Blue Origin reuses New Glenn booster on NG-3, but BlueBird 7 goes into off-nominal orbit

Blue Origin launched its New Glenn NG-3 mission on April 19 and successfully reused a first-stage booster for the first time, a milestone for the company’s heavy-lift rocket.

The mission lifted off from Cape Canaveral carrying AST SpaceMobile’s BlueBird 7 satellite. Blue Origin had said NG-3 would send the payload to low Earth orbit, and the company later recovered the booster after launch.

The launch was quickly followed by a setback on the payload side. AST SpaceMobile said BlueBird 7 was placed into a lower-than-planned, off-nominal orbit by the upper stage.

That leaves two takeaways from the mission: Blue Origin cleared an important reuse and recovery hurdle on New Glenn, but the satellite did not reach its intended orbit. It was not immediately clear whether BlueBird 7 can still reach its planned final orbit using onboard propulsion.

Blue Origin had targeted NG-3 for Sunday, April 19, and the flight was the rocket’s third New Glenn mission.