A much-delayed but ultimately successful launch by SpaceX of 24 Project Kuiper satellites on August 11th takes the total of Amazon craft launched to 102. This was the fourth launch, but there’s a long way to go.
This mission (KF-02) saw the satellites separated from the rocket at an altitude of 289 miles (465 kilometers) above Earth. In the coming months, they will gradually raise themselves to their assigned altitude of 392 miles (630 km).
This successful launch came at the end of four previously scrubbed attempts because of bad weather.
This initial satellite constellation will include more than 3,200 spacecraft, which began deploying in April 2025 when Kuiper sent its first 27 satellites into space. That mission was the first of more than 80 to deploy the initial constellation.
Amazon is investing $140 million into a new processing centre at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, and says the facility can handle three simultaneous launch campaigns.
Project Kuiper will use a combination of launch rockets from Arianespace, Blue Origin, SpaceX, and United Launch Alliance (ULA). Most of those missions will launch from Cape Canaveral, Florida, and having its own dedicated payload processing facility nearby means the satellite processing, integration, and encapsulation work can be streamlined, and move more quickly from the factory to the launch pad.
Construction is underway on a $19.5 million secondary support site that will help Amazon move even faster.