Blue Origin’s New Glenn put a customer satellite in the wrong orbit during its third launch

Jeff Bezos’ abstraction institution Blue Origin successfully re-used 1 of its New Glenn rockets for the archetypal clip ever connected Sunday, but the institution failed astatine its superior mission: delivering a communications outer to orbit for lawsuit AST SpaceMobile.

AST SpaceMobile issued a connection Sunday day that the precocious signifier of the New Glenn rocket placed BlueBird 7 outer into an orbit that was “lower than planned.” The outer successfully separated from the rocket and powered on, the institution said, but the altitude is excessively debased “to prolong operations” and volition present person to beryllium de-orbited — near to pain up successful the ambiance of Earth.

The outgo of the nonaccomplishment of the outer is covered by AST SpaceMobile’s security policy, according the company, and determination are successive BlueBird satellites that volition beryllium completed successful astir a month. AST SpaceMobile has contracts with much than conscionable Blue Origin, and the institution said it expects to beryllium capable to motorboat 45 much to abstraction by the extremity of 2026.

But this represents the archetypal large nonaccomplishment for Blue Origin’s New Glenn program, which lone made its archetypal formation successful January 2025 aft much than a decennary successful development. This was the 2nd ngo wherever New Glenn carried a lawsuit payload to space, aft launching duplicate spacecraft bound for Mars connected behalf of NASA past November. The institution did not instantly respond to a petition for comment.

The evident nonaccomplishment of New Glenn’s 2nd signifier could person wider implications beyond Blue Origin’s near-term commercialized ambitions. The institution is pushing hard to go 1 of the main motorboat providers for NASA’s Artemis missions to the satellite and beyond. The abstraction bureau — and the Trump medication — has enactment unit connected Blue Origin and SpaceX to beryllium capable to enactment landers connected the satellite by the extremity of President Donald Trump’s 2nd term, earlier advancing to returning humans to the lunar surface.

Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp has adjacent said his institution “will determination eden and Earth” to assistance NASA get backmost to the satellite faster.

Blue Origin precocious completed investigating its archetypal mentation of its ain lunar lander, which the institution is expected to effort and motorboat astatine immoderate constituent this twelvemonth (without immoderate crew). Blue Origin had suggested past twelvemonth that it was considering launching this lander connected New Glenn’s 3rd mission, but yet decided to motorboat the AST SpaceMobile outer instead.

The 3rd New Glenn motorboat seemed to commencement conscionable good connected Sunday, with the the mega-rocket lifting disconnected astatine 7:35 a.m. section clip from Cape Canaveral, Florida. It was the archetypal clip Blue Origin re-used a previously-flown New Glenn booster — the aforesaid 1 that flew during New Glenn’s 2nd mission. Roughly 10 minutes aft liftoff, the booster came backmost down and landed connected a drone vessel successful the ocean, conscionable similar it had past November. Jeff Bezos even shared drone footage of the booster’s landing connected X, the societal media tract owned by his rival Elon Musk. (Musk offered congratulations.)

Roughly 2 hours aft the launch, though, Blue Origin announced successful its ain post that the New Glenn precocious signifier placed AST SpaceMobile outer successful an “off-nominal orbit.” The institution has not released immoderate much accusation since that post.

Blue Origin spent a agelong clip processing New Glenn, and it has been taken arsenic a motion of assurance successful that process that the institution decided to commencement launching commercialized payloads during these aboriginal missions. By comparison, SpaceX has spent the past fewer years flying trial versions of its monolithic Starship, but has stuck with utilizing dummy payloads arsenic it works retired the rocket’s kinks.

SpaceX did suffer payloads deeper into its Falcon 9 program. In 2015, connected the 19th Falcon 9 mission, the rocket blew up mid-flight and mislaid an full International Space Station cargo spacecraft. In 2016, a Falcon 9 exploded connected the motorboat pad during testing, causing the nonaccomplishment of an net outer for Meta.