Amazon launches first internet satellites

The first 27 satellites for Amazon's Kuiper broadband internet constellation were launched into space from Florida on Monday, kicking off the long-delayed deployment of an internet-from-space network that will rival SpaceX’s Starlink.

- JOEY ROULETTE

The satellites are the first of 3,236 that Amazon plans to send into low-Earth orbit for Project Kuiper, a $10 billion effort unveiled in 2019 to beam broadband internet globally for consumers, businesses and governments — customers that SpaceX has courted for years with its powerful Starlink business.

Sitting atop an Atlas V rocket from the Boeing and Lockheed Martin joint-venture United Launch Alliance, the batch of 27 satellites was lofted into space at 7 pm local time from the rocket company’s launch pad at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Bad weather scrubbed an initial launch attempt on April 9.

Kuiper is arguably Amazon's biggest bet under way, pitting it against Starlink as well as global telecommunications providers like AT&T and T-Mobile. The company has positioned the service as a boon to rural areas where connectivity is sparse or nonexistent.

The mission to deploy the first operational satellites has been delayed more than a year — Amazon once hoped it could launch the inaugural batch in early 2024. The company faces a deadline set by the US Federal Communications Commission to deploy half its constellation, 1,618 satellites, by mid-2026, but its slower start means Amazon is likely to seek an extension, analysts say.