CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida — Blue Origin's powerful New Glenn rocket lifted off Sunday morning from Launch Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, successfully carrying AST SpaceMobile's BlueBird 7 satellite into low Earth orbit on the company's third orbital mission and marking the first reflight of a New Glenn first-stage booster.

The NG-3 mission blasted off at approximately 7:25 a.m. EDT after a brief hold in the two-hour launch window that opened at 6:45 a.m. The massive rocket, standing taller than most vehicles in the industry, roared into the clear Florida skies, its seven BE-4 engines producing more than 3.8 million pounds of thrust as spectators along the Space Coast watched the spectacular sunrise launch.

The first-stage booster, nicknamed "Never Tell Me The Odds," made its second flight after successfully launching and landing during the NG-2 mission in November 2025. Blue Origin confirmed post-liftoff that the booster separated cleanly and was on track for a powered landing attempt on the company's droneship Jacklyn in the Atlantic Ocean, continuing the company's push toward full reusability in direct competition with SpaceX's proven Falcon 9 program.

AST SpaceMobile's BlueBird 7 satellite, also known as BlueBird Block 2 FM2, represents a critical step for the Texas-based company's ambitious plan to build the world's first space-based cellular broadband network accessible directly by unmodified smartphones. The satellite features a massive 2,400-square-foot phased array antenna designed to deliver up to 10 times the bandwidth capacity of earlier BlueBird Block 1 satellites.

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