Jeff Bezos, the man who makes it possible to get your orders delivered in two days, launched his New Glenn rocket from Florida this week. The result? Just like ordering something on Amazon. Half came as expected, half didn't end up where it was supposed to.
On Sunday, April 19th, the Blue Origin rocket lifted off from Florida. The mission had two jobs: first, bring the booster back to land for reuse, and second, put a giant AST SpaceMobile satellite into orbit. The booster landed successfully in the middle of the Atlantic, on a ship Bezos has named after his mother. Yes, while we don't know what to buy mom for her birthday, this guy named a rocket-catching boat after her.
The satellite? That's where it got messy. The rocket left the satellite in an orbit "lower than planned," which in engineer-speak means "oops." The satellite turned on, worked for a few seconds, realized it was way too close to Earth, and now the company has to bring it down themselves before it comes down on its own. Good thing they had it insured, because this satellite was the size of a two-bedroom apartment in Tirana.
But let's be honest. Blue Origin is learning. Reusing the booster is a big deal, because until now only Elon Musk's SpaceX could do it. So Bezos is catching up to Musk slowly, step by step, one wrong satellite at a time.
The rocket is called "Never Tell Me the Odds," a line from Star Wars. And honestly, after this mission, I don't think Bezos wants to know the odds either.