this post was submitted on 16 Jun 2025
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ULA Project Kuiper (KA-02) launch thread! (sh.itjust.works)
submitted 1 day ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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Welcome everyone!

| Scheduled for (UTC) | 2025-06-16 17:25 | |

|

| | Scheduled for (local) | 2025-06-16 13:25 (EDT) | | Launch site | SLC-41, Cape Canaveral SFS, Florida, USA. | | Launch vehicle | Atlas V 551 | | Launch provider | United Launch Alliance (ULA) | | Customer | Amazon Kuiper Systems LLC | | Payload | 27 Kuiper satellites | | Mass | 15,422.0 kg | | Target orbit | LEO |

Livestreams

| Stream | Link | |

|

| | ULA | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKifwI3t55A | | NASASpaceflight | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLQstWj6xsY | | Space Affairs | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DpfQPwRjTo | | Spaceflight Now | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vD9sZwzddF8 | | The Launch Pad | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLt_H5pzBWc | | Everyday Astronaut | https://www.youtube.com/@EverydayAstronaut/streams |

Launch statistics

☑️ 2nd Atlas V mission of 2025, 103rd overall

☑️ 2nd ULA mission of 2025, 165th overall

Mission Details 🚀

Project Kuiper is a mega constellation of satellites in Low Earth Orbit that will offer broadband internet access managed by Kuiper Systems LLC, a subsidiary of Amazon. This constellation is planned to be composed of 3,236 satellites. The satellites are projected to be placed in 98 orbital planes in three orbital layers, one at 590 km, 610 km, and 630 km altitude.

Previous ULA launch: Project Kuiper (KA-01)

Next ULA launch: TBD

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago* (last edited 13 hours ago)

Launch delayed, per launch status update from ULA website at 12:51 EDT:

(Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Fla., June 16, 2025) – The launch of a United Launch Alliance Atlas V 551 carrying Amazon’s second Project Kuiper mission, Kuiper 2, is delayed due to an engineering observation of an elevated purge temperature within the booster engine. The team will evaluate the hardware, and we will release a new launch date when available.

Edit: Additional info from Tory:

https://bsky.app/profile/torybruno.bsky.social/post/3lrqdzwhnwk2m

Working a temperature measurement warmer than previous family

https://bsky.app/profile/torybruno.bsky.social/post/3lrqgylhjdk2m

Possible issue with a GN2 purge line that cannot be resolved inside the count. We will need to stand down for today. We’ll sort it and be back.

[–] burble 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

The Kuiper launch manifest has to be such a pain to deal with.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Kuiper#Launches

Atlas, Atlas, Falcon, Atlas, Vulcan, Ariane, New Glenn.

Different environments, quantities, integration facilities, companies... Best of luck.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

True, they'd need a different payload dispenser for each launch vehicle...

[–] burble 1 points 1 day ago

For some reason I was thinking it was the same ring of 9 for each vehicle, but different numbers of those rings depending on launcher capability and fairing size.

But needing to go to different facilities to integrate the stacks and deal with the different companies sounds awful.