Blue Origin’s flagship New Glenn rocket launched to area on its third flight, reusing a booster for the primary time however failing to appropriately place the satellite tv for pc it was carrying into its supposed orbit.
The rocket took off from the launchpad at Cape Canaveral, Florida at roughly 7:25 a.m. native time, and its reusable first stage returned to Earth at 7:35 am, touching down on a barge within the Atlantic Ocean.
Whereas the satellite tv for pc separated from New Glenn’s second stage, it entered an “off-nominal orbit,”, or the unsuitable orbit, Blue Origin mentioned in a publish on X. The corporate is assessing the satellite tv for pc, which has powered on, and says it’s going to present extra data.
Key to Blue Origin’s bold plans for area exploration, New Glenn is years delayed and has confronted longer-than-expected ready durations between its flights. The sudden situation in the present day may mark a setback for the corporate’s bold plans for area exploration and its repute as a substitute launch supplier to SpaceX’s Falcon 9.
New Glenn was carrying a satellite tv for pc constructed by AST SpaceMobile Inc., a Texas-based firm constructing out a community to ship connectivity on to cell phones. The satellite tv for pc launch is the primary of the yr for AST SpaceMobile, which began 2026 with solely seven satellites in orbit. The corporate mentioned in March that it intends to launch as many as 60 satellites this yr.
Blue Origin Chief Govt Officer Dave Limp wish to launch eight to 12 flights this yr, he mentioned in a Bloomberg Tv interview forward of the launch.
“We have plenty of hardware to do that,” he mentioned, noting the unprecedented demand for launches.
“And by the way I think demand is going up,” he added, citing the rising variety of satellite-based web companies and connectivity.
Blue Origin anticipated six to eight New Glenn launches final yr, Limp mentioned across the time of the rocket’s debut in January 2025, however ended the yr with solely two.
Throughout New Glenn’s second launch in November, the corporate recovered the rocket’s booster, a obligatory step to recycle parts for a number of launches. Elon Musk’s SpaceX is the one different firm to land a booster vertically after launching it towards orbit.
AST SpaceMobile is aiming to construct its community and start business service because it faces rising competitors from SpaceX and Amazon.com Inc. to supply space-based connectivity to smartphones and different cellular units.
On April 14, Amazon agreed to purchase satellite tv for pc agency Globalstar Inc. and introduced a plan to enter the nascent market.
Blue Origin has unveiled a sequence of initiatives to broaden its enterprise past launch, together with plans for an orbital information middle and a new satellite tv for pc community supposed to supply connectivity to authorities and information facilities.
The corporate additionally introduced in January that it will pause area tourism flights on its New Shepard rocket to concentrate on creating know-how for the moon. Blue Origin and SpaceX each maintain contracts with NASA to develop lunar landers and are competing to fulfill the deadline of the area company’s deliberate moon touchdown mission in 2028.
Blue Origin’s Mark 1 lunar lander has “a very good chance” of touchdown on the moon later this yr, Limp mentioned.
