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Today's Featured Story
AST SpaceMobile Drops 15% After Blue Origin Satellite MishapWritten by Jessica Mitacek. Article Posted: 4/22/2026. 
Key Points
- AST SpaceMobile shares fell 15% in pre-market trading on Monday after a Blue Origin rocket mishap left the BlueBird 7 satellite in an unusable orbit, emphasizing the volatility of aerospace growth stocks.
- This setback adds pressure to an already tight schedule, threatening the company’s ambitious goal of having 45 satellites deployed by the end of 2026.
- Despite the mishap, ASTS’ long-term outlook remains bullish due to $3.9 billion in liquidity, surging revenue, and major partnerships with global carriers and the U.S. government.
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For burgeoning growth stocks, a brief, short-term misstep can quickly undermine lofty long-term expectations and trigger sharp market reactions. Such was the case for aerospace and telecommunication services upstart AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ: ASTS), which saw its shares tumble in premarket trading on April 20.
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The cause: Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket placed the BlueBird 7 satellite into a lower-than-planned orbit on Sunday, April 19. The result: shares of ASTS opened down about 15% the following Monday. The launch, which took place at Cape Canaveral, Florida, deployed the low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellite—what would have been AST SpaceMobile’s eighth—at an altitude too low for sustained operations. BlueBird 7 will be de-orbited; the cost is expected to be covered by the launch insurance. Nonetheless, the stock took a significant hit. Shares of the SpaceX rival plunged and are now down about 34% from their year-to-date high on Jan. 29. Here’s what prospective investors and current shareholders should know going forward. Blue Origin Mishap Could Pose Risk to AST SpaceMobile’s 2026 Launch TargetThe mission failure marks the first time AST SpaceMobile used Blue Origin—the company founded by Jeff Bezos—as its launch provider. The setback comes as the company is producing LEO satellites through BlueBird 32; BlueBirds 8, 9, and 10 are expected to be ready for shipment from its Texas assembly facility within about a month. The company is still aiming to deploy 45 satellites by the end of 2026, with planned launches every one to two months. While that goal will likely be harder to achieve, it does not represent a total failure. According to William Blair analyst Louie DiPalma, “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 ScheduleDiPalma’s comments follow a late-January report from global communications industry publication Light Reading that, at its current pace, AST SpaceMobile risked missing its then-target of 45 to 60 satellites in orbit by year-end. Even before the Blue Origin setback, Michelle Donegan, senior editor at Light Reading, warned that achieving the company's launch targets could be a tall order for the Midland, Texas–based firm. “AST has fallen behind schedule from its original plans outlined last year and adjusted expectations in the last few quarters,” Donegan said. “[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 IntactAlthough shares of ASTS are trading about 5% below the consensus one-year price target, the bullish investment thesis remains. The company’s results have shown strong top-line growth. 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%, following 1,240% YOY growth in Q3. EPS of -$0.26 missed analyst expectations of -$0.08. However, the company's cash, cash equivalents, restricted cash, and liquidity grew to $3.9 billion, leaving it well-positioned to continue scaling its infrastructure for direct-to-cellphone satellite services. AST SpaceMobile also announced it secured over $1.2 billion in aggregate contracted revenue commitments from partners in 2025. The 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. The firm is also 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 its defense subsidiary and further evidence of its growing role as a government contractor. The federal agreement was the first prime contract for AST SpaceMobile USA, the company’s wholly owned defense subsidiary, and marked the company’s second federal contract announcement since the start of the year. According to Chris Ivory, CEO of AST SpaceMobile USA, selection for the SDA’s Europa Track 2 program “validates AST SpaceMobile’s ability to rapidly operationalize commercial space capabilities for national security.” Ultimately, AST SpaceMobile’s progress will be judged less by headlines and more by execution: production throughput, launch cadence, successful deployments, and early service performance as the constellation expands. |
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