House Science Committee Leaders Urge Transparency in FAA Investigation of Blue Origin Booster Failure

Today, Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics Chairman Don Beyer (D-VA) and Ranking Member Brian Babin (R-TX) led a letter to Acting Administrator Billy Nolen of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) regarding the FAA’s investigation into the booster failure experienced this Monday by Blue Origin’s New Shepard-23.

In the letter, the Subcommittee leaders assert the seriousness of the situation and note the important role the Committee has in conducting oversight of such matters and ask for a briefing.

“As the leaders of the Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics, whose jurisdiction includes commercial space, the FAA’s Office of Commercial Space Transportation, and commercial space launch and reentry activities, we take our oversight role seriously,” the Members said in the letter.

They continued, “to that end, we request that the Associate Administrator of the FAA Office of Commercial Space Transportation keep the Members of the Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics appraised of the plans and timetable for the NS-23 anomaly investigation, the root cause of the failure once determined, and plans to ensure that actions to address the root cause or causes are completed.”

A full copy of the letter can be found here.