Blue Origin launched its third-ever New Glenn heavy-lift rocket on the heels of a picturesque sunrise Sunday, April 19, at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, lifting AST SpaceMobile’s BlueBird 7 satellite into low-Earth orbit.
After rumbling skyward to the east-southeast after the 7:25 a.m. liftoff, the rocket’s first-stage booster Never Tell Me the Odds stuck a second straight landing on Blue Origin’s drone ship Jacklyn hundreds of miles downrange in the Atlantic Ocean.
Next on the Eastern Range schedule, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch the GPS III-8 satellite for the Space Force early Monday, April 20, on a national security mission.
Launch window: 2:57 a.m. to 3:12 a.m. from the military installation. No Central Florida sonic booms should occur. Live FLORIDA TODAY Space Team coverage will kick off roughly 90 minutes before liftoff at floridatoday.com/space.
For the latest news and launch schedule from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, visit floridatoday.com/space. Another easy way: Click here to sign up for our weekly 321 Launch space newsletter.
Rick Neale is a Space Reporter at FLORIDA TODAY, where he has covered news since 2004. Contact Neale at Rneale@floridatoday.com. Twitter/X: @RickNeale1
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This article originally appeared on Florida Today: See photos of Blue Origin’s New Glenn heavy-lift rocket launch in Florida
Reporting by Rick Neale, Florida Today / Florida Today
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