AST SpaceMobile (ASTS) stock was trading down around 17% on Friday after Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket exploded in a fireball Thursday evening during a hotfire test at its Cape Canaveral launchpad.
The rocket was being prepared for its fourth planned launch. No satellites were aboard at the time, according to an Amazon spokesperson.
Blue Origin confirmed the incident in a brief statement: “We experienced an anomaly during today’s hotfire test. All personnel have been accounted for. We will provide updates as we learn more.” Jeff Bezos also confirmed all staff were safe and said the company would rebuild.
The cause of the explosion has not been disclosed. An investigation is underway.
For ASTS, the timing is painful. The company had been counting on a Q4 2026 launch to begin deploying its commercial satellite constellation. Analysts now expect that timeline to slip into Q1 2027, though exact dates remain unclear.
That delay pushes out the realization of AST’s billion-dollar sales backlog — business that includes contracts with major wireless carriers like Verizon and AT&T.
Amazon was using the New Glenn rocket to deploy satellites for its Project Kuiper (Leo) network — its answer to SpaceX’s Starlink. The company was under FCC-mandated deadlines to have thousands of satellites in orbit this year and over 3,000 by 2029.
That schedule is now in jeopardy, and Amazon is expected to file for an FCC extension.
There’s a broader ripple effect too. United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan rocket shares the same engine family as New Glenn. If Blue Origin’s investigation leads to engine-related findings, Vulcan launches could also face delays.
The explosion dragged down stocks across the sector. ASTS was the hardest hit, dropping around 17%. Rocket Lab (RKLB) fell nearly 6% in premarket trading, despite having its own independent launch capability — which in theory should become more valuable when competitors struggle to reach orbit.
Intuitive Machines and Voyager Technologies each fell around 6%, with Firefly Aerospace down roughly 1%.
The sell-off may partly reflect profit-taking. Space stocks had run sharply higher over the past month, partly in anticipation of SpaceX’s expected IPO, which could value the company at $2 trillion.
SpaceX handles more than half of all orbital launches worldwide and is the dominant force in direct-to-device satellite broadband — the exact market ASTS and Amazon are trying to compete in.
The Blue Origin explosion, at least in the near term, reduces that competitive pressure on SpaceX and its Starlink service.
As of Friday morning, ASTS stock was down approximately 17.6%, with the S&P 500 and Dow Jones futures both modestly higher by around 0.4%.
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