A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket is shown on its launch pad carrying Amazon’s Project Kuiper internet network satellites as the vehicle is prepared for launch from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Cape Canaveral, Florida, US, on April 28, 2025.
Joe Skipper | Reuters
Amazon said it now has enough satellites in orbit to begin “first service” of its Leo internet-from-space network later this year.
The company sent 29 satellites into orbit around 12:30 a.m. ET Thursday aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket. The mission brings Amazon’s constellation to more than 390 satellites, “enough to support continuous service across all launch sites,” Chris Weber, Amazon Leo’s vice president of business and product, wrote in a post on X.
It’s a milestone for Amazon as the company tries to make Leo a competitor SpaceX‘s Starlink in the Earth orbit satellite market. In November, Amazon began offering a “business preview” of Leo to select businesses, but has not yet rolled out the service to consumers and government customers.
Amazon’s first commercial service will likely be limited to users in certain regions. Future missions will “add coverage and power,” Weber said.
SpaceX had a four-year head start on the Amazon, launching Starlink in 2015. Since then it has amassed a constellation of about 10,000 satellites and over 10 million subscribers. Amazon announced the creation of Kuiper in 2019, and later changed the name to Leo.
Amazon aims to build a constellation of about 7,700 satellites, but the effort has been slowed by a lack of rocket capacity. In its January request for an extension to the delivery timeline, the company cited delays beyond its control, including a “temporary lack of availability” of the rockets. Amazon in 2022 signed a landmark agreement to maintain the launch of rockets with ULA, Arianespace and Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin, before buying a ride with SpaceX. Many of those suppliers experienced delays with their launch vehicles.
Another setback came in May, when one of Blue Origin’s New Glenn rockets exploded on the launch pad during a hot-fire test, just days before it was due to carry a batch of Amazon satellites. The company is currently rebuilding the pad, and is working to determine what caused the malfunction.
Bezos and Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp said the company is committed to returning the New Glenn to flight later this year. The New Glenn is a large, partially reusable rocket that aims to compete with SpaceX’s Starship rocket and can carry heavy payloads of up to 45 metric tons to low Earth orbit.
Amazon said Thursday that its next Leo mission will use ULA’s Vulcan heavy-lift rocket, which “will carry Leo’s larger payloads and help increase the rate of our deployments.”
“With hundreds of ready-to-fly satellites located near Cape Town and a new, dedicated assembly center ready to support Leo Vulcan 1 and subsequent missions, we have a clear path to increase launch and mission deployments, helping us rapidly expand network coverage following initial service launch later this year,” said Melissa Wuerl, Leo’s director of launch programs.
WATCH: Jeff Bezos at Blue Origin
