Blue Origin Schedules Third New Glenn Launch for Late February Carrying AST SpaceMobile Satellite
Blue Origin has scheduled the third launch of its New Glenn rocket for late February, with the rocket set to carry an AST SpaceMobile satellite to low-Earth orbit. This launch will be the second commercial payload for New Glenn after a decade of development.
The company did not specify why it opted for the AST SpaceMobile satellite over its Blue Moon Mark 1 robotic lunar lander, which is currently being tested at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Texas, with no launch date set for the lunar mission. This launch will reuse the booster stage from New Glenn's second mission in November, which was successfully recovered via a drone ship.
February is a busy month for spaceflight with NASA's potential Artemis II mission launch and SpaceX's testing of the third Starship rocket version. Blue Origin's broader plans include a super-heavy New Glenn variant and a satellite internet constellation, TeraWave, slated for deployment in late 2027.
