One launch down, 80-plus to go, for a pittance compared to planned AWS spending Amazon’s first attempt to hoist production versions of its Project Kuiper broadband-beaming satellites appears to have succeeded.

Late on 28 April, Amazon’s Kuiper constellation launched its first 27 satellites aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral’s Space Force Station, kicking off its campaign to rival SpaceX’s Starlink solution, serving 4.5 million customers and representing over 60 percent of all satellites in orbit.