The AST SpaceMobile BlueBird 7 Satellite Re-entered the Atmosphere, Updates on Blue Origin's New Glenn Second Stage

On Sunday, a New Glenn rocket from Blue Origin was launched for mission NG-3, which carried the AST SpaceMobile BlueBird 7 satellite for high-speed Internet into orbit. As we had the opportunity to write a few hours after liftoff, a problem with the rocket's second stage resulted in the payload being placed into an incorrect (lower) orbit, leading to mission failure.

During mission NG-3, Blue Origin successfully recovered the first stage "Never Tell Me The Odds" which landed on the droneship Jacklyn. This is an important achievement because this same first stage had already been used for mission NG-2 at the end of last year, although for technical reasons the BE-4 engines had been replaced before this last launch.

Blue Origin, New Glenn, and the Re-entry of BlueBird 7

As mentioned above, the AST SpaceMobile BlueBird 7 satellite was placed in a lower orbit than expected, too low to be corrected by the onboard Hall effect thrusters. For this reason, the company announced that it would deorbit the satellite in a controlled manner shortly, preparing for the launch in the coming months of BlueBird 8, BlueBird 9, and BlueBird 10. According to reports, the BlueBird 7 satellite should have re-entered around 6:00 AM yesterday (local time) over an open sea area in the Indian Ocean (no debris reported on the surface).

🚨 #Breaking: Raajjeyge vaige sarahahdhun goiy neynge ehchis thakeh huras kohfi!

Locations: Dhaalu Atoll, Thaa Atoll

Additional information: link Image — #MvCrisis (@MvCrisis) April 20, 2026

The Possible Re-entry of the BlueBird 7 Satellite, Not Yet Confirmed

Regarding Blue Origin and the second stage (GS2, Glenn Stage 2) of the New Glenn rocket, some updated information has been provided by Dave Limp (CEO of the company). Preliminary data indicates that during the second ignition of the thrusters, one of the two BE-3U engines did not produce the expected thrust to reach the mission’s target orbit. Considering this is a technical/engineering problem, the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) has opened an investigation in collaboration with Blue Origin to understand the causes. The federal agency stated that "the FAA is aware that Blue Origin's New Glenn 3 rocket experienced an anomaly during the second stage flight sequence following a successful launch. The FAA has informed NASA, the NTSB, and the U.S. Space Force regarding the classification of the incident."

As long as the situation remains unclear and necessary corrective actions are taken, New Glenn flights have been suspended, even though none were scheduled in the short term. Limp also stated that "while we are pleased with the nominal recovery of the booster, clearly we did not complete the mission that our customer wanted, and that our team expected."

Currently, the second stage of New Glenn NG-3 has not yet re-entered the atmosphere (as far as is known), and it should be considered that due to its mass and structure, some parts could reach the ground, although this is an unlikely but not impossible scenario. New information may be released in the coming days with further updates.