Amazon may be a whiz at fast online deliveries, but the massive company will have to wait to launch the first satellites of its new space internet constellation after bad weather thwarted a liftoff on Wednesday night.
A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket attempted to launch 27 of Amazon’s first Project Kuiper internet satellites to orbit from Florida’s Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on April 9, but persistent clouds near the pad violated launch rules, ULA officials said.
“It is confirmed that we will not continue with the Amazon Project Kuiper 1 launch activities today,” ULA launch commentator Caleb Weiss said during a livestream. “We will work with our partners at the U.S. Space Force Space Launch Delta 45 for the timing of our next launch opportunity.”
Bad weather plagued ULA’s launch attempt Amazon throughout a two-hour flight window that opened at 7 p.m. EDT (2300 GMT). Launch controllers worked through some technical glitches, but were primarily concerned thick cumulus clouds and rain within 10 miles of the pad, which violated launch weather rules, ULA officials said.
Project Kuiper is Amazon’s answer to SpaceX’s megaconstellation of Starlink satellites to provide high-speed internet around the world. Amazon hopes to build a constellation of 3,200 broadband satellites in the years ahead to cement a foothold on the space-based internet market.
While ULA is launching these first Kuiper satellites, Amazon has tapped a wide range of launch services for the project, including flights on ULA’s brand-new Vulcan Centaur rocket, Arianespace boosters, Blue Origin’s New Glenn and SpaceX’s Falcon rocket family.
In October 2023, Amazon launched two prototype Kuiper satellites on a test flight, paving the way to this first fave of the first operational satellite launches.