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Blue Origin has successfully reused its first-stage New Glenn booster for the first time after it landed in a cloud of smoke and fire on a recovery ship. It marks the second flight and reuse of Never Tell me the Odds<\/em>, after the booster was recovered from New Glenn’s previous launch in November last year<\/a>. However, the rocket company’s first commercial mission was marred by a failure to place the communications satellite payload into orbit.<\/p>\n The launch went smoothly to start with, with the first-stage GS1 booster separating from New Glenn after three minutes and landing smoothly 10 minutes after launch following two braking burns, as shown in a post on X from Blue Origin’s owner, Jeff Bezos.<\/p>\n However, several hours later the Blue Origin team and satellite manufacturer, AST SpaceMobile, announced that the payload had failed to reach orbit. “We have confirmed payload separation,” Blue Origin announced on X<\/a>. “AST SpaceMobile has confirmed the satellite has powered on. The payload was placed into an off-nominal orbit. We are currently assessing and will update when we have more detailed information.”<\/p>\n Later on in a press release<\/a>, AST SpaceMobile revealed that “the satellite separated from the launch vehicle and powered on, [but] the altitude [was] too low to sustain operations with its on-board thruster technology and will de-orbited. The cost of the satellite is expected to be recovered under the company\u2019s insurance policy.”<\/p>\n The upper stage was supposed to position the satellite into a 285 mile orbit after completing two burns. It would have then unfolded a 2,400 square-foot antenna and linked with six other satellites in a test for AST’s high-speed direct-to-cell network. However, early telemetry data showed that the satellite only reached 95 miles, well below a sustainable orbit. It’s not yet clear how the failure occurred.<\/p>\n Despite that, Blue Origin can take some solace in its successful first-stage reuse, particularly since it happened on just the third New Glenn mission (NG-3). It took SpaceX, by comparison, 32 flights before its first successful reflight<\/a> of a previously flown orbital-class booster.<\/p>\n Blue Origin will definitely want to solve the upper stage issue soon. Its next flight is the first New Glenn launch of Amazon Leo<\/a> (formerly Project Kuiper) broadband satellites. It plans to put 48 of those into orbit to significantly expand the Starlink rival’s constellation, which currently sits at 241 satellites.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n