The third mission of Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket encountered a major setback on Sunday after an otherwise milestone launch from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
The heavy-lift rocket lifted off around 7.35 am (local time) within its scheduled launch window, carrying AST SpaceMobile’s BlueBird 7 satellite to low Earth orbit. The mission was aimed at expanding direct-to-smartphone broadband connectivity and supporting service rollout later in 2026.
While the launch marked a significant achievement with the successful reuse of the first-stage booster ‘Never Tell Me The Odds’, a first for the New Glenn program, the mission ultimately fell short of its objectives. The BlueBird 7 satellite was reported to have entered an ‘off-nominal orbit’ more than two hours after liftoff, raising concerns over its operational viability.
The mission had been positioned as a key step forward for New Glenn, a rocket more than 14 years in development. The partial failure now represents the program’s first major setback.
“While we are pleased with the nominal booster recovery, we clearly didn’t deliver the mission our customer wanted, and our team expects. Early data suggest that on our second GS2 burn, one of the BE-3U engines didn’t produce sufficient thrust to reach our target orbit. Blue Origin is leading the anomaly investigation with FAA oversight to learn from the data and implement the improvements needed to quickly return to flight operations. We have been in steady communication with the team at AST SpaceMobile, we appreciate their partnership, and we’re looking forward to many flights together,” the space entity clarified.
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