A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket launched 29 of Amazon’s internet satellites from Florida’s Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Monday night, lifting off at 8:53 p.m. EDT and sending the spacecraft toward low Earth orbit. The mission, called Amazon Leo 6 by ULA, marked the rocket’s sixth flight for Amazon’s broadband network.
The satellites were deployed in 10 separate batches, beginning about 21 minutes after liftoff and ending 16 minutes later, with all 29 spacecraft delivered to low Earth orbit. The flight also tied the Atlas V’s payload-weight record at 18 tons, matching the mark set by Amazon Leo 5 on April 4.
The launch is part of a much larger buildout. Amazon Leo, formerly known as Project Kuiper, is planned to grow into a constellation of more than 3,200 satellites designed to compete with SpaceX’s Starlink network. Getting there will take more than 80 launches by a mix of rockets, and only 10 launches have occurred so far.
ULA has now flown six Amazon Leo missions. SpaceX’s Falcon 9 has launched three, and Arianespace’s Ariane 6 has launched one. The first four Atlas V missions delivered 27 satellites, while Monday’s flight pushed the total carried by that rocket family higher as Amazon kept filling out the network.
That pace matters because the buildout is no longer a concept on paper; it is now a sequence of lift-offs, deployments and scheduled follow-on missions. Another Amazon Leo launch is set for early Wednesday morning, April 29, when Arianespace’s Ariane 6 is scheduled to fly from French Guiana.
