June 23, 2025 11:31 a.m. PT 2 min read A predawn Atlas V launch on Monday brings Amazon's broadband constellation to 54 satellites, as Project Kuiper races to meet a 2026 deployment deadline. Gregg Newton/AFP/Getty Images An Atlas V rocket roared off Florida's Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 6:54 a.m. ET Monday, carrying 27 Amazon Kuiper satellites to low-Earth orbit. The flight, dubbed Kuiper 2 , doubles Amazon's constellation to 54 operational broadband satellites. Project Kuiper is Amazon's $10-billion-plus answer to Elon Musk's Starlink. The commerce giant is planning a network of 3,236 satellites to deliver high-speed, dependable internet to people everywhere, especially in communities traditional providers have left unconnected or underserved. Amazon's June 23 liftoff unfolded without any issues, a week after engineers scrubbed the first attempt because of a rocket booster issue. The United Launch Alliance Atlas V, on one of its last commercial flights, released the satellite batch about three hours after liftoff, handing control to Amazon's Kuiper mission center in Redmond, Washington.