The flight comes just after the Federal Aviation Administration confirms that it closed an investigation into Blue Origin’s safety culture without finding any substantial issues. The FAA, which is responsible for issuing licenses for commercial rocket launches, started looking into the company in early October after 21 current and former employees at Blue Origin published an essay alleging a culture of rampant sexual harassment and safety concerns with the company’s rockets. The essay, penned by former Blue Origin head of employee communications Alexandra Abrams, argued that employees are too scared to speak about safety violations over fears of retaliation.
“In the opinion of an engineer who has signed on to this essay, ‘Blue Origin has been lucky that nothing has happened so far,’” the essay stated. “Many of this essay’s authors say they would not fly on a Blue Origin vehicle.”
THE FAA FOUND “NO SPECIFIC SAFETY ISSUES” AFTER INVESTIGATING ALLEGATIONS When the essay came out, the FAA said it was “reviewing the information.” However, as CNN first reported on Friday and the FAA confirmed to The Verge, its investigation is now over. Steven Kulm, a public affairs specialist at the FAA, told The Verge that the FAA found “no specific safety issues” after investigating allegations made against the company’s human spaceflight program. When asked for comment, Linda Mills, the vice president for communications at Blue Origin, said, “The FAA statement is accurate.”