Blue Origin confirmed on Tuesday that a technical failure during the second-stage flight of its New Glenn rocket resulted in the loss of AST SpaceMobile’s BlueBird 7 satellite. The mission, designated New Glenn 3, launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Sunday, April 19. While the first-stage booster successfully completed its flight and landing, the upper stage failed to deliver the payload to its intended circular orbit.
Technical data reviewed by Blue Origin engineers indicates that the anomaly occurred during the second burn of the GS2 upper stage. According to a statement from Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp, one of the two hydrogen-fueled BE-3U engines experienced a significant thrust deficiency. This underperformance prevented the vehicle from reaching the required orbital velocity and altitude.
The BlueBird 7 satellite, a Block 2 cellular broadband spacecraft, was intended for a circular orbit of approximately 460 kilometers at an inclination of 49.4 degrees. Instead, tracking data from the U.S. Space Force confirmed the satellite was released into a highly elliptical orbit with a perigee of just 154 kilometers, or approximately 96 miles. AST SpaceMobile officials stated that the satellite’s onboard propulsion system is insufficient to raise the orbit from such a low altitude. Consequently, the company has declared the satellite a total loss and plans to deorbit the craft to prevent it from becoming space debris.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has officially classified the event as a mishap. Under FAA oversight, Blue Origin will lead an investigation into the BE-3U engine failure. All New Glenn launch operations are suspended until the investigation is complete and corrective actions are implemented. This grounding affects future missions for both commercial customers and NASA’s Artemis program, which relies on New Glenn for the Blue Moon lunar lander.
Despite the upper-stage failure, the mission marked a milestone for Blue Origin’s reuse program. The first-stage booster, nicknamed “Never Tell Me the Odds,” was a flight-proven component that previously launched NASA’s Escapade probes. It successfully landed on a recovery barge in the Atlantic Ocean approximately nine minutes after liftoff.
AST SpaceMobile indicated that the BlueBird 7 satellite was covered by a $30 million insurance policy. The company maintained its target of having 45 satellites in orbit by the end of 2026, though it acknowledged that the loss of BlueBird 7 and the subsequent grounding of New Glenn may impact the immediate launch schedule. The failure led to an immediate decline in AST SpaceMobile’s share price as the company assessed the impact on its constellation deployment timeline.