Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket reached space on its third flight and successfully landed its booster for the first time, but ultimately failed to place an AST SpaceMobile satellite into low Earth orbit. The booster landed on a large barge in the Atlantic Ocean, while the satellite separated and powered on but ended up in what Jeff Bezos' rocket company described as an "off-nominal orbit."
The New Glenn rocket, carrying AST SpaceMobile's BlueBird 7 satellite, blasted off from the launchpad at Cape Canaveral, Florida, at about 7:25 a.m. local time. Its reusable first stage returned to Earth ten minutes later, touching down on a barge in the Atlantic Ocean.
"BOOSTER TOUCHDOWN! 'Never Tell Me The Odds' has done it again!" Blue Origin wrote on X, with Bezos posting footage of the now-reusable rocket touching down on the barge.
However, the mission yielded mixed results for the Blue Origin team, which is already behind schedule with New Glenn and is trying to establish itself as a credible competitor to Elon Musk's booming SpaceX.
"We have confirmed payload separation. AST SpaceMobile has confirmed the satellite has powered on. The payload was placed into an off-nominal orbit," Blue Origin wrote in a follow-up X post after the booster touched down.
In other words, "off-nominal orbit" suggests that the BlueBird 7 satellite is not at the correct altitude, speed, or trajectory it was supposed to be, and what that means for the satellite's future remains highly uncertain.
AST SpaceMobile has partnered with several mobile network operators, the largest being AT&T, and has also worked with Verizon on direct-to-cell satellite connectivity.
Today's launch is the first of the year for AST SpaceMobile, which started 2026 with only seven satellites in orbit. The company aims to have 60 satellites in orbit by year's end.
Congratulations to Bezos on his first reusable first-stage rocket returning successfully to Earth, but for context, SpaceX has been doing this for years. Falcon 9 first-stage boosters have landed successfully in 598 of 611 attempts, with 573 of 579 for the Falcon 9 Block 5 version. A total of 565 reflights of first-stage boosters have all successfully launched their second stages and, all but one, their payloads.