Watch Atlas V rocket launch 1st big batch of Amazon's Project Kuiper internet satellites

🔴 LIVE 🔴 April 9 Broadcast: Atlas V Kuiper 1 - YouTube

UPDATE for 8:46 ET: SCRUB! The United Launch Alliance is standing down from today's attempted Amazon Kuiper satellite launch due to bad weather. A new launch date has not been announced so watch this space and our Rocket Launch Today live blog for updates.

Amazon's first big batch of Project Kuiper broadband satellites will take flight today (April 9), and you can watch the action live.

A United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket is scheduled to launch 27 Project Kuiper satellites from Florida's Cape Canaveral Space Force Station today during a two-hour window that opens at 7 p.m. EDT (2300 GMT).

You can watch the liftoff live here at Space.com courtesy of ULA or directly via the company. Coverage will start at 6:35 p.m. EDT (2235 GMT).

A gold and white atlas v rocket on the launch pad carrying 28 Amazon Kuiper satellites — The United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket sits on Space Launch Complex 41 (SLC-41) at Cape Canaveral at sunset. The Atlas V will launch the Kuiper 1 mission for Amazon's Project Kuiper broadband satellite constellation (Image credit: United Launch Alliance)

Project Kuiper is Amazon's planned broadband megaconstellation in low Earth orbit. The initial network will consist of about 3,200 satellites, Amazon representatives have said.

Amazon will assemble that big constellation over more than 80 launches, the majority of them performed by the Atlas V and its successor, ULA's new Vulcan Centaur. Amazon has also procured launches from Arianespace, Blue Origin and SpaceX.

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Today's launch will be the first to send fully operational Kuiper craft skyward and the second of any type for the program: An Atlas V lofted two prototype Kuiper satellites in October 2023.

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Michael Wall is a Senior Space Writer with Space.com and joined the team in 2010. He primarily covers exoplanets, spaceflight and military space, but has been known to dabble in the space art beat. His book about the search for alien life, "Out There," was published on Nov. 13, 2018. Before becoming a science writer, Michael worked as a herpetologist and wildlife biologist. He has a Ph.D. in evolutionary biology from the University of Sydney, Australia, a bachelor's degree from the University of Arizona, and a graduate certificate in science writing from the University of California, Santa Cruz. To find out what his latest project is, you can follow Michael on Twitter.

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