A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches the “Commercial GTO-1” payload at 1:04 AM from Launch Complex 40 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida on Sunday July 13, 2025. SpaceX has not released its payload detail, but it is believed that the Company is launching the “Dror-1” communications satellite for Israel. Photo by Joe Marino/UPI | License Photo
Amazon’s Project Kuiper broadband network got a literal boost from SpaceX Wednesday as a Falcon 9 rocket put several Kuiper satellites into orbit.
The mission, titled KF-01, involved a Falcon 9 that launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on Wednesday at 2:30 a.m. EDT, and carried 24 Kuiper craft into low Earth orbit at an altitude of 289 miles.
“Congrats to the amazing [Project Kuiper] team on another successful launch and thank you to [SpaceX] for the ride to space,” posted Amazon’s devices chief Panos Panay to X Wednesday. “Pumped to have another batch of Kuiper satellites heading into orbit!”
The Falcon 9’s first stage then returned to Earth about nine minutes later, landing on SpaceX’s “A Shortfall of Gravitas” droneship located in the Atlantic Ocean.
Marking the third launch of Kuiper satellites, this mission expanded Amazon’s broadband network to a current count of 78 but is slated to eventually be comprised of over 3,200 satellites, which will require more than 80 launches before reaching that goal.
