The satellites are the first of 3,236 that Amazon plans to put into low-Earth orbit as Jeff Bezos looks to move into a market dominated by Elon Musk.
Amazon launched the first 27 satellites for its Kuiper broadband internet constellation into space from Florida on Monday.
The flight marks the start of Jeff Bezos’s delayed deployment of an internet-from-space network to rival Elon Musk’s Starlink.
The satellites are the first of 3,236 that Amazon.com Inc. plans to put into low-Earth orbit for Project Kuiper.
It is a $10 billion move first unveiled in 2019 to beam broadband internet globally for consumers, businesses, and governments—customers that SpaceX has courted for years.
Aboard an Atlas V rocket from the United Launch Alliance (ULA)—a joint effort between Boeing and Lockheed Martin—the 27 satellites blasted off at 7 p.m. EDT from the rocket company’s launch pad at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
Bad weather nixed an initial launch attempt on April 9.
Amazon has pitched the service as a particular benefit to rural areas where connectivity is sparse or completely absent.
The deployment of the first operational Kuiper satellites has been delayed for more than a year.
Amazon faces a deadline set by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission to deploy half its satellites by mid-2026, but the delay means the company is likely to seek an extension.
The tech giant is expected to publicly confirm initial contact with all of the satellites from its mission operations center in Redmond, Washington, within the next few days.
If all goes as well, the company expects to “begin delivering service to customers later this year,” it said.
Amazon said in a 2020 FCC filing that it could begin service in some northern and southern regions at 578 satellites, with coverage expanding toward the equator as more enter orbit.
The tech giant’s Project Kuiper is an ambitious foray into space, with a late start in a market dominated by SpaceX.
But Amazon executives see the company’s extensive consumer product experience and established cloud computing business, with which Kuiper will connect, as an advantage over Musk’s offering.
By Guy Birchall
