Amazon launched 29 broadband internet satellites aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket from Cape Canaveral on Friday evening. This mission marks the seventh batch of production satellites for the Project Kuiper initiative. The company plans to deploy a constellation of over 3,200 satellites in low Earth orbit to provide global broadband service.
Amazon faces a Federal Communications Commission deadline to have half of its constellation operational by late July 2026. The company is accelerating its launch schedule following a recent explosion of Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket. Amazon intended to use the New Glenn rocket for future Kuiper missions. The company confirmed that satellites located at the payload processing facility remained unharmed during the explosion.