SpaceX launches 3 huge BlueBird direct-to-cell satellites from Florida

SpaceX launched three giant direct-to-cell satellites from Florida's Space Coast this morning (June 17).

A Falcon 9 rocket topped with three of AST SpaceMobile's BlueBird spacecraft lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station today at 2:39 a.m. EDT (0639 GMT).

The rocket's first stage returned to Earth about 8.5 minutes later, touching down in the Atlantic Ocean on the SpaceX drone ship "A Shortfall of Gravitas." It was the 29th launch and landing for this particular booster, according to a SpaceX mission description.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches the BlueBird 8-10 mission for AST SpaceMobile on June 17, 2026. (Image credit: SpaceX)

Everything went according to plan after that as well. The Falcon 9's upper stage deployed the three BlueBirds into low Earth orbit (LEO) about an hour after liftoff, SpaceX confirmed via X.

AST SpaceMobile is building a constellation in LEO that beams internet service directly to cell phones. Before today, the company had launched seven spacecraft, most recently on April 19, when BlueBird 7 took to the skies on the third-ever flight of Blue Origin's powerful New Glenn rocket.

Things didn't go according to plan that day, however: New Glenn deployed BlueBird 7 in the wrong orbit after suffering an anomaly, and the satellite was lost.

The first stage of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket rests on the deck of a ship at sea shortly after launching three AST SpaceMobile BlueBird satellites on June 17, 2026. (Image credit: SpaceX)

BlueBird 7 was the second of AST SpaceMobile's "next-generation" spacecraft to launch, after BlueBird 6, which reached LEO successfully atop an Indian LVM3 rocket in December 2025.

The next-gen satellites have antennas that cover nearly 2,400 square feet (223 square meters) when unfurled — larger than any other commercial communications arrays ever deployed in space. (The original BlueBirds were no slouches in this department; their arrays covered 693 square feet, or 64.4 square meters).

Today's liftoff sent BlueBird 8, BlueBird 9 and BlueBird 10 aloft, quadrupling the number of next-gen satellites in LEO.

several dozen people stand in front of a stack of three large satellites inside a large, white-walled room — AST SpaceMobile's BlueBird 8, BlueBird 9 and BlueBird 10 satellites are seen stacked, prior to integration on their SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. The company has blurred out some details of the spacecraft. (Image credit: AST SpaceMobile)

"Our upcoming launch marks another important milestone as we continue advancing the deployment of our space-based cellular broadband network," Scott Wisniewski, president of AST SpaceMobile, said in a June 9 statement.

"Each BlueBird satellite launched expands our ability to support seamless space-based broadband mobile connectivity directly to everyday smartphones," he added.

Editor's note: This story was updated at 2:50 a.m. ET on June 17 with news of successful launch and rocket landing, then again at 12:40 p.m. ET with news of satellite deploy.

Michael Wall is the Spaceflight and Tech Editor for Space.com and joined the team in 2010. He primarily covers human and robotic spaceflight, military space, and exoplanets, but has been known to dabble in the space art beat. His book about the search for alien life, "Out There," was published on Nov. 13, 2018. Before becoming a science writer, Michael worked as a herpetologist and wildlife biologist. He has a Ph.D. in evolutionary biology from the University of Sydney, Australia, a bachelor's degree from the University of Arizona, and a graduate certificate in science writing from the University of California, Santa Cruz. To find out what his latest project is, you can follow Michael on Twitter.