Blue Origin rocket misses orbit for AST satellite

April 20, 2026

Summary

Blue Origin re-used a New Glenn booster, but its upper stage put an AST SpaceMobile satellite into an unusable orbit.

Why this matters

The mission marked New Glenn’s first significant payload setback as Blue Origin tries to expand its commercial launch business and compete for a larger role in NASA’s moon program. The result also affects AST SpaceMobile’s deployment plans, though the company said insurance covers the loss.

Blue Origin re-used a New Glenn booster for the first time on Sunday, but the rocket’s upper stage placed an AST SpaceMobile communications satellite into an orbit that was too low to operate.

AST SpaceMobile said its insurance policy covers the loss. The company said additional BlueBird satellites will be completed in about a month, and that it has contracts with multiple launch providers and still expects to launch 45 more satellites by the end of 2026.

The mission was New Glenn’s third launch and the second to carry a customer payload. Its first flight was in January 2025, after more than a decade of development. Last November, New Glenn launched twin NASA spacecraft bound for Mars.

Blue Origin did not immediately respond to a request for comment. About two hours after Sunday’s launch, the company said in a social media post that the upper stage had placed the satellite into an “off-nominal orbit.” It has not released additional details.

The launch lifted off at 7:35 a.m. local time from Cape Canaveral, Florida. The booster, which had also flown on New Glenn’s second mission, landed on a drone ship in the ocean about 10 minutes after liftoff. Jeff Bezos later posted drone footage of the landing on X, and Elon Musk offered congratulations.

The outcome could draw attention because Blue Origin is seeking a larger role in NASA’s Artemis moon program. The company has said it is working to support NASA’s timeline for returning astronauts to the lunar surface. Blue Origin recently completed testing of the first version of its lunar lander, which it is expected to try to launch uncrewed this year. The company had said last year it was considering launching the lander on New Glenn’s third mission before choosing the AST SpaceMobile satellite instead.

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Central Command published a brief video of the encounter. U.S. Marines from the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit later boarded the vessel, and the Touska remained in U.S. custody, the command said.

President Donald Trump said in a Truth Social post that “an Iranian-flagged cargo ship named TOUSKA, nearly 900 feet long and weighing almost as much as an aircraft carrier, tried to get past our Naval Blockade, and it did not go well for them.”

“The Iranian crew refused to listen, so our Navy ship stopped them right in their tracks by blowing a hole in the engineroom,” Trump added. “The TOUSKA is under U.S. Treasury Sanctions because of their prior history of illegal activity. We have full custody of the ship, and are seeing what’s on board!”

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“Last night, Shamim Mafi, 44, of Woodland Hills, was arrested at Los Angeles International Airport for trafficking arms on behalf of the government of Iran,” First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli wrote Sunday on X.

“She is charged with a violation of 50 U.S.C. 1705 for brokering the sale of drones, bombs, bomb fuses, and millions of rounds of ammunition manufactured by Iran and sold to Sudan.”

According to Essayli, Mafi became a U.S. citizen in 2016. He said she worked with others on behalf of Iran and was preparing to board a flight from California to Turkey when she was arrested.