# FAA grounds Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket after failed orbital insertion

_Monday, April 20, 2026 at 4:10 PM EDT · Infrastructure, Tech & Business · Latest · Tier 1 — Major_

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The Federal Aviation Administration has grounded Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket following a failed orbital insertion during a Sunday launch from Cape Canaveral.

The FAA declared the incident a "mishap" and launched an investigation to determine the root cause and identify corrective actions. According to the agency, the rocket will remain grounded until they determine no system, process, or procedure related to the failure affects public safety.

Telemetry data indicates the New Glenn rocket failed to place its payload into the intended 285-mile orbit, reaching only a 95-mile altitude instead. Blue Origin has not publicly explained what caused the positioning failure.

This marks the third mission for New Glenn and the second time the FAA has grounded the rocket. After its debut launch last year, the rocket was grounded for nearly three months when Blue Origin failed to recover the booster.

The grounding could impact Blue Origin's plans to launch Amazon's Leo broadband satellites later this year using the New Glenn rocket. The FAA has previously grounded other rockets including Blue Origin's New Shepard and SpaceX's Falcon 9 and Starship following mishaps.

## Sources

- [Engadget](https://www.engadget.com/science/space/the-faa-grounds-blue-origin-new-glenn-rocket-after-failure-to-put-payload-in-orbit-173016117.html?src=rss)

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Retrieved: 2026-04-20T23:20:25.002Z
Publisher: Tech & Business (techandbusiness.org)