Blue Origin launched its New Glenn rocket for the third time on Sunday, April 19, 2026, lifting off at 7:25 a.m. from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Launch Complex 36 in Florida.
The rocket was carrying the BlueBird 7 satellite for customer AST SpaceMobile. The booster, named “Never Tell Me the Odds,” marked the company’s first reuse of a first stage, and it then landed offshore for a second time.
For AST SpaceMobile, however, the outcome was less favorable. The upper stage, powered in orbit by a pair of Blue Origin’s BE-3U engines, put the satellite into the wrong orbit, and the company said it would de-orbit the spacecraft.
Blue Origin called the deployment an “off-nominal” orbit, while AST SpaceMobile said the payload was “placed into a lower than planned orbit.” The satellite powered on, but the company said “the altitude is too low to sustain operations with its on-board thruster technology.”
New Glenn, a two-stage heavy-lift launch vehicle named for John Glenn, the first American to circle the Earth in orbit, stands 321 feet tall. AST SpaceMobile added that its insurance is expected to cover the satellite’s cost.
Sources
- Did New Glenn launch today? What to know about Blue Origin mission
- See photos of Blue Origin's New Glenn heavy-lift rocket launch in Florida
