AST SpaceMobile Sets April 19 Launch for BlueBird 7 Aboard Blue Origin New Glenn

by Clarence Oxford
Los Angeles CA (SPX) Apr 17, 2026
AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ: ASTS) has announced that BlueBird 7 is scheduled to launch on April 19 from the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Cape Canaveral, Florida. The orbital launch is scheduled for a 6:45 am through 8:45 am EDT window on Blue Origin's New Glenn-3 mission from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

BlueBird 7 is part of AST SpaceMobile's next-generation commercial satellites designed to deliver direct-to-device cellular broadband connectivity from space to standard, unmodified smartphones, expected to greatly exceed 120 Mbps peak data speeds.

The next-generation BlueBird satellites feature a phased-array antenna spanning approximately 2,400 square feet - the largest communications array ever deployed in low Earth orbit - engineered to support the power and sensitivity required to connect directly to everyday mobile phones. These satellites are designed to support full 4G and 5G broadband speeds, including voice, data, and video services.

"Every launch brings us closer to fulfilling our mission: connecting billions of people through space-based cellular broadband," said Scott Wisniewski, President of AST SpaceMobile.

"Engineered and built in Texas, these satellites are the realization of years of innovation and execution and a testament to our world-class manufacturing capabilities. We are grateful to our shareholders and supporters for their continued trust as we reach another milestone in the deployment of our constellation, and we are proud to invite our investor community to share this next step in the build-out of our global constellation."

Qualified retail shareholders are invited to attend the live launch event in person. To be eligible, retail investors must hold shares, must have been shareholders for at least six months, and must be shareholders at the time of application. Registration closed at 8 pm EDT on Friday, April 17, 2026, with AST SpaceMobile reserving the right to conduct a random drawing among registrants if the number of registrations exceeded venue capacity. Members of the public will be able to watch a live broadcast on launch day on AST SpaceMobile's YouTube channel.

AST SpaceMobile has more than 3,850 patents and patent-pending claims with 95% vertically integrated manufacturing across state-of-the-art testing facilities in Midland, Texas and beyond, collectively spanning nearly 500,000 square feet. The company has agreements with over 50 mobile network operators globally with nearly 3 billion subscribers combined, and strategic partnerships with AT&T, Verizon, Vodafone, Rakuten, Google, American Tower, Bell and stc Group.