Blue Origin delays New Glenn launch

Blue Origin moved the next New Glenn launch attempt to Wednesday, April 16, two days later than the April 14 target that had been circulating ahead of the mission. (nextbigfuture.com) The flight is New Glenn-3, the third mission for Blue Origin’s heavy-lift rocket, and Blue Origin said in January that it would carry AST SpaceMobile’s next-generation Block 2 BlueBird satellite to low Earth orbit. (blueorigin.com, blueorigin.com) Blue Origin has not posted a fresh mission page for the April flight on its site, but launch trackers and Blue Origin’s own livestream listing had pointed to a 6:45 a.m. Eastern time liftoff on April 14 before the slip to April 16. (youtube.com, rocketlaunch.org, nextbigfuture.com) New Glenn is Blue Origin’s giant orbital rocket, built to haul large satellites and deep-space payloads. The vehicle stands 98 meters tall and can carry more than 45 metric tons to low Earth orbit, the region a few hundred miles above Earth where many communications satellites operate. (blueorigin.com, blueorigin.com) The rocket matters to Blue Origin because the company is trying to turn New Glenn into a regular launch service for commercial, civil, and national security customers after years of development delays. Blue Origin says the reusable first stage is designed for at least 25 flights, a model meant to lower cost and increase launch cadence. (blueorigin.com) The April mission also matters because it is set to be the first reflight of a New Glenn booster. Blue Origin’s second New Glenn mission launched NASA’s twin ESCAPADE Mars spacecraft on November 13, 2025, and landed the first stage on the vessel Jacklyn in the Atlantic Ocean. (space.com, blueorigin.com) AST SpaceMobile is using Blue Origin as part of a multi-launch plan to build a satellite network that connects directly with ordinary smartphones instead of requiring a special dish or dedicated handset. Blue Origin said in November 2024 that the agreement covered multiple launches of Block 2 BlueBird satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. (blueorigin.com) Blue Origin says New Glenn’s seven-meter payload fairing offers about twice the volume of five-meter-class commercial systems, a selling point for bulky spacecraft such as BlueBird. AST SpaceMobile has said its Block 2 satellites are designed to deliver more capacity than its earlier spacecraft for direct-to-device cellular service. (blueorigin.com, spacelaunchschedule.com) If Blue Origin holds the new date, the company will get another test of the same formula it used in November: launch from Cape Canaveral, deploy the payload to orbit, and try to recover the booster on Jacklyn. (blueorigin.com, nextspaceflight.com)