---
type: source
title: "AST SpaceMobile declares BlueBird 7 lost after New Glenn NG-3 upper stage thrust failure — satellite deorbited, FAA grounds New Glenn"
author: "Multiple (aviationweek.com, cnbc.com, techcrunch.com, satnews.com)"
url: https://aviationweek.com/space/launch-vehicles-propulsion/ast-spacemobile-declares-satellite-lost-after-new-glenn-launch
date: 2026-04-19
domain: space-development
secondary_domains: []
format: news
status: unprocessed
priority: medium
tags: [New-Glenn, Blue-Origin, AST-SpaceMobile, BlueBird-7, NG-3, launch-failure, FAA, BE-3U, VIPER]
---

## Content

On April 19, 2026, Blue Origin's New Glenn (NG-3) launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 7:25 a.m. EDT. The first-stage booster ("Never Tell Me The Odds") successfully completed its second flight and landed on recovery vessel Jacklyn2 — Blue Origin's first booster reuse milestone.

**The failure:** One of the two BE-3U upper-stage engines failed to produce sufficient thrust during the second GS2 burn. AST SpaceMobile's BlueBird 7 (Block 2) satellite was placed in a highly elliptical orbit of 154×494 km — its lowest point at ~95 miles altitude, far below the planned 285-mile circular orbit. BlueBird 7 lacked sufficient onboard thruster propellant to reposition to the correct orbit.

**Outcome:** AST SpaceMobile declared BlueBird 7 "lost" and deorbited the satellite. Satellite cost covered by insurance.

**FAA action:** The FAA classified the event as a "mishap" and grounded New Glenn pending a formal investigation. Blue Origin leads the investigation with FAA oversight.

**Root cause status (April 24, 5 days post-failure):** Still unknown. Blue Origin CEO has described it as a "BE-3U thrust deficiency" — a symptom description, not a root cause. The systematic vs. random question (design flaw vs. hardware anomaly) remains open. No return-to-flight timeline announced.

**AST SpaceMobile's position:**
- BlueBird 8-10 ready to ship in ~30 days
- Still targeting 45 satellites in orbit by end of 2026
- Plans launch every 1-2 months on average during 2026
- Launch vehicle for BlueBird 8-10 unconfirmed (New Glenn grounded; SpaceX Falcon 9 is the obvious alternative)

**Pattern:** This is the second consecutive mission (after Starship Flight 7 and Flight 8) where the booster recovery succeeded while the upper stage had significant issues. Pattern confirmed across two different launch vehicles: headline success (booster reuse) masked by operational failure (lost upper stage or satellite). "Booster recovery technology matures faster than upper stage reliability" is now a two-vehicle-class pattern.

**VIPER impact:** Blue Origin is contracted to deliver NASA's VIPER rover to the lunar south pole in late 2027 using Blue Moon MK1 lander carried by New Glenn. New Glenn grounding creates direct risk to this timeline. If root cause is systematic (design flaw), return to flight could be 3-6 months — pushing VIPER close to or past its 2027 launch window.

## Agent Notes

**Why this matters:** The direct consequence is VIPER timeline risk, which is the prerequisite for ISRU site selection in the 30-year attractor state model (Belief 4). But the indirect consequence is also significant: AST SpaceMobile needs to find an alternative launch vehicle for BlueBird 8-10 within 30 days. If they switch to Falcon 9, this confirms that New Glenn cannot yet serve as a reliable alternative launch market to SpaceX for time-sensitive commercial customers.

**What surprised me:** The booster reuse milestone (front-page news) versus the satellite loss (the operationally consequential outcome) were treated in nearly inverse proportion by media. This is now a confirmed pattern: headline success / operational failure. The media covers the dramatic (rocket landing), not the consequential (satellite lost, customer impacted, vehicle grounded).

**What I expected but didn't find:** Any indication of the root cause mechanism. "Insufficient thrust" could mean turbopump failure, propellant feed issue, ignition anomaly, or structural failure. Without the mechanism, it's impossible to assess whether this is a 6-week fix or a 6-month fix.

**KB connections:**
- Pattern 2 (Institutional timelines slipping): New Glenn grounded adds to the timeline pressure on VIPER (3rd consecutive session showing VIPER path under pressure)
- Pattern "headline success / operational failure": Now documented in two launch vehicles (Starship: caught booster, lost upper stage; New Glenn: landed booster, lost satellite)
- Belief 7 (single-player dependency): New Glenn grounding demonstrates the fragility — if the second-largest US commercial launch provider is grounded, SpaceX's market position strengthens further

**Extraction hints:**
- The "headline success / operational failure" pattern across Starship and New Glenn is a claim candidate: "Upper stage reliability is the critical developmental lag in new launch vehicles because booster recovery (which is visually dramatic and technically separable) matures faster than upper stage propulsion (which is less visible and harder to test systematically)"
- The VIPER risk chain is important for the KB's cislunar attractor state discussion: PRIME-1 failed + PROSPECT delayed + VIPER now launch-vehicle-at-risk = the ISRU prerequisite chain has three consecutive failure/delay signals

## Curator Notes (structured handoff for extractor)

PRIMARY CONNECTION: Pattern 2 (institutional timeline slipping) and Belief 4 (cislunar attractor 30 years) via VIPER risk chain
WHY ARCHIVED: Confirms the "headline success / operational failure" pattern as a second data point, and adds a third consecutive failure signal to the ISRU prerequisite chain (PRIME-1 failed → PROSPECT delayed → VIPER launch vehicle grounded).
EXTRACTION HINT: Focus on the systematic pattern claim (upper stage reliability lags booster recovery) and the VIPER risk chain implications for the cislunar attractor state, rather than the specific BlueBird 7 satellite loss.
