Watch Amazon's Project Kuiper launch first satellites into space

Project Kuiper is another milestone in the intergalactic rivalry between Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk.

Dylan Stableford
·Senior Writer
Updated ·2 min read
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Amazon launched its first two prototype satellites Friday in what the company is calling Project Kuiper, its $10 billion answer to SpaceX’s Starlink service.

The satellites — dubbed KuiperSat-1 and KuiperSat-2 — blasted into orbit on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral, Fla., to an altitude of 311 miles for testing.

“We’ve done extensive testing here in our lab and have a high degree of confidence in our satellite design, but there’s no substitute for on-orbit testing,” Rajeev Badyal, Project Kuiper’s vice president of technology, said in a statement ahead of the launch. “This is Amazon’s first time putting satellites into space, and we’re going to learn an incredible amount regardless of how the mission unfolds.”

The United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket carrying the first two satellites for Amazon’s Project Kuiper broadband internet constellation stands ready for launch.
The United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket carrying the first two Project Kuiper satellites at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Cape Canaveral, Fla., on Thursday. (Paul Hennesy/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

Amazon plans to launch 3,200 satellites into space over the next six years with the goal of forming a low-orbit “constellation” that will provide expanded connectivity for broadband users on Earth — especially in remote areas where traditional internet service is unavailable.

SpaceX’s Starlink has already launched more than 4,800 satellites — including 22 from Cape Canaveral on Thursday — which provide service for about 2 million users.

Amazon says it’s on track to deploy its first production satellites in the first half of 2024 and start beta testing with commercial consumers later that year.

Billionaire space race

Jeff Bezos speaks into a microphone.
Jeff Bezos at a press conference in Van Horn, Texas, in 2021. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Friday’s launch was another milestone in the rivalry between Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, who for years have been engaged in a space race along with fellow billionaire Richard Branson.

In 2021, Branson made history by becoming the first person to launch himself into space on his own Virgin Galactic plane, nine days before Bezos did the same on a rocket from his company Blue Origin. Musk has yet to do so.

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While all three companies are focused on space tourism, Blue Origin is also seeking to establish an industrial base in space.

Musk’s SpaceX, meanwhile, has a more ambitious goal: colonize Mars.