A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched three AST SpaceMobile BlueBird satellites (BlueBird 11, 12, and 13) from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida at 0749 UTC, Wednsday (Aug. 5).
The Falcon 9's first stage booster B1077 returned to Earth roughly 8.5 minutes after liftoff as planned, touching down in the Atlantic Ocean on the SpaceX drone ship "A Shortfall of Gravitas." It was B1077's 30th launch and landing, according to a SpaceX mission description. The rocket also flew the BlueBird 8-10 mission in June.
The next-generation Block 2 satellites deployed on this BlueBird 11-13 mission, features massive 223-square-meter phased-array antennas, and is designed to deliver direct-to-cell broadband to unmodified smartphones.
These new satellites offer nearly double the peak download speeds of the first-generation Block 1 models. Wednesday's launch follows the successful deployment of BlueBirds 8, 9, and 10 in June and brings the total number of BlueBird spacecraft launched to 13, positioning the company for beta services later in 2026. BlueBird 7 was lost shortly after liftoff this past April after its Blue Origin New Glenn rocket suffered an anomaly.
"This orbital launch, combined with expanded manufacturing capacity and the recent successful launch and deployment of BlueBird satellites 8, 9, and 10, position us for beta services later this year with our space-based cellular broadband coverage," Scott Wisniewski, the company's president, said in a July 28 statement.
BlueBirds 11 through 13 nearly double the off-Earth population. "These next-generation BlueBird satellites are expected to deliver nearly double the peak download speeds achieved by the company's initial Block 1 BlueBird satellites, which recently demonstrated peak download speeds of 98.9 Mbps directly to standard smartphones," AST SpaceMobile wrote in the same statement.
Wednesday's launch expands AST SpaceMobile's constellation, which holds FCC authorization for up to 248 satellites and partnerships with major carriers like AT&T, Verizon, and Vodafone. Manufacturing is advancing rapidly, with BlueBirds 14, 15, and 16 already in production and assembly flowing through satellite 42.