.

ULA began pressurizing the rocket’s tanks and started the launcher sequence, which independently verifies systems are functioning during the remainder of the countdown. Those systems include the hydrogen burnoff igniters beneath the engine, which play a critical role during launch.

Liftoff took place at 12:53 p.m., exactly as planned, enshrouding the launch pad in a ball of fire. That was also planned—Delta IV uses hydrogen gas to cool the rocket down before takeoff, which ignites and burns off during launch. A staggered engine ignition mitigates this process and reduces the burnoff.

After clearing the launch tower for the final time, the rocket could be seen across most of the Florida peninsula, barring cloud cover. About 1 minute and 30 seconds into the flight, Delta IV Heavy broke the sound barrier. One minute after that, it weighed just half what it did at takeoff due to the amount of fuel it must consume.

By the time the booster core and DCSS separated about six minutes into the mission, Delta IV Heavy was traveling 15 times the speed of sound. A few seconds later, the rocket reached space, and ULA ended its coverage.

“For the final time, this is Delta Launch Control, signing off,” ULA said.

At the time of its retirement, Delta IV Heavy is the third-highest capacity launch vehicle in operation, after NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) and SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy.

Delta rockets have ferried NASA’s Spirit and Opportunity rovers and other missions to Mars, launched probes that “touched the sun,” and even carried out the first orbital test flight of NASA’s Orion capsule. Orion will ferry astronauts around the moon and back during NASA’s Artemis II mission in 2025.

Delta’s successor, Vulcan, is less expensive than both it and Atlas V, the most recent addition to the Atlas family. It is designed primarily for the National Security Space Launch program. But ULA is also collaborating Vulcan launches with Amazon’s Project Kuiper and other commercial customers.

ULA’s new flagship spacecraft will need to compete with SpaceX’s Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launch vehicles, which unlike Vulcan are reusable. The company also has 17 remaining launches for Atlas V, the country’s longest-serving active rocket.

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United Launch Alliance (ULA) on Friday will attempt the 16th and final launch of its Delta IV Heavy rocket, one of the world’s most powerful—and expensive—commercially produced launch vehicles. The launch was initially scheduled for Thursday afternoon but was scrubbed a few minutes before takeoff.

The mission represents ULA’s 160th overall and the 45th and final flight for the Delta family of rockets as the manufacturer transitions to its Vulcan Centaur. Vulcan made its maiden voyage in January, carrying a Peregrine lunar lander for commercial customer Astrobotic.

“The Delta legacy will live on through Vulcan,” said Gary Wentz, vice president of government and commercial programs for ULA. “We also take this moment to celebrate the thousands of men and women who made the Delta program such a success over the decades. We carry their lessons and wisdom with us into the future.”

ULA is a joint venture between Lockheed Martin and Boeing. It produces the Delta and Atlas families of rockets, primarily for U.S. government use. Delta IV Heavy is the third-highest capacity launch vehicle in operation, behind NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) and SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy.

The Mission

Friday’s mission, NROL-70, is on behalf of the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), which develops and operates spy satellites to collect intelligence and support disaster relief and humanitarian efforts. NROL-70 is ULA’s 35th mission for the NRO and 99th for U.S. national security.

The mission’s payload is classified. But it is possibly intended to give the U.S. more eyes and ears in the stars, which could be used to listen into communications or radio transmissions, for example. Delta IV Heavy is the only rocket in the world that meets all of the requirements to perform the mission, according to ULA.

“The NROL-70 mission will strengthen the NRO’s ability to provide a wide range of timely intelligence information to national decision makers, warfighters, and intelligence analysts to protect the nation’s vital interests and support humanitarian efforts worldwide,” ULA said on its website.

The 235-foot-tall spacecraft will lift off from Space Launch Complex-37 at Cape Canaveral as early as 1:37 p.m. EDT Friday. On ascent, the rocket looks as if it is catching fire, but this is by design, as hydrogen gas used to cool it down before takeoff ignites and burns off. The process is mitigated by a staggered engine ignition, which reduces the amount of hydrogen burned.

First stage separation is expected to occur about five minutes into the mission, followed by the ignition of the main engine and jettisoning of the payload fairing. The spacecraft’s route and final destination are classified.

The Machine

Over six decades, Delta rockets have launched 388 times. About two-thirds of those launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, the base for Friday’s mission. Delta IV rockets have successfully launched 44 times, carrying payloads on behalf of the NRO, NASA, Air Force, and Space Force.

Delta IV comes in three configurations: Medium+, with either two or four solid rocket motors, and Heavy. Each vehicle consists of a common booster core, upper stage, and payload fairing.

Delta IV Heavy features three common booster core tanks, which power a RS-68A engine system built by Aerojet Rocketdyne. RS-68A is the largest hydrogen-burning engine in existence, according to ULA. The engines burn cryogenic liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen, each delivering about 700,000 pounds of thrust at sea level.

Atop the booster is a Delta Cryogenic Second Stage (DCSS), or upper stage, which is also fueled by cryogenic liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen. It is powered by a single RL10C-2-1 engine, also produced by Aerojet Rocketdyne, that produces nearly 25,000 pounds of thrust. The DCSS avionics system provides guidance and flight control for the booster.

Encapsulating the spacecraft is a payload fairing: a three-piece shell designed to shield cargo from the launch and ascent. The payload fairing can be installed off pad, improving safety and minimizing the use of launch facilities.

The History

Incredibly, the Delta family of systems has been in use since 1960. Initiated by NASA in the late 1950s, the program is derived from the Thor intermediate-range ballistic missile, which was later modified into a space launch vehicle.

The inaugural Delta launch in 1960 was unsuccessful. But it paved the way for Delta rockets to launch the world’s first Telstar and Intelsat communications satellites, birthing the phrase, “Live, via satellite!” The launch vehicles also carried NASA’s Pioneer and Explorer scientific spacecraft and delivered the first weather observatory, the Tiros and Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES), to space, revolutionizing weather forecasting.

Over the years, ULA updated Delta rockets to make them larger, more advanced, and more durable. The company installed larger first stage tanks, strap-on solid rocket boosters, and advanced electronics and guidance systems, increased the rocket’s propellant capacity, upgraded the main engine, and developed upper stage and satellite payload systems.

The earliest Delta models stood about 90 feet tall, with a mass of 112,000 pounds. Today, Delta IV Heavy towers 235 feet high and weighs 1.6 million pounds at launch. Liftoff thrust, meanwhile, has skyrocketed from 150,000 pounds in 1960 to 2.1 million pounds.

Later Delta models would help usher in the GPS era by sending constellations of navigation satellites into orbit. Delta II launched four dozen satellites over two decades, and Delta IV launched seven.

Delta II—which made its final flight in 2018—completed eight NASA missions to Mars, including the delivery of the Spirit and Opportunity rovers, over the course of 155 flights. It also flew missions to Mercury and visited asteroids, moons, and comets within the solar system.

Delta II has launched probes that “touched the sun,” uncovered exoplanets deep in the Milky Way, and scanned large swaths of the universe using infrared vision. In 2014, it launched the first orbital test flight of NASA’s Orion capsule, which will ferry astronauts around the moon and back during the Artemis II mission in 2025.

By 2002, Boeing had developed Delta IV for the Space Force’s Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) program. That year, the rocket made its debut flight carrying a Eutelsat 33B, its only commercial payload to date. It delivered its first Air Force payload the following year. In 2007, ULA launched the first operational Delta IV Heavy, sending a Space Force Defense Support Program (DSP) satellite into orbit.

The Legacy

Fifteen flights later, Delta IV Heavy is set to become the final Delta rocket to be retired. In addition, ULA has 17 remaining launches for Atlas V, the country’s longest-serving active rocket. Atlas V is cheaper to launch than its counterpart, but it uses Russian-made rather than American-made engines.

Once Delta IV and Atlas V are off the manifest, ULA will transition all launches to Vulcan, which is less expensive than both predecessors. Like previous ULA launch systems, Vulcan is expendable. It was designed primarily for the National Security Space Launch program, as well as for commercial launches such as January’s mission. Customers include Amazon’s Project Kuiper, which placed an order for 38 launches.

ULA will need to compete with the likes of SpaceX, which in 2023 launched more satellites than any other company. SpaceX in 2010 debuted its reusable Falcon 9 launch vehicle, which undercut Delta IV’s price tag. Delta IV, Falcon 9, and SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy, introduced in 2018, are all under contract with the Pentagon to launch expensive military satellites in the coming years.

In addition, SpaceX has an agreement with the Space Force to take over the vacant Space Launch Complex 6 at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, which hosted Delta IV launches until 2022. The company may further look to acquire room at Space Launch Complex-37 at Cape Canaveral, where ULA will launch Friday barring any hiccups.

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Blue Origin, the space tourism venture of billionaire ex-Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, announced on X, formerly Twitter, that the company’s New Shepard rocket could fly again as soon as Monday. New Shepard had been grounded by the FAA following the crash of an uncrewed escape capsule in September 2022.

The company said it’s targeting a launch window for its next New Shepard payload mission that will open December 18. The mission, NS-24, will carry cargo in the form of science and research materials and 38,000 Club for the Future postcards—a similar payload to NS-23, the mission that failed.

In a statement earlier this year, Blue Origin identified a faulty engine nozzle as the culprit of the September 2022 mishap. Both the company and the FAA reported no injuries or damage from the incident, which occurred just over one minute into the flight. Seconds later, New Shepard’s crew capsule escaped as designed.

It’s unclear whether the capsule’s retro thrust system—which is designed to enable a soft landing—fired as intended. But Blue Origin said the capsule and all payloads “landed safely” and that they would fly again on the next mission.

That flight was expected to take place a few weeks or months later. But an FAA mishap investigation—which is standard when a launch does not go as planned—kept New Shepard grounded for more than a year until it concluded in September. As part of that investigation, the regulator required Blue Origin to take several corrective actions.

Now, it appears the company is satisfied with the changes and ready to fly again. It will still need the FAA to sign off on its launch window. But that process can happen fast, as evidenced by the rapid turnaround achieved by SpaceX for the second test flight of its Starship rocket.

While Blue Origin has been tweaking and tinkering, its main rival, Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic, appears to have leapfrogged the company in its bid for space tourism supremacy. Virgin completed its first commercial spaceflight in June and has flown to the edge of the atmosphere every month since, carrying both cargo and passengers.

Still, Blue Origin has a head start. Bezos’ company made a handful of commercial spaceflights in 2021 and 2022, ferrying high-profile passengers like Star Trek icon William Shatner and NFL Hall of Famer Michael Strahan. So while the year-plus hiatus may have put it in the hole, Blue Origin remains one of the only companies to actually fly paying customers to space.

Meanwhile, Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket, which was originally expected to debut in 2020, may have a shot at launching next year. The company has also been contracted for several NASA missions—including to the moon and Mars—and is developing the Orbital Reef commercial space station.

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SpaceX’s massive Starship rocket and Super Heavy booster flew for the second time on Saturday, and the results were a mixed bag. Stage separation—the point at which the spaceship’s maiden voyage in April went off the rails—was a success. But like last time, both the rocket and booster exploded and were lost, prompting another mishap investigation by the FAA. Starship will not be able to fly again until the investigation and a launch license evaluation are concluded.

The 400-foot-tall spacecraft took off from Starbase—SpaceX’s launch pad in Boca Chica, Texas, just off the coast of the Gulf of Mexico—Saturday morning after the launch was postponed from Friday. All 33 Raptor engines on the Super Heavy booster fired this time, unlike in April, when a handful of them failed.

Starship’s second test flight successfully debuted a hot-stage separation system, one of “well over 1,000” changes SpaceX made to the design, according to CEO Elon Musk. In hot-stage separation, the upper stage engines are ignited while the booster’s engines are still firing and the two stages remain attached. Previously, the company turned off the booster engines first.

According to SpaceX, Saturday was the first time a vehicle as large as Starship successfully pulled off the technique.

Although the new system achieved its goal, the booster promptly exploded—or experienced a “rapid unscheduled disassembly,” in SpaceX parlance—over the Gulf of Mexico, where it was meant to splash down intact. A few minutes later, after the Starship upper stage reached space, SpaceX engineer and livestream host John Insprucker said mission control lost contact with the spacecraft.

“We think we may have lost the second stage,” Insprucker said on the broadcast.

About 47 minutes into SpaceX’s livestream and eight minutes into the flight, as a camera follows the upper stage, an explosion is visible. Insprucker said engineers believed an automated flight termination plan was initiated, though the reason is still unclear. 

Starship had reached about 91 miles in altitude—well past the widely accepted boundary between the atmosphere and space—but was expected to fly more than halfway around the Earth before splashing down off the coast of Hawaii.

“With a test like this, success comes from what we learn, and [Saturday’s] test will help us improve Starship’s reliability as SpaceX seeks to make life multiplanetary,” the company said on Musk’s social media platform X, formerly Twitter.

Starship’s second voyage lasted twice as long as its first, and SpaceX appears to be getting close to nailing stage separation. However, both of the spacecraft’s reusable components were lost. And the behemoth of a rocket is now out of commission while the FAA investigates—again.

“A mishap occurred during the SpaceX Starship OFT-2 launch from Boca Chica, Texas, on Saturday, November 18,” the agency said in a statement. “The anomaly resulted in a loss of the vehicle. No injuries or public property damage have been reported. The FAA will oversee the SpaceX-led mishap investigation to ensure SpaceX complies with its FAA-approved mishap investigation plan and other regulatory requirements.”

A mishap investigation—which had grounded Starship since April—is standard when a launch does not go as planned. SpaceX will now need to compile a report on what went wrong, as well as actions it can take to ensure the next launch goes smoothly, both of which must be approved by the FAA.

The company will also need to apply for a second license modification in order to add more Starship launches to its manifest, which can involve coordination with other federal agencies such as NASA. 

There is no timeline for either process, but the FAA’s initial mishap investigation opened in April and was closed in September. A modified launch license followed in mid-November.

However, unlike the previous test, a water-cooled steel plate installed beneath Starbase prevented ash and debris from being flung for miles. And having been through the investigation and license evaluation process already, it’s possible SpaceX is able to get through a second round of inquiries more quickly.

Fly Me to the Moon

SpaceX’s “iterative design” or “fail fast, but learn faster” philosophy has allowed the company to make steady progress on its Starlink satellites and Crew Dragon capsules, both of which are launching routinely. It could be argued that’s been the case for Starship so far as well, given the successes the company achieved with Saturday’s launch. 

Still, SpaceX may need to pick up the pace. Musk’s ultimate goal is for Starship to eventually ferry hundreds of humans at a time to the moon, Mars, and beyond. The SpaceX CEO has claimed it will land astronauts on Mars by 2029. Those early arrivals are expected to build a base that could one day support a colony of 1 million on the “Red Planet.” But before Musk turns to other planets, there are projects on Earth riding on his company’s success.

In 2021, NASA picked SpaceX to land humans on the moon for the first time in half a century, contracting it to develop a variant of Starship capable of putting astronauts on the lunar surface. That mission, Artemis III, will be preceded by an uncrewed Starship demonstration flight to the moon and back. It will be followed by the Artemis IV mission, for which SpaceX has already been enlisted.

Simply put, NASA won’t be able to get the U.S. back in the space race without Starship. Already, agency officials are “concerned” about SpaceX’s progress, with one top manager predicting Artemis III will “probably” slide from 2025 to 2026.

Musk and Co. are left with a conundrum. To keep Artemis on schedule, SpaceX will need to conduct more Starship test flights, and fast. But moving too quickly can create outcomes such as Saturday’s, which, despite building on the first flight, caused the FAA to intervene. Then again, there’s little time to waste, and the company won’t be able to learn much about the largest rocket ever built without flying it.

As SpaceX continues to iterate on Starship, the company is also contending with a lawsuit against the FAA, which it joined as a co-defendant in May. The suit, filed by five environmental groups, alleges the regulator wasn’t thorough enough in its assessment of the rocket’s potential impacts on the surrounding wildlife.

Jared Margolis, senior attorney for the Center for Biological Diversity, a plaintiff in the case, told FLYING the lawsuit is still ongoing. Margolis criticized the FAA’s written reevaluation of Starship’s environmental impact, arguing the agency should have required more of SpaceX before green lighting both test flights. He said the center is considering adding more claims to its suit for the FAA’s failure to fully analyze the impact of April’s launch.

More recently, SpaceX has come under fire for its workplace safety culture, which a special report from Reuters earlier this month characterized as “lax.” According to the report, investigators used government records and interviews to determine there were 600 previously unreported injuries suffered on the job by SpaceX workers—including one death—since 2014. Several U.S. lawmakers have expressed concern about the report’s findings.

While the lawsuit and Reuters investigation did not impact Saturday’s launch, they present more obstacles for SpaceX to overcome before Starship flies to the moon. Another setback could have a ripple effect on America’s space exploration goals.

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The post The Implications of SpaceX’s Second Starship Test Flight appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Now for this week’s top story:

SpaceX’s Starship Could Fly Again This Week

What happened? It’s official: The FAA has cleared SpaceX’s Starship rocket and Super Heavy booster—which stacked together stand 400 feet tall—for a second test flight. In case you forgot, the spacecraft’s maiden voyage began and ended in flames, grounding Starship while the FAA investigated. Now, it has a modified launch license, and SpaceX expects it to fly on Saturday.

Cleared for takeoff: The FAA closed its investigation into Starship’s inaugural flight—which scattered ash and debris as far as 6 miles away from SpaceX’s launch pad in Boca Chica, Texas—in September. And on Wednesday afternoon, the agency wrapped up its license evaluation, greenlighting Starship for one more launch.

With a fresh license, Starship could launch as early as Friday, Musk said on his social media platform X (formerly Twitter), though the SpaceX boss hasn’t enjoyed a great track record when it comes to predicting the next flight. SpaceX on Thursday shared images of the rocket and booster stacked on the launch pad, but the launch how now been delayed to Saturday.

High stakes: A lot is riding on the success of Starship’s initial test flights, including several NASA moon missions. Last time, the rocket exploded just four minutes into its predicted 90-minute flight. But the next launch will debut a hot-stage separation system and a thrust vector control system for Super Heavy’s 33 Raptor engines, which should help.

The other major change SpaceX made was adding a water-cooled steel plate, a type of flame trench, to the launch pad. Flame trenches and water deluge systems are common on launch pads because they shield key infrastructure from the force of a launch, but Musk said SpaceX’s lacked one because it “wasn’t ready in time.”

Quick quote: “The FAA has given license authorization for the second launch of the SpaceX Starship Super Heavy vehicle. The FAA determined SpaceX met all safety, environmental, policy, and financial responsibility requirements,” the agency said in a statement.

My take: Is Starship moving too fast too soon? SpaceX is known for its “rapid iterative development” approach, which has seen Starlink satellites and Crew Dragon capsules flying for years already. But while Starship is moving much slower than those projects, Musk might be smart to pump the brakes.

A second Starship explosion could be catastrophic, not only for SpaceX (and the surrounding environment) but for NASA. The space agency has enlisted the company to build several variants of the spacecraft for the Artemis moon mission program, and it’s hoping SpaceX can complete an uncrewed demonstration flight to the lunar surface in 2024 or 2025. Already, there are concerns that the deadline won’t be met, forcing delays to NASA’s timeline.

The next test flight could go perfectly. But an explosion—and another FAA investigation—would be devastating to the campaign. The time pressure is obviously a factor. But SpaceX could be better off waiting and getting this right, rather than pushing to launch as soon as possible.

Deep dive: SpaceX’s Starship Cleared for Second Takeoff After Obtaining Modified Launch License from FAA 

In Other News…

Joby’s Electric Air Taxi Takes Flight in New York City

What happened? Not only did Joby fly its electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) air taxi in the Big Apple for the first time—the flight was the city’s first for an eVTOL design. New York City Mayor Eric Adams attended the event at the Downtown Heliport (KJRB) in Manhattan, which also featured a demonstration flight from German eVTOL manufacturer Volocopter.

Visions of the future: While Joby and other eVTOL manufacturers have done most of their flying in sparsely populated rural areas, urban jungles like New York City will be the advanced air mobility (AAM) industry’s cash cow. The idea is to replace ground-based rideshare services, such as Uber or Lyft, with short-hop flights over congested city streets.

New York is expected to be one of Joby’s first launch markets, where it will fly in partnership with Delta Air Lines. The companies are now working with local organizations such as the Port Authority of New York to plan initial operations and build infrastructure at John F. Kennedy International Airport (KJFK) and LaGuardia Airport (KLGA), the city’s two largest airfields.

Deep dive: Joby Performs First eVTOL Test Flights in New York

Skyryse’s Automated Autorotation Tech Lands Guinness World Record

What happened? Helicopter engine failures are relatively rare. But Skyryse wants to remove most chances of a hard landing in the few cases where they happen. The company last week completed the first fully automated autorotation for an emergency landing using a tech-equipped Robinson R66—a feat certified by Guinness World Records.

Keep it simple: Pilots practice autorotation during rotorcraft training often, but that doesn’t make the process any less complex. A manual autorotation involves four steps—each with multiple maneuvers—that require action to be taken in a matter of seconds. If done incorrectly or too late, the aircraft will come down hard and fast.

Skyryse wants to keep it simple. During last week’s flight, all the pilot had to do was press a button—automation handled the rest. Already, the company has received an Airbus A130 helicopter from partner Air Methods that it plans to retrofit with its tech. But the firm says its system can be installed on any kind of aircraft—not just rotorcraft.

Deep Dive: Skyryse’s Automated Autorotation Tech Lands Guinness World Record

And a Few More Headlines:

• We’ve got another world’s first—Elroy Air said it completed the first flight of a turbine-powered, hybrid-electric cargo drone.

• Honeywell said its AAM business has now racked up $10 billion worth of contracts.

• Electric air taxi manufacturer Overair partnered with DFW Airport and Arlington, Texas, to bring AAM services to the region.

• Airbus U.S. Space and Defense added a military drone business line, which it said will develop aircraft for the U.S. DOD.

• Rolls-Royce confirmed all of its current turbine engines can run on 100 percent SAF.

Spotlight on…

Samson Sky

In a week full of first flights, there’s one we still haven’t talked about yet. 

I’ve featured Samson Sky, the maker of the Switchblade flying sports car, in this spot before. But the company is worth another look following Switchblade’s maiden voyage on November 9. A prototype of the street-legal aircraft flew at 500 feet for nearly six minutes, marking the first test flight for the next generation of flying cars.

The use case for Switchblade is fascinating. Samson expects some customers not to fly at all, and no pilot certificate is required to purchase and drive it on the highway. But with a private pilot sign off, owners can drive the vehicle to the airport, unfold its wings and tail with the push of a button, and take off from the runway like an airplane. And importantly, Switchblade’s hybrid-electric engine runs on unleaded automotive gas rather than 100LL, allowing owners to fuel it at an automotive gas station.

Samson is still a long way from commercializing the flying sports car. But Switchblade’s first flight represented a major milestone and proving ground for its technology. If it can keep progressing, perhaps Samson will be the first to answer the increasingly popular catchphrase, “Where’s my flying car?”

Deep Dive: Switchblade Flying Sports Car Prototype Makes Maiden Flight

On the Horizon…

The American drone industry is growing, but U.S. stakeholders and lawmakers would like to see it grow faster. 

This week, members of the Association for Uncrewed Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) met with drone manufacturers Skydio, Vision Aerial, Brinc Drones, Red Cat, and Easy Aerial to ring in the organization’s Partnership for Drone Competitiveness. Launched in September, the partnership is a coalition meant to bolster the U.S. drone industry and is supported by several other manufacturers, including AeroVironment, Draganfly, and DroneUp.

Also in attendance were U.S. Senator Ted Budd (R-N.C.) and Representative Dina Titus (D-Nev.), and the event was met with support from Senator Mark Warner (D-Va.), who has sponsored several drone-related bills, such as the Increasing Competitiveness for American Drones Act. AUVSI said it also held productive meetings with Senators Jon Tester (D-Mont.), Rick Scott (R-Fla.), and Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.). Keep an eye on the legislation those lawmakers introduce.

Speaking of introduced legislation, Senator Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) this week introduced the No ICBMs (intercontinental ballistic missiles) or Drones for Iran Act, which takes aim at Iran’s production of long-range missiles and drones through sanctions. Representative Elise Stefanik (D-N.Y.) is introducing a companion bill in the House.

The results of sanctions against various international entities have been a mixed bag, but lawmakers are clearly looking for ways to stifle Iranian (and Russian) drone production. Iran is known to supply Russia with aircraft like the Shahed 136 kamikaze drone, and it’s thought to be aiding Hamas militants with drone tech used against Israel.

Moving from the sky to space, the White House on Wednesday laid out possible regulations for private space stations, space junk removal, and authority over novel space activities and infrastructure. Under the proposal, several U.S. agencies, including the Departments of Commerce and Transportation and the Federal Communications Commission, would have responsibilities in different areas, such as passenger safety or launch and reentry.

The House Science Committee, meanwhile, delayed its vote on the Commercial Space Act of 2023, which would update government oversight of human spaceflight and other commercial activities. It’ll be a crucial piece of legislation for Virgin Galactic, Blue Origin, and other companies looking to ferry passengers to the edge of the atmosphere.

Mark Your Calendars

Each week, I’ll be running through a list of upcoming industry events. The Dubai Airshow wraps up Friday in the United Arab Emirates, but here are a few conferences to keep an eye on:

• Advanced Air Mobility Summit 2023—November 20-21 in Lisbon, Portugal
• ICAO Drone Enable—December 5-7 in Montreal
• 11th Annual eVTOL Symposium—February 6-8 in Silicon Valley, California
• Drone Show Korea 2024—March 6-8 in Busan, South Korea
• World’s Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Conference—March 17-19 in Jerusalem
• AUVSI Xponential 2024—April 22-25 in San Diego 
• Vertical Flight Society’s Forum 80—May 7-9 in Montreal

Tweet of the Week

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I want to hear your questions, comments, concerns, and criticisms about everything in the modern flying space, whether they’re about a new drone you just bought or the future of space exploration. Reach out to jack@flying.media or tweet me @jack_daleo with your thoughts.

The post Will the Most Powerful Rocket Ever Built Fly Again This Week? appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

“Was just informed that approval to launch should happen in time for a Friday launch,” Musk wrote in a post on his social media platform X, formerly Twitter.

The SpaceX CEO did not elaborate on who gave him that timeline, and some of his previous predictions have failed to come to fruition. This time, however, Musk’s timeline is backed by the FAA: The agency announced Wednesday afternoon that Starship and the Super Heavy booster are cleared for another takeoff.

“The FAA has given license authorization for the second launch of the SpaceX Starship Super Heavy vehicle,” the agency said in a statement viewed by FLYING. “The FAA determined SpaceX met all safety, environmental, policy and financial responsibility requirements.”

The regulator said the modified license applies to all phases of SpaceX’s proposed operation, from preflight preparation to splashdown, but only for one launch. According to an air traffic control advisory on its website, the launch and reentry mission, “Space X Starship Super Heavy Flt 2,” will take place in Boca Chica, Texas—the site of SpaceX’s Starbase launch pad—on Friday. Backup dates are listed as Saturday and Sunday.

Ready for Launch

On October 31, the FAA confirmed it had completed the safety review portion of its Starship license evaluation. A modified license could not be granted until the evaluation was finished.

The announcement came with the caveat that the agency was still working through an environmental review, which a spokesperson told FLYING is the “last major element” of the process. That step required coordination with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) to produce an updated biological assessment of the potential impacts of a Starship launch on the surrounding environment.

Aubry Buzek, who runs public affairs for USFWS’s Texas office, confirmed to FLYING that the agency’s formal consultation with the FAA concluded on Tuesday, clearing the way for a license modification. On Wednesday, the FAA published a written reevaluation of Starship’s environmental assessment, concluding that there are “no significant environmental changes” compared to prior documentation.

According to USFWS, the environmental assessment focused on a new water deluge system that was installed on Starbase to shield the launch pad from the flames of Starship’s 33 Raptor engines. In April, the engines blew a massive crater under the launcher and scattered ash and debris as far as the town of Port Isabel, about 6 miles away.

Starbase did not have such a system for Starship’s inaugural launch, which may have contributed to the damage. Musk said plans to install a water-cooled steel plate beneath the launcher were scrapped because it “wasn’t ready in time,” adding that “we wrongly thought, based on static fire data, that Fondag [concrete] would make it through one launch.”

With a modified launch license in hand, Starship’s second test flight could follow in just a few days—the first one came less than a week after the FAA’s initial green light.

As was the case with that launch, the flight will be broadcast live on SpaceX’s website. In addition to the new flame deflector, it will debut a hot-stage separation system and thrust vector control system for the Super Heavy booster engines.

The flight itself is expected to last about 90 minutes, with the Starship upper stage splashing down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of the Hawaiian island of Kauai.

High Stakes

Plenty is riding on the success of the next Starship launch. NASA picked SpaceX to develop a version of the rocket that will land humans on the moon for the first time in half a century during the Artemis III mission, which is scheduled for 2025. Before then, the company will fly an uncrewed demonstration mission to the moon.

But NASA officials are already “concerned” about the number of test flights Starship must complete even before that demonstration. A top NASA manager said Artemis III will “probably” slip to 2026 as a result.

A delay to Artemis III could throw a wrench into NASA’s other mission timelines. The space agency has already enlisted SpaceX to conduct a second crewed landing demonstration in 2027 as part of the subsequent Artemis IV mission. The goal is to develop a lander “that meets NASA’s sustaining requirements for missions beyond Artemis III,” such as docking with the upcoming Gateway space station and accommodating up to four crew members.

Following Artemis, SpaceX said the ultimate objective for Starship is to ferry hundreds of humans at a time to the moon, Mars, and beyond. Musk himself has claimed the firm will land humans on Mars by 2029. The plan is for the first batch of astronauts to set up a small base, with the aim of one day supporting a colony of 1 million earthlings on the “Red Planet.”

For fans of science fiction, it’s an exciting prospect. To get there, SpaceX will first need to prove Starship can reach orbit without exploding, but the hope is for that litmus test to happen in the next few days.

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The post SpaceX’s Starship Cleared for Second Takeoff After Obtaining Modified Launch License from FAA appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

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.

To be clear, New Shepard is not yet cleared for takeoff. That won’t happen until Blue Origin implements 21 corrective actions identified by the FAA—including an engine redesign—to prevent a similar incident. After that, the company can modify its launch license, giving it the green light to resume flying.

In a statement to FLYING and a post on X, formerly Twitter, Blue Origin confirmed it received the FAA’s notice and “[plans] to fly soon.”

We’ve received the FAA’s letter and plan to fly soon. https://t.co/J2bCKETQe7

— Blue Origin (@blueorigin) September 27, 2023

But just how soon? In a March update, Blue Origin said higher-than-expected operating temperatures created a “thermo-structural failure” in one of New Shepard’s nozzles. It added that it had already begun tweaking the spacecraft and expected to fly again late this year.

“Blue Origin is implementing corrective actions, including design changes to the combustion chamber and operating parameters, which have reduced engine nozzle bulk and hot-streak temperatures,” the company said. “Additional design changes to the nozzle have improved structural performance under thermal and dynamic loads.”

The company appeared to reiterate the late 2023 target in its statement—and that may be more than just talk. Earlier this month, two sources familiar with Blue Origin’s launch manifest told Ars Technica the company is tentatively planning an uncrewed test flight for early next month. If all goes well, it could launch its first crewed mission since August 2022 in mid-February.

How We Got Here

Included in the FAA’s announcement of the investigation’s closure was an agency assessment of what went wrong last September. It agreed with Blue Origin: “Higher than expected engine operating temperatures” caused a structural failure in one of the engine nozzles.

Just over one minute into the flight, which lifted off from the company’s Launch Site One in Texas, both New Shepard and its cargo capsule reversed course back to Earth. An onboard launch vehicle system detected the issue with the nozzle, triggering an abort and separation of the capsule from the rocket (as intended) and shutting down the engine.

The capsule floated gently to the desert floor on parachutes. The propulsion module, on the other hand, was destroyed on impact. However, all debris landed within a designated hazard area, and no injuries or property damage were reported.

Now, Blue Origin will need to address the 21 actions laid out by the FAA. These include a redesign of both the engine and nozzle components and unspecified “organizational changes.” The latter is detailed in the FAA’s letter to Blue Origin, which is not publicly available because it includes proprietary data and U.S. Export Control information, the FAA said.

What’s Next?

New Shepard is the vehicle Blue Origin relies on for its space tourism business, which carries people and cargo to about 340,000 feet in altitude for a few minutes of weightlessness. The experience is similar to the one offered by rival Virgin Galactic, owned by another billionaire business mogul, Richard Branson.

So far, Blue Origin has made a handful of successful flights with New Shepard. The company’s passengers have included Bezos himself, Star Trek icon William Shatner, and Good Morning America host and former NFL defensive end Michael Strahan. Aerospace pioneer and “Mercury 13” candidate Wally Funk set several records during her flight—some since superseded. Actor and comedian Pete Davidson also booked a seat before backing out. 

While the “organizational changes” specified by the FAA are unclear, Blue Origin this week shook up its top brass with the appointment of Dave Limp, who will depart his role as senior vice president of devices and services at Amazon. Limp spearheaded the launches of products such as Alexa and Echo, known to be pet projects of Bezos.

The Amazon executive will replace outgoing CEO Bob Smith, who oversaw New Shepard’s maiden voyage, in December. Under Smith, Blue Origin has struggled to launch its New Glenn super-heavy lift rocket, missed out on lucrative Pentagon contracts to rivals SpaceX and United Launch Alliance, and faced accusations of a toxic workplace permeated with discomfort and misogyny. The firm’s Orbital Reef space station partnership with Sierra Space is also reportedly on the rocks.

Blue Origin isn’t the only company tied up with the FAA. Elon Musk-owned SpaceX faces its own mishap investigation into the April 20 crash of Starship, a super-heavy lift rocket akin to New Glenn. That investigation remains open, and as of July 31, SpaceX had yet to file paperwork outlining the corrective actions it would take. 

However, the company continues to launch droves of Starlink satellites and conduct International Space Station crew rotation missions for NASA with its Crew Dragon. Virgin Galactic, meanwhile, has flown commercial missions in back-to-back-to-back months, with a fourth planned for Thursday.

When New Shepard was first sidelined, Blue Origin looked like the clear leader in space tourism, with a half dozen commercial flights under its belt. At the time, Virgin Galactic itself was grounded and had yet to serve paying customers. 

By now, Blue Origin’s competitors have leapfrogged it in the modern space race. But with New Shepard getting closer to reintroduction, the door is still very much open for Bezos to recapture the lead.

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The post Blue Origin Flights to ‘Soon’ Resume After FAA Closes Investigation appeared first on FLYING Magazine.