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Science|Amazon to Launch First Project Kuiper Internet Satellites: What to Know
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/09/science/amazon-kuiper-satellite-launch.html
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The spacecraft are the online giant’s entry into beaming wireless service from space, but the company has much to do before it can compete with SpaceX’s Starlink.
April 9, 2025, 5:04 p.m. ET
The battle of billionaires in space between Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk has entered a new arena: satellite internet.
Amazon, the company that Mr. Bezos started as an online bookseller three decades ago, is now a merchandising behemoth, the owner of the James Bond franchise, a seller of electronic gadgets like Echo smart speakers and one of the most powerful providers of cloud computing.
So perhaps it is not a surprise that Amazon is now launching the first few of thousands of satellites known as Project Kuiper to provide another option for remaining connected in the modern world. The market for beaming high-speed internet to the ground from orbit is currently dominated by Elon Musk’s SpaceX rocket company, which operates a similar service, Starlink. Starlink, with thousands of satellites in orbit and more launching nearly every week, already serves several million customers around the world.
When is the launch and how can I watch it?
The first 27 Project Kuiper satellites are scheduled to lift off on Wednesday at 7 p.m. Eastern time from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
They will fly on an Atlas V, a rocket made by United Launch Alliance, a joint venture between Boeing and Lockheed Martin. U.L.A. plans to provide live coverage beginning at 6:35 p.m.
Forecasts project only a 20 percent chance of favorable weather, with wind and showers from coastal storms posing potential problems. But the loading of propellants on the rocket started, and there is a two-hour window in which the launch could occur.
