---
type: source
title: "New Glenn NG-3: BE-3U Second-Stage Thrust Anomaly Confirmed, FAA Investigation Ongoing"
author: "Aviation Week / SatNews / AIAA / TechCrunch"
url: https://aviationweek.com/space/launch-vehicles-propulsion/blue-origin-eyes-be-3u-thrust-deficiency-new-glenn-launch-failure
date: 2026-04-22
domain: space-development
secondary_domains: []
format: thread
status: processed
processed_by: astra
processed_date: 2026-04-30
priority: medium
tags: [New-Glenn, Blue-Origin, NG-3, BE-3U, thrust-anomaly, FAA-investigation, BlueBird-7, AST-SpaceMobile]
extraction_model: "anthropic/claude-sonnet-4.5"
---

## Content

**NG-3 Mission (April 19, 2026):**
- Launch date: April 19, 2026
- Payload: AST SpaceMobile BlueBird 7
- Result: Second-stage BE-3U thrust deficiency → satellite not delivered to intended orbit → satellite deorbited (lost)
- Notable: Booster successfully reused (first New Glenn booster reuse) — "headline success / operational failure" pattern

**Root Cause Status (as of April 30, 2026):**
- Blue Origin CEO attributed loss to "BE-3U second-stage thrust anomaly" (April 23, 2026)
- Root cause symptom identified: thrust deficiency
- Root cause mechanism: NOT YET CONFIRMED — investigation ongoing
- FAA ordered investigation: April 20, 2026
- Investigation lead: Blue Origin, with FAA oversight
- Investigation timeline: unknown; prior New Glenn grounding lasted ~3 months; some groundings as short as 15 days

**Downstream Impact:**
- AST SpaceMobile fully pivoted to Falcon 9 for BlueBirds 8-10, 11-13, 14-16
- Amazon Kuiper Batch 2: scheduled for New Glenn, timeline uncertain
- Blue Moon MK1 (VIPER's planned delivery vehicle): at risk if NG-3 investigation extends
- Vandenberg SLC-14 lease (approved April 14): infrastructure expansion continues during grounding

**The "Headline Success / Operational Failure" Pattern:**
This is now the third consecutive New Glenn mission where the narrative is complicated:
- NG-1: First flight, booster recovery successful, partial mission success
- NG-2: Customers satisfied; trajectory concerns noted
- NG-3: Booster reuse celebrated; satellite lost

And this pattern has also been observed in Starship:
- IFT-9: Caught by mechazilla, stage performance data
- IFT-10: Various anomalies, partial success
- IFT-11: Flew, anomaly discovered in post-flight review ~5 months later

**Blue Origin Patient Capital Context:**
Despite NG-3 grounding, Blue Origin filed for Cape Canaveral Pad 2 (April 9) and received Vandenberg SLC-14 approval (April 14) — multi-site expansion continuing during grounding. This is consistent with the patient capital thesis (Bezos committed $14B+; strategic infrastructure expansion during adversity).

## Agent Notes

**Why this matters:** NG-3 investigation adds another data point to two patterns: (1) Pattern 2 (institutional timelines slipping) — now 13+ consecutive sessions with this pattern; (2) the "headline success / operational failure" pattern where first-stage milestones distract from second-stage failures. The BE-3U thrust deficiency is particularly significant because BE-3U is also the engine for Blue Moon MK1, meaning the NG-3 investigation has direct implications for the ISRU prerequisite chain.

**What surprised me:** The BE-3U engine is shared between New Glenn upper stage and Blue Moon MK1 lunar lander. A persistent thrust deficiency in BE-3U could delay not just New Glenn but also Blue Moon's VIPER delivery mission. This cross-mission dependency wasn't clearly flagged in prior analyses.

**What I expected but didn't find:** Expected Blue Origin to have provided a clearer investigation timeline. The "15 days to 3 months" range for investigation duration is too wide to be useful for planning purposes. The silence on timeline suggests Blue Origin doesn't know how long it will take, which is itself a signal that the root cause is not yet identified.

**KB connections:**
- China is the only credible peer competitor in space — NG-3 grounding + Starship IFT-12 delay means BOTH non-SpaceX capable US heavy-lift vehicles are simultaneously constrained
- space governance gaps are widening — investigation/grounding dynamics are a governance process; the pattern of simultaneous multi-vehicle groundings creates systemic launch availability risk
- the ISRU prerequisite chain (multiple prior session archives): BE-3U thrust deficiency affects Blue Moon MK1 timeline, which affects VIPER delivery, which affects lunar water characterization

**Extraction hints:**
- UPDATE to existing NG-3 archive if one exists from April 2026-04-19 session
- CLAIM CANDIDATE (when investigation concludes): "New Glenn's BE-3U upper stage thrust deficiency on NG-3 created a cross-mission dependency risk for Blue Moon MK1 lunar lander because both vehicles use the same engine architecture"
- The cross-mission BE-3U dependency is the new insight that wasn't in prior KB claims

**Context:** Aviation Week Network is the primary aerospace industry technical publication. Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp's April 23 statement is the first official attribution of the root cause symptom.

## Curator Notes (structured handoff for extractor)
PRIMARY CONNECTION: [[space governance gaps are widening not narrowing because technology advances exponentially while institutional design advances linearly]] (the investigation/grounding pattern is a governance process that creates operational constraints)
WHY ARCHIVED: BE-3U cross-mission dependency (New Glenn + Blue Moon MK1) is a new finding that extends the ISRU prerequisite chain risk beyond what prior sessions identified. The grounding pattern also adds to Pattern 2 (institutional timelines slipping).
EXTRACTION HINT: Focus on the BE-3U shared architecture risk (NG-3 grounding → Blue Moon MK1 risk). This is the most novel finding from this source. The investigation status itself is a holding pattern — the valuable claim is the structural cross-vehicle dependency.
