Oops: Blue Origin's New Glenn Put Customer's Satellite in the Wrong Orbit

In the third launch of its larger New Glenn rocket, and the first time Blue Origin had attempted to re-use a booster, it failed to place its payload into an effective orbit. Now, the satellite will need to be de-orbited, TechCrunch reports. Although the company in question has many more satellites planned for launch this year, and the loss will be covered by insurance, this comes at a terrible time for Blue Origin, which is gunning hard for the NASA contract to take humans back to the Moon in future Artemis missions.

Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket has been in development for over a decade, but it only had its first launch test in 2025. While it failed to land the booster on that attempt, the second test in November succeeded, showcasing the rocket's impressive lift capacity as it sent several payloads into orbit. However, in this third ...