{"id":3489350,"date":"2026-04-19T19:02:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-19T19:02:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/techingeek.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/19\/blue-origins-new-glenn-placed-a-customer-satellite-into-the-incorrect-orbit-during-its-third-launch\/"},"modified":"2026-04-19T19:02:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-19T19:02:09","slug":"blue-origins-new-glenn-placed-a-customer-satellite-into-the-incorrect-orbit-during-its-third-launch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/techingeek.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/19\/blue-origins-new-glenn-placed-a-customer-satellite-into-the-incorrect-orbit-during-its-third-launch\/","title":{"rendered":"Blue Origin\u2019s New Glenn placed a customer satellite into the incorrect orbit during its third launch."},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

On Sunday, Jeff Bezos\u2019 space venture Blue Origin achieved a milestone by reusing one of its New Glenn rockets for the first time; however, the company was unsuccessful in its primary objective of launching a communications satellite into orbit for AST SpaceMobile.<\/p>\n

AST SpaceMobile released a statement on Sunday afternoon indicating that the upper stage of the New Glenn rocket placed the BlueBird 7 satellite into an orbit that was \u201clower than intended.\u201d While the satellite separated successfully from the rocket and powered on, the company noted that the altitude was too low \u201cto maintain operations\u201d and it will now need to be de-orbited \u2014 resulting in it burning up in Earth’s atmosphere.<\/p>\n

According to AST SpaceMobile, the satellite’s loss will be covered by its insurance policy, and additional BlueBird satellites are expected to be ready within a month. The company has partnerships with various companies, not just Blue Origin, and it anticipates launching 45 more satellites into space by the end of 2026.<\/p>\n

This incident marks the first significant failure for Blue Origin\u2019s New Glenn program, which commenced its initial flight in January 2025 following more than ten years of development. This mission was the second time New Glenn carried a customer payload to space, having previously launched twin spacecraft bound for Mars for NASA last November. The company did not reply immediately to a request for comments.<\/p>\n

The failure of New Glenn\u2019s second stage may have broader consequences beyond Blue Origin\u2019s immediate commercial goals. The company is striving to become a primary launch service provider for NASA\u2019s Artemis missions to the moon and beyond. The space agency \u2014 under the Trump administration \u2014 has been pressuring Blue Origin and SpaceX to enable lunar lander deployments by the conclusion of President Donald Trump\u2019s second term, before proceeding to send humans back to the lunar surface.<\/p>\n

Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp has stated that his company \u201cwill move heaven and Earth\u201d to assist NASA in hastening its return to the moon.<\/p>\n

Recently, Blue Origin completed tests on its initial version of its own lunar lander, which it plans to attempt to launch sometime this year (without any crew). Blue Origin had hinted last year at the possibility of launching this lander with New Glenn\u2019s third mission but ultimately chose to proceed with the AST SpaceMobile satellite instead.<\/p>\n

\n
\n

Techcrunch event<\/p>\n

\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSan Francisco, CA<\/span>
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t|<\/span>
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tOctober 13-15, 2026<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The third New Glenn launch appeared to proceed smoothly on Sunday, with the mega-rocket lifting off at 7:35 a.m. local time from Cape Canaveral, Florida. This marked the first occasion Blue Origin reused a previously-flown New Glenn booster \u2014 the same one used in New Glenn\u2019s second mission. Approximately 10 minutes after liftoff, the booster returned and landed on a drone ship at sea, similarly to its landing last November. Jeff Bezos even shared drone footage of the landing on X, the social media platform owned by his competitor Elon Musk, who sent his congratulations.<\/p>\n

About two hours post-launch, however, Blue Origin reported in its own update that the New Glenn upper stage had placed the AST SpaceMobile satellite in an \u201coff-nominal orbit.\u201d Since that announcement, the company has not provided further information.<\/p>\n

Blue Origin dedicated significant time to the development of New Glenn, and it is viewed as a show of confidence that the company opted to begin launching commercial payloads during these early flights. In contrast, SpaceX has spent recent years conducting tests of its massive Starship while primarily utilizing dummy payloads to troubleshoot the rocket’s issues.<\/p>\n

SpaceX experienced payload losses later in its Falcon 9 series. In 2015, on the 19th Falcon 9 mission, the rocket exploded mid-flight, resulting in the loss of an entire cargo spacecraft intended for the International Space Station. In 2016, a Falcon 9 exploded on the launch pad during testing, leading to the loss of an internet satellite for Meta.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

<\/div>\n

On Sunday, Jeff Bezos\u2019 space venture Blue Origin achieved a milestone by reusing one of its New Glenn rockets for the first time; however, the company was unsuccessful in its primary objective of launching a communications satellite into orbit for AST SpaceMobile.<\/p>\n

AST SpaceMobile released a statement on Sunday afternoon indicating that the upper stage of the New Glenn rocket placed the BlueBird 7 satellite into an orbit that was \u201clower than intended.\u201d While the satellite separated successfully from the rocket and powered on, the company noted that the altitude was too low \u201cto maintain operations\u201d and it will now need to be de-orbited \u2014 resulting in it burning up in Earth’s atmosphere.<\/p>\n

According to AST SpaceMobile, the satellite’s loss will be covered by its insurance policy, and additional BlueBird satellites are expected to be ready within a month. The company has partnerships with various companies, not just Blue Origin, and it anticipates launching 45 more satellites into space by the end of 2026.<\/p>\n

This incident marks the first significant failure for Blue Origin\u2019s New Glenn program, which commenced its initial flight in January 2025 following more than ten years of development. This mission was the second time New Glenn carried a customer payload to space, having previously launched twin spacecraft bound for Mars for NASA last November. The company did not reply immediately to a request for comments.<\/p>\n

The failure of New Glenn\u2019s second stage may have broader consequences beyond Blue Origin\u2019s immediate commercial goals. The company is striving to become a primary launch service provider for NASA\u2019s Artemis missions to the moon and beyond. The space agency \u2014 under the Trump administration \u2014 has been pressuring Blue Origin and SpaceX to enable lunar lander deployments by the conclusion of President Donald Trump\u2019s second term, before proceeding to send humans back to the lunar surface.<\/p>\n

Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp has stated that his company \u201cwill move heaven and Earth\u201d to assist NASA in hastening its return to the moon.<\/p>\n

Recently, Blue Origin completed tests on its initial version of its own lunar lander, which it plans to attempt to launch sometime this year (without any crew). Blue Origin had hinted last year at the possibility of launching this lander with New Glenn\u2019s third mission but ultimately chose to proceed with the AST SpaceMobile satellite instead.<\/p>\n

\n
\n

Techcrunch event<\/p>\n

\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSan Francisco, CA<\/span>
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t|<\/span>
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tOctober 13-15, 2026<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The third New Glenn launch appeared to proceed smoothly on Sunday, with the mega-rocket lifting off at 7:35 a.m. local time from Cape Canaveral, Florida. This marked the first occasion Blue Origin reused a previously-flown New Glenn booster \u2014 the same one used in New Glenn\u2019s second mission. Approximately 10 minutes after liftoff, the booster returned and landed on a drone ship at sea, similarly to its landing last November. Jeff Bezos even shared drone footage of the landing on X, the social media platform owned by his competitor Elon Musk, who sent his congratulations.<\/p>\n

About two hours post-launch, however, Blue Origin reported in its own update that the New Glenn upper stage had placed the AST SpaceMobile satellite in an \u201coff-nominal orbit.\u201d Since that announcement, the company has not provided further information.<\/p>\n

Blue Origin dedicated significant time to the development of New Glenn, and it is viewed as a show of confidence that the company opted to begin launching commercial payloads during these early flights. In contrast, SpaceX has spent recent years conducting tests of its massive Starship while primarily utilizing dummy payloads to troubleshoot the rocket’s issues.<\/p>\n

SpaceX experienced payload losses later in its Falcon 9 series. In 2015, on the 19th Falcon 9 mission, the rocket exploded mid-flight, resulting in the loss of an entire cargo spacecraft intended for the International Space Station. In 2016, a Falcon 9 exploded on the launch pad during testing, leading to the loss of an internet satellite for Meta.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3489351,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"Default","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3489350","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/techingeek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3489350"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/techingeek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/techingeek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techingeek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techingeek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3489350"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/techingeek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3489350\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techingeek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3489351"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/techingeek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3489350"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techingeek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3489350"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techingeek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3489350"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}