Blue Origin's New Glenn Setback

The launch of AST SpaceMobile's BlueBird 7 satellite was intended to demonstrate Blue Origin's ability to compete with SpaceX's Falcon 9.

While the first-stage booster landed perfectly on a barge in the Atlantic, the upper stage deployed the payload into an orbit too low to be useful.

This partial failure could delay Jeff Bezos' ambitions to support NASA's lunar missions.

Company officials are investigating the anomaly to ensure future launch reliability.