Blue Origin New Glenn rocket puts satellite payload into wrong orbit

Space In its third flight, a Blue Origin New Glenn rocket puts satellite payload into wrong orbit By William Harwood William Harwood CBS News Space Consultant Bill Harwood has been covering the U.S. space program full-time since 1984, first as Cape Canaveral bureau chief for United Press International and now as a consultant for CBS News. Read Full Bio William Harwood April 19, 2026 / 2:33 PM EDT / CBS News Add CBS News on Google Blue Origin launched the company's third New Glenn rocket Sunday, re-flying and successfully recovering a previously used first stage. But the rocket's payload, a direct-to-cellphone communications satellite, ended up in the wrong orbit, the company said."We have confirmed payload separation," Blue Origin, owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, posted on X. "AST SpaceMobile has confirmed the satellite has powered on. The payload was placed into an off-nominal orbit. We are currently assessing and will update when we have more detailed information." Spectators along the beach in Cape Canaveral, Florida, enjoy a spectacular Sunday morning launch, taking in the view of a Blue Origin New Glenn rocket blasting off carrying a next-generation cellular broadband satellite. The company said later the AST SpaceMobile Bluebird 7 satellite ended up in the wrong orbit. Adam Bernstein/Spaceflightnow.com The BlueBird 7 satellite, built by AST SpaceMobile in Midland, Texas, is equipped with a 2,400-square-foot phased array antenna, the largest civilian antenna of its type ever put in low-Earth orbit.The satellite is the second in a new generation of AST SpaceMobile data relay stations designed to seamlessly provide space-based 4G and 5G cellular broadband service directly to cellphone users anywhere in the world.Blue Origin provided no additional information about the nature of BlueBird 7's unplanned orbit and it was not immediately known whether the spacecraft will be able to function properly. It is not yet known what options, if any, might exist to eventua...