SpaceX Launches 3 Giant BlueBird Satellites for AST SpaceMobile

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lit up the predawn sky over Florida's Space Coast early Wednesday, carrying three of the largest commercial communications satellites ever built into low Earth orbit.

Liftoff came at 2:39 a.m. EDT on June 17 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, sending AST SpaceMobile's BlueBird 8, 9 and 10 aloft and quadrupling the number of next-generation satellites the company has in orbit. The mission marked another smooth deployment for SpaceX's workhorse rocket, fresh off its record-setting 35th reflight of a single Falcon 9 booster.

A Flawless Flight

Roughly eight minutes after launch, the first stage — a veteran booster on its 29th mission — touched down on the drone ship "A Shortfall of Gravitas" in the Atlantic, extending SpaceX's commanding lead in rocket reusability. About 54.5 minutes after liftoff, the Falcon 9's upper stage began releasing the three BlueBirds across a tidy 10.5-minute span.

According to SpaceX's mission page, the booster's safe recovery marked its 29th launch and landing — a reminder of how routine the company has made a feat once thought impossible.

The Biggest Arrays in Space

The next-generation BlueBirds are engineering marvels. Each satellite unfurls a phased-array antenna covering nearly 2,400 square feet (223 square meters) — larger than any commercial communications array ever flown. The original BlueBirds, themselves no slouches, spanned 693 square feet.

AST SpaceMobile is building a constellation designed to beam broadband internet directly to ordinary, unmodified smartphones, with no special hardware required. "Each BlueBird satellite launched expands our ability to support seamless space-based broadband mobile connectivity directly to everyday smartphones," said Scott Wisniewski, president of AST SpaceMobile.

The three new spacecraft join a constellation that had grown to seven satellites. The company suffered a setback in April when BlueBird 7 was lost after a different launch provider placed it in the wrong orbit, making Wednesday's clean ride to orbit aboard a Falcon 9 all the more valuable.

SpaceX's Relentless Pace

The launch underscored just how central SpaceX has become to the global space economy. Even as the company has dominated headlines for its blockbuster public debut, its launch cadence has barely paused; the BlueBird mission came just days after its 650th Falcon 9 launch, a milestone no other launch provider has approached.

For AST SpaceMobile, the successful deployment is a major step toward closing the coverage gaps that leave billions of people without reliable connectivity. For SpaceX, it is one more demonstration that reliable, reusable, high-cadence launch has become the foundation on which an entire generation of space ventures now depends — and the company shows no sign of slowing down.