Blue origin's new glenn rocket falters in crucial test

Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin suffered a bitter sweet triumph yesterday as its New Glenn rocket successfully broke records for the company, but failed miserably in its most critical mission yet.

New glenn's inaugural payload delivery goes awry

The NG-3 flight, Blue Origin's third outing for the behemoth rocket, saw New Glenn soar 98 meters tall, twice as large as its predecessor New Shepard. The reusable rocket's impressive feat included its maiden landing, touching down on a maritime platform after successfully separating its two stages.

However, the real payload, a massive satellite from AST SpaceMobile, was jettisoned into the wrong orbit, rendering it useless. The satellite, meant to kickstart a network of 60 satellites offering 5G services, is now considered lost.

Blue Origin's New Glenn, with a payload capacity of 45,000 kilograms, aimed to put SpaceX's Falcon 9 to the test. But the NG-3 mission ended in disaster, jeopardizing the company's future launches as the FAA investigates the mishap.

For Bezos, this failure is a major blow to his space ambitions, especially given the high stakes involved in orbital launches. With numerous missions lined up for the year, including Amazon's Leo satellite launches, Blue Origin cannot afford another such blunder if it hopes to remain competitive with SpaceX.