Midland, Texas, April 19, 2026–(BUSINESS WIRE)–AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (“AST SpaceMobile”) (NASDAQ: ASTS), the company building the first and only space-based cellular broadband network designed for both commercial and government use and accessible directly from everyday smartphones, will launch Bluebird 7 into orbit today on a New Glenn rocket.
During the New Glenn 3 mission, Bluebird 7 was placed into a lower orbit than planned by the upper stage of its launch vehicle. The satellite is separated from its launch vehicle and powered on, but its altitude is too low for its onboard thruster technology to keep it operational and it falls out of orbit. The cost of the satellite is expected to be recovered through the company’s insurance.
BlueBird 7 is AST SpaceMobile’s eighth vehicle to deploy into low Earth orbit, and one of many vehicles planned for the company’s space-based cellular broadband network. The company is currently producing up to BlueBird 32, with BlueBird 8-10 expected to be ready for shipment in about 30 days.
The company continues to target approximately 45 satellites in orbit by the end of 2026, with the company expecting to average an orbital launch every one to two months during 2026, supported by agreements with multiple launch providers.
About AST Space Mobile
Building on our extensive IP and patent portfolio, AST SpaceMobile is building the first and only global cellular broadband network in space designed for commercial and government applications that operates directly on standard unmodified mobile devices. Our engineers and space scientists are on a mission to close the connectivity gap facing today’s 5 billion mobile subscribers and ultimately bring broadband to billions of unconnected people. For more information, follow AST SpaceMobile on YouTube. X (old Twitter)LinkedIn, Facebook. Watch this video for an overview of SpaceMobile missions.
Forward-looking statements
This communication contains “forward-looking statements” that are not historical facts and involve risks and uncertainties that could cause AST SpaceMobile’s actual results to differ materially from those expected and predicted. These forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology, including words such as “believes,” “estimates,” “anticipates,” “expects,” “intends,” “plans,” “may,” “will,” “will,” “could,” “anticipates,” “forecasts,” “continue,” or “should” or, in each case, the negative or other variations thereof or equivalent terminology. These forward-looking statements involve significant risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from anticipated results. Most of these factors are outside of AST SpaceMobile’s control and are difficult to predict.
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