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AST SpaceMobile Drops 15% After Blue Origin Satellite Mishap

Author: Jessica Mitacek. Article Posted: 4/22/2026.

For burgeoning growth stocks, a brief misstep can jeopardize lofty long-term expectations and trigger severe market reactions.

Such was the case for aerospace and telecommunication services upstart AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ: ASTS), which saw its shares plunge in premarket trading on April 20.

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The cause: Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket deposited the BlueBird 7 satellite into a lower-than-planned orbit on Sunday, April 19. The result: shares of ASTS opened down about 15% on Monday.

The launch, which took place at Cape Canaveral, Florida, deployed the low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellite—which would have been AST SpaceMobile’s eighth in its fleet—at an altitude too low for it to sustain operations. BlueBird 7 will now be de-orbited, the cost of which is expected to be absorbed by the company’s insurance policy.

Nonetheless, the stock took an enormous hit.

Shares of the SpaceX rival plunged and now sit around 34% below their year-to-date high from Jan. 29. Here’s what prospective investors and current shareholders need to know going forward.

Blue Origin Mishap Could Pose Risk to AST SpaceMobile’s 2026 Launch Target

The mission failure marks the first time AST SpaceMobile used Blue Origin—the company founded and owned by Jeff Bezos—as its launch provider.

The setback comes as the company is currently producing LEO satellites through BlueBird 32, with BlueBirds 8, 9, and 10 expected to be ready for shipment from its Texas assembly facility within a month.

The company is still aiming to deploy 45 total satellites by the end of 2026, with an intended orbital launch cadence every one to two months.

While that goal will likely be harder to achieve now, it does not mark a complete failure. William Blair analyst Louie DiPalma noted in a research note on Monday that “The silver lining is that there was only one satellite on board, whereas future New Glenn launches may have as many as eight of AST’s BlueBirds.”

AST SpaceMobile Is Already Behind Schedule

DiPalma’s comments follow a late-January report from global communications publication Light Reading that, at its current pace, AST SpaceMobile is at risk of missing its previously stated target of 45 to 60 satellites in orbit by year’s end.

Even before the Blue Origin setback, Michelle Donegan, senior editor at Light Reading, warned that achieving those launch targets may prove a tall order for the Midland, Texas-based company.

“AST has fallen behind schedule from its original plans outlined last year and adjusted expectations in the last few quarters,” Donegan says. “[This is] sparking questions about whether it can still achieve its ambitious target in a compressed timeframe and provide sufficient coverage for a continuous service by year-end for its mobile operator partners.”

Long-Term, AST SpaceMobile’s Trajectory Remains Intact

While shares of ASTS are trading roughly 5% below their consensus one-year price target, the bullish investment thesis remains intact.

The company’s results are improving. On March 2, AST SpaceMobile released its Q4 2025 financial results, reporting quarterly revenue of $54.31 million, well above analyst expectations of $39.53 million. That represented year-over-year revenue growth of nearly 2,758%, after YOY growth of 1,240% in Q3.

Earnings per share of negative $0.26 fell short of analysts' expectation of negative $0.08. However, the company’s cash, cash equivalents, restricted cash, and liquidity position grew to $3.9 billion, leaving it well-equipped to continue scaling its infrastructure for direct-to-cellphone satellite services.

AST SpaceMobile also announced that it secured over $1.2 billion in aggregate contracted revenue commitments from partners in 2025. The space-based cellular broadband company has strategic partnerships with firms including Verizon Communications (NYSE: VZ), AT&T (NYSE: T), Vodafone Group (NASDAQ: VOD), Japanese tech conglomerate Rakuten (OTCMKTS: RKUNY), real estate investment trust American Tower (NYSE: AMT), and BCE (NYSE: BCE), one of Canada’s largest telecommunications and media companies.

Additionally, the firm is increasingly positioning itself as a federal government contractor. In February, AST SpaceMobile announced it had secured a $30 million prime contract from the U.S. Space Development Agency (SDA) for the HALO Europa Program—its first prime contract for the company’s defense subsidiary and a sign of its growing role as a government supplier.

That federal agreement marked the first-ever prime contract for AST SpaceMobile USA, the company’s wholly owned defense subsidiary, and was the company’s second federal government contract announcement since the start of the year.

According to Chris Ivory, CEO of AST SpaceMobile USA, the “selection for SDA’s Europa Track 2 program validates AST SpaceMobile’s ability to rapidly operationalize commercial space capabilities for national security.”

Ultimately, the next stretch for AST SpaceMobile will be judged less by headlines and more by execution: production throughput, launch cadence, successful deployments, and early service performance as the constellation grows.