New Glenn launch target

Blue Origin is aiming to launch its third New Glenn mission no earlier than 6:45 a.m. Eastern on Friday, April 17, from Cape Canaveral with an AST SpaceMobile communications satellite. (spacecoastdaily.com) The payload is BlueBird 7, a next-generation AST SpaceMobile satellite bound for low Earth orbit, the band of space a few hundred miles up where communications craft circle the planet quickly enough to provide repeated coverage. Blue Origin said in January that New Glenn-3 would carry the satellite after an earlier target of late February slipped into spring. (blueorigin.com) (spacecoastdaily.com) A late-stage engine test on the pad, called a static fire because the rocket stays bolted down while its engines run, appears to have slipped from earlier planning. Some flight-tracking reports now point to Saturday, April 18, as a possible backup date rather than Friday. (nextbigfuture.com) (usatoday.com) AST SpaceMobile is building a network that aims to connect ordinary smartphones directly to satellites instead of requiring a special dish or a dedicated satellite phone. The company says its next-generation BlueBird spacecraft are designed for 24/7 cellular broadband service and can hand off users between ground networks and space-based coverage. (ast-science.com) (blueorigin.com) The hardware is unusually large for a communications satellite in this orbit. AST SpaceMobile says each next-generation BlueBird carries a phased-array antenna of nearly 2,400 square feet and is designed for peak speeds of 120 megabits per second per coverage cell. (ast-science.com) For Blue Origin, this flight is also a reuse test. The company said the same first-stage booster that landed during the November 13, 2025, ESCAPADE mission is being refurbished to fly New Glenn-3. (blueorigin.com 1) (blueorigin.com 2) That November mission was New Glenn’s second flight and Blue Origin’s first successful landing of the rocket’s reusable first stage on its ship Jacklyn in the Atlantic. Blue Origin said the launch also counted as the vehicle’s second National Security Space Launch certification flight with the United States Space Force. (blueorigin.com) The company has been signaling that the next attempt is close. Jeff Bezos posted nighttime pad photos of New Glenn this week as teams prepared the rocket at Launch Complex 36 on the Florida coast. (benzinga.com) If the schedule holds, Friday’s countdown would put a reused New Glenn booster and one of AST SpaceMobile’s largest direct-to-phone satellites on the same test flight. If it slips again, the next public marker will be a completed static fire and a new launch date. (blueorigin.com) (nextbigfuture.com)