Blue Origin's New Glenn leaves AST SpaceMobile in lower-than-planned orbit
Technology
Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket, backed by Jeff Bezos, ran into a hiccup this week.
While the booster nailed its landing on a drone ship, the main goal, putting AST SpaceMobile's satellite into its planned orbit, didn't work out.
The rocket's upper stage left the satellite in a lower orbit than needed, so it can't do its job as planned.
FAA pauses all New Glenn launches
After this setback, the FAA has paused all New Glenn launches while they investigate.
Early info points to a problem with the upper-stage engine's thrust.
This is New Glenn's first big failure since it started flying last year.
Blue Origin and AST SpaceMobile are teaming up to figure out what went wrong and make sure future missions go smoother.