The moment of lift-off Jeff Bezos, the founder of the online retail giant Amazon, is expanding his interests in space. On Friday he launched two prototype satellites for a broadband mega-constellation he calls Project Kuiper. Mr Bezos is planning to put up more than 3,200 spacecraft in the next few years to deliver internet connections to anywhere on the globe. He hopes to challenge Elon Musk's Starlink, which already offers satellite internet in many countries. The two small satellites launching on Friday - KuiperSat-1 and KuiperSat-2 - will trial the necessary technology. They were carried into a 500km-high (310 miles) orbit by an Atlas-5 rocket. The flight from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida launched at 14:00 EDT (18:00 GMT). Artwork: A Jeff Bezos company, Blue Origin, is developing a Moon lander for astronauts As with other mega-constellation systems there will be scrutiny of the potential for any interference the Kuiper satellites might pose for astronomy. There's considerable concern that the growing number of spacecraft in orbit will severely impact telescopic observation of the Universe. If not carefully engineered, spacecraft can appear as very bright, trailing objects as their surfaces catch the rising and setting Sun. Just this week, astronomers reported on the glare coming from an experimental telecommunications satellite called BlueWalker-3. This spacecraft has a 64-sq-m (690-sq-ft) antenna to connect with mobile phones direct from orbit. At times, BlueWalker-3 would appear as one of the 10 brightest objects in the entire sky, the scientists said. Added to concerns about interference are worries over the traffic management of large populations of satellites. Multiple collisions in congested space would create debris that might then restrict what anyone can do in orbit. Kuiper is one of several space projects being developed by Mr Bezos. The Amazon billionaire has another company called Blue Origin which has started to fly "tourists" high above the Earth in a rocket and capsule system called New Shepard. Blue Origin is also working on a much bigger vehicle called New Glenn, as well as on concepts for an astronaut landing craft for the Moon and a commercial space station to be flown in Earth orbit.