Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin rocket grounded after delivering satellite in wrong orbit
Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket suffered a setback after an upper-stage failure left its BlueBird 7 satellite stranded, prompting an FAA investigation and delaying future missions.
On Sunday, April 19, Blue Origin launched its New Glenn rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida. On board was a communications satellite called BlueBird 7, meant to join a network designed to deliver internet service directly to smartphones from space.
The first part of the launch went smoothly.
The lower section of the rocket, called a booster, did its job, then separated and landed safely on a floating platform in the Atlantic Ocean. In fact, it was a milestone as it was the first time Blue Origin reused a previously flown booster, a key step toward making space travel cheaper.
But then things went wrong.
The upper part of the rocket, responsible for carrying the satellite to its final destination, underperformed. One of its engines failed to produce enough thrust, leaving the satellite stranded in the wrong orbit, leaving it too low to be useful.
The satellite and the upper stage of the rocket eventually fell back into Earth's atmosphere and burned up.
WHAT IS NEW GLENN?
New Glenn is the most ambitious and biggest bet made by Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin space firm. It stands over 320 feet tall, which is roughly the height of a 30-storey building, and is named after John Glenn, the first American to orbit Earth, back in 1962.
Blue Origin, founded by Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos, built New Glenn to compete with SpaceX in the business of launching satellites and spacecraft. The rocket first flew in January 2025 and made history by reaching orbit on its very first attempt, something few rockets manage. Its second flight, in November 2025, was also a success.
The rocket flew for the third time this past Sunday but missed the mark.
WHAT'S NEXT?
As is the procedure, after any launch failure, the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the body that oversees rocket launches, steps in.
The FAA has declared the incident a "mishap" and grounded New Glenn until an investigation finds the cause of the engine failure and Blue Origin proves it has fixed the problem.
This isn't the first time New Glenn has been grounded. Its debut flight in 2025 also led to a grounding that lasted about two and a half months.
For now, several planned missions, including a Moon lander launch that Nasa is counting on, will have to wait.