On Thursday, July 2, an Atlas V rocket placed 29 Amazon Leo satellites into orbit. The launch was successful, and all of them will take their positions in orbit. However, in the future the company will use other launch vehicles.
Launch on July 2
On July 2, 2026, at 00:30 in the U.S. East Coast, an Atlas V rocket was successfully launched from the spaceport at Cape Canaveral. The launch vehicle placed 29 Amazon Leo satellites into orbit. Twenty-one minutes after liftoff, their deployment in orbit began, and 16 minutes later it was completed.
In total, as reported by spacenews.com, this was the ninth Atlas V launch carrying satellites of this type. The number of Amazon Leo spacecraft in orbit now exceeds 390. Company engineers say they are continuing to work with them, but they will soon be ready for use.
Amazon Leo is what was previously known as Project Kuiper. It is a potential competitor to Starlink from Jeff Bezos’s company: a constellation of satellites in low Earth orbit designed to provide broadband internet access anywhere on the surface of our planet.
Which Rockets Are Used to Launch the Satellites
Announcing the creation of a system that will compete with Starlink is one thing; actually showing how it works is another. An agreement with United Launch Alliance, the manufacturer of Atlas V, to use this rocket for launching Amazon communications satellites was signed back in 2021.
Even then, it was known that production of these launch vehicles would be discontinued, although, as often happens, the process would stretch over several years. In 2022, it became known that the remaining satellites would be launched using other vehicles. Thirty-eight launches of the much newer Vulcan Centaur rockets were ordered from the same United Launch Alliance. European Ariane 6 rockets are also being used, as well as even Falcon 9 rockets from Amazon’s main competitor, SpaceX.
The first of the planned Atlas V launches took place in 2023, the next in 2025, and then they followed one after another — and now the final one has already taken place. According to Amazon’s management, this indicates a successful transition to using Vulcan Centaur for launches. The only problem is that since this launch vehicle suffered an accident this winter while carrying out a mission for the U.S. military, it has not been used.
The Fate of Atlas V
The service life of Atlas V is now practically over. It is the last rocket in the Atlas series, which has been used almost since the earliest years of space exploration. This particular version began flying in 2002, and over the past quarter century it has flown into space 110 times, with only one mission being partially unsuccessful.
Despite its high reliability, the rocket has become outdated, and no new orders have been placed for it for several years. Only five launch vehicles remain, which, under an agreement with NASA, are to be used to place the CST-100 Starliner spacecraft into orbit. However, during its first flight, Starliner itself encountered such serious problems that it is currently unknown when a new attempt will be made. Until then, the remaining Atlas V rockets will stay in storage.
