A giant cell tower is going to space this weekend
Airfind news item
By Thomas Ricker
Published on April 17, 2026.
The upcoming launch of Jeff Bezos' New Glenn rocket, with the first-stage booster from the New Glenn program, could signal an end to SpaceX's monopoly on reusable orbital launch vehicles. The mission will carry AST SpaceMobile's BlueBird 7 satellite to low Earth orbit, which is designed to provide 4G and 5G broadband at speeds exceeding 120 Mbps. The launch is crucial as Amazon desperately needs a reusable rocket for its Leo launches, which has only launched 241 of its planned constellation so far. This test will be a crucial test for cost-effective booster reuse, which SpaceX's Falcon 9 has been able to deploy over 1,500 satellites to its Starlink constellation within a year.
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