Blue Origin’s rocket partially failed on its first commercial mission
The space company Blue Origin’s new rocket New Glenn experienced a problem during its first commercial mission when a satellite from telecom company AST SpaceMobile was placed into the wrong orbit. The company wrote this on X.
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The satellite ended up at too low an altitude to be used and will be taken out of service.
The launch itself and the booster’s landing back on Earth worked as planned, but the incident is seen as a setback for the company’s effort to increase launch frequency and compete with SpaceX.
AST says the loss is covered by insurance and plans to continue frequent launches during the year. The telecom company expects further launches ahead.