Blue Origin completes investigation of the failed landing of New Glenn’s 1st stage
Blue Origin today announced that it has completed its investigation into the failure of New Glenn’s first stage when it attempted to land on a barge in Atlantic during the rocket’s first launch on January 16, 2025.
Our ambitious attempt to land the booster, “So You’re Telling Me There’s a Chance,” was unsuccessful due to our three BE-4 engines not re-igniting properly. Our review confirmed that all debris landed in our designated hazard area with no threat to public safety. The report identified seven corrective actions, focusing on propellant management and engine bleed control improvements, which we’re already addressing. We expect to return to flight in late spring and will attempt to land the booster again.
It is very concerning that the three BE-4 engines that were supposed to relight were unable to do so, especially because this engine was supposedly designed from the start of re-usability.
The next scheduled New Glenn launch in for June, launching NASA’s Escapade Mars orbiters.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
Blue Origin today announced that it has completed its investigation into the failure of New Glenn’s first stage when it attempted to land on a barge in Atlantic during the rocket’s first launch on January 16, 2025.
Our ambitious attempt to land the booster, “So You’re Telling Me There’s a Chance,” was unsuccessful due to our three BE-4 engines not re-igniting properly. Our review confirmed that all debris landed in our designated hazard area with no threat to public safety. The report identified seven corrective actions, focusing on propellant management and engine bleed control improvements, which we’re already addressing. We expect to return to flight in late spring and will attempt to land the booster again.
It is very concerning that the three BE-4 engines that were supposed to relight were unable to do so, especially because this engine was supposedly designed from the start of re-usability.
The next scheduled New Glenn launch in for June, launching NASA’s Escapade Mars orbiters.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
Almost sounds like it was 0 for 3. Ouch.
The slow acceleration of the vehicle after liftoff was concerning. Took about a minute to get to 10,000 feet. F9 and Starship are at about 30,000 feet after a minute.
I think Bezos will eventually tire of BO. He isn’t an engineer’s bootlace.
Sounds like the same problems that affected Raptor engines on restarting for booster Heavy. After turning the ship for entry burn, fuel didn’t settle, and some ice blocked fuel intakes.
I also noticed that liftoff acceleration was very slow. I hope that was due to throttling back engines on first launch. Otherwise, it might not get off the pad with a heavy payload.
Diane Wilson,
Another possibility that comes to mind is that New Glenn does not perform a reentry burn, so it is not clear to me whether the engines survived the reentry healthy enough to restart. Super Heavy also does not perform a reentry burn, so we know that it is not necessary for engine survival, but Super Heavy comes down with its engine compartment glowing hot.
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Robert Zimmerman wrote: “It is very concerning that the three BE-4 engines that were supposed to relight were unable to do so, especially because this engine was supposedly designed from the start of re-usability.”
Once Blue Origin solves the restart problem, the engines may be reusable. I am not thinking that the restart problem has to do with the design for reusability. It took a couple of tries for SpaceX to figure out their icing problem, as Diane noted, but because so few rockets have landed from space on their engines, there could be plenty of other traps and hazards that engineers have yet to encounter.
Edward,
I’m with you. If the guidance system reoriented the booster properly the engines and all the ancillary stuff would be heated to well over a thousand degrees. I know SpaceX did a lot of work on how to protect the engines from high temp. And looking at a BE-3, it’s a rats nest of fluid and electronic elements that just screams multiple single point of failure.
Getting a rocket engine up there is one thing, getting it back is another.
Maybe Bezos is beginning to realize why Raptor 3/4 looks “incomplete”: all the fiddly bits are hidden inside the structure to protect them! Of course, that presumes that you have a highly mature design…