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Blue Origin delivered a satellite to the wrong orbit [1]

['Séamus Bellamy']

Date: 2026-04-21  

Space is hard. There's a lot of math involved, and no one has figured out how to get us up there without strapping their ass to a missile. Even when there are no people, dogs, or monkeys being fired out of the atmosphere, you gotta be careful: The other stuff that scientists and governments like to put up there (with few exceptions) can be worth a lotta cheddar. Mistakes can cost companies and institutions millions of dollars.

Take this one, for example. On Sunday, the Jeff Bezos-owned Blue Origin launched New Glenn from Cape Canaveral — the third flight of the rocket. The reusable booster nailed its recovery, but the second stage misfired, depositing AST SpaceMobile's BlueBird 7 mobile phone satellite in the wrong orbit. AST SpaceMobile said the satellite ended up in an orbit that is "too low to sustain operations" and will be de-orbited. The FAA labeled it a "mishap" and grounded New Glenn, according to the Orlando Sentinel.

While having one of Blue Origin's reusable boosters make it safely back to work feels very George Lucas, putting an expensive mobile phone satellite into the wrong orbit is one hell of a Mel Brooks. According to NASA Space Flight, everything with the operation, save the loss of the satellite, went as planned… except for a 40-minute delay for final vehicle configuration and file uploads. Maybe they should have uploaded different files.

While a loss like this is disappointing, the fact that the company responsible for flubbing the launch is owned by Jeff Bezos makes it very easy to swallow.

Previously:

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[1] Url: https://boingboing.net/2026/04/21/blue-origin-delivered-a-satellite-to-the-wrong-orbit.html

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