CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Blue Origin‘s New Glenn rocket launched and landed safely, but the mission did not go entirely as planned.
Moments after the NG-3 mission launched from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 7:25 a.m. on Sunday, the company said the direct-to-cellphone satellite on board was deployed into the wrong orbit.
Blue Origin said the satellite separated and powered on as planned. Engineers are now working to determine how far off the orbit is and whether it can be corrected.
The payload — a direct-to-cellphone satellite — ended up in an unintended orbit after launch. Blue Origin has not specified how far the satellite strayed from its intended trajectory.
As of Monday morning, engineers were still assessing the situation.