Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin rocket company achieved a successful launch of its New Glenn 3 rocket on Sunday morning, which successfully accomplished its booster landing but delivered its payload to the wrong location.
The BlueBird7 satellite, built by AST SpaceMobile, will enter Earth’s atmosphere for destruction after reaching an operational orbit that was too low for its satellite functions.
What happened during the launch of Blue Origin New Glenn 3?
New Glenn rocket number three left the launch pad at Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Sunday, carrying the AST SpaceMobile-developed BlueBird7 satellite to low Earth orbit. Blue Origin provided regular updates on the mission on
However, something went wrong shortly after a two-hour flight. At 9:40 a.m. local time, Blue Origin confirmed on
This was confirmed by the company AST SpaceMobile in a statement issued at the end of this weekend. The BlueBird7 had managed to detach itself from the rocket and activate itself, but due to its very low altitude, the satellite’s thruster was unable to solve the problem. The company explained in a very simple way that the satellite would have to be deorbited because it would re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere.
The loss would be recovered through insurance, as AST SpaceMobile announced that their insurance would cover the lost satellite.
The loss is a setback for a company racing against an aggressive implementation timeline. AST SpaceMobile currently operates seven satellites in low Earth orbit and has publicly targeted a constellation of approximately 45 satellites by the end of 2026.
That network is central to the ambition to build a space-based mobile broadband service, one designed to bring connectivity directly to standard mobile devices without specialized hardware.
One lost satellite won’t derail the program, but it will put pressure on a schedule that leaves little room for error.
This was the third New Glenn launch in the rocket’s history, following two missions in 2024. Unlike New Shepard, Blue Origin’s suborbital rocket that has taken tourists including Katy Perry and Bezos’ partner Lauren Sánchez to the edge of space, New Glenn is the company’s heavy orbital vehicle and the one on which its commercial launch ambitions depend.
