A filing made to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) by a staffer at rocket company Blue Origin, which concerns radio communications with the company’s New Glenn rocket’s launch (NG-2), says that it will not happen before July 1st. It had been expected to launch late spring.

The launch delay affects Amazon’s own Project Kuiper satellite launches as well as AST SpaceMobile (AST) which agreed a “multi-launch agreement” with Blue Origin in November 2024 for delivering multiple satellites to orbit.

New Glenn stands more than 320 feet (98 metres) tall and is named after John Glenn, the first American to orbit Earth. Its seven-metre fairing enables twice the payload volume of any five-metre class commercial launch system. The vehicle’s reusable first stage is designed for a minimum of 25 missions and is powered by seven Blue Origin BE-4 engines, the most powerful liquefied natural gas (LNG)-fuelled, oxygen-rich staged combustion engine ever flown.

AST has orders in place with a number of rocket builders, including Blue Origin and Elon Musk’s SpaceX. AST’s first launch of its next generation BlueBird satellite will be with India’s ISRO GSLV rocket, and is expected in July.

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Categories: Articles, Satellite

Tags: Blue Origin, Jeff Bezos, New Glenn, satellite