AST SpaceMobile Falls After Blue Origin Pad Explosion

AST SpaceMobile shares dropped after Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket exploded during a scheduled static fire test at Launch Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station late Friday. The vehicle was destroyed on the pad and the incident produced a large fireball visible over the site.

The New Glenn failure follows an earlier anomaly on April 19, when the rocket’s second stage failed to deliver AST’s BlueBird 7 satellite to its planned orbit. AST SpaceMobile’s engineers concluded the satellite’s onboard propulsion could not make up for the deficit and the company declared BlueBird 7 lost.

AST SpaceMobile expects a monetary impact from the April loss in the range of $155 million to $160 million and plans an asset write-off in the second quarter of 2026. The company also reported a strong cash position of roughly $3.5 billion and reiterated full-year revenue guidance of up to $200 million. The stock fell sharply on Friday, though it remained about 30% higher compared with the start of the year.

The pad explosion adds uncertainty about how quickly LC-36 can return to service. If investigators link the failure to the rocket’s main propulsion system or the BE-4 engines, the issue could have implications for other launch customers because the same engine design is used on other vehicles.

AST SpaceMobile has launch agreements with multiple providers. BlueBird 8, BlueBird 9 and BlueBird 10 are scheduled for delivery to Cape Canaveral and an orbital launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 is expected in mid-June; company officials say that mission is not affected by the LC-36 incident. The firm is targeting roughly 45 BlueBird satellites in orbit during 2026.

On the manufacturing side, AST reported that BlueBird 11 through BlueBird 33 are in advanced stages of production and assembly, with phased arrays completed through BlueBird 28.

Regulatory reviews and investigations typically follow significant pad explosions. The timeline for repairs or return to flight at LC-36 is unclear. Investors and customers are awaiting updates from Blue Origin on the cause of the failure and the expected downtime for the launch complex.