Crunch time—we’ll soon find out if Amazon’s launch providers are up to the job

For the second time in two months, United Launch Alliance sent a batch of 27 broadband Internet satellites into orbit for Amazon on Monday morning.

Just like the last flight on April 28, an Atlas V rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, and delivered Amazon’s satellites into an on-target orbit roughly 280 miles (450 kilometers) above Earth. This was the second launch of a full load of operational satellites for Amazon’s Project Kuiper, a network envisioned to become a competitor to SpaceX’s Starlink.

The Atlas V launched at 6:54 am EDT (10:54 UTC) on Monday, a week after ULA scrubbed the mission’s first countdown to address a problem with the rocket’s Russian-made RD-180 main engine. With that issue resolved, ULA’s launch team gave a “go” for Monday morning’s sunrise liftoff.

The rocket climbed away from its launch pad at Cape Canaveral, assisted by five strap-on solid-fueled boosters. Heading northeast over the Atlantic Ocean, the rocket jettisoned its five spent booster casings, payload fairing, and first stage in the first five minutes of the flight. The rocket’s Centaur upper stage ignited to finish the job of placing Amazon’s next 27 satellites into orbit.

Amazon and ULA confirmed the successful conclusion of the launch, bringing the total number of operational Kuiper satellites deployed in orbit to 54.

A long way to go

Project Kuiper has now completed three launches, including a test launch in 2023 with a pair of Kuiper prototypes. When complete, the network’s architecture will consist of 3,232 satellites in low-Earth orbit, enabling coverage of most of the populated world.

Amazon has procured more than 80 launches with four companies to put all of these satellites into orbit. ULA won the lion’s share of the launch contracts to deploy more than half of the Kuiper constellation. Amazon purchased the last nine Atlas V rockets before ULA retires the vehicle in favor of the newer Vulcan rocket. Shortly thereafter, Amazon signed a contract for 38 Vulcan flights, each of which ULA says will deliver 45 Kuiper satellites into orbit.