Cape Canaveral, Florida — December 16, 2025 — In the early hours of Tuesday morning, a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V 551 rocket lifted off from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, carrying 27 new satellites for Amazon Leo, the e-commerce giant’s burgeoning low Earth orbit (LEO) broadband satellite network.
A United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket lifts off from Space Launch Complex-41 on Dec. 16 at 3:28 a.m. EST carrying 27 satellites for the Amazon Leo broadband constellation. Photo Credit: United Launch Alliance
The launch took place at 3:28 a.m. EST (0828 UTC) under mostly favorable weather conditions and marked another major step in Amazon’s effort to build out one of the world’s largest satellite internet constellations.
A Milestone for Amazon Leo
This mission, often referred to as Amazon Leo 4 (or LA-04 in mission shorthand), successfully delivered 27 additional broadband satellites into low Earth orbit, bringing the total number of Leo satellites in space to roughly 180 production units.
Amazon Leo — previously known as Project Kuiper before the program was rebranded in November 2025 — plans to deploy a constellation of over 3,000 satellites designed to provide high-speed, low-latency internet access to underserved and remote regions around the world.
Rocket and Mission Profile
The Atlas V 551 rocket is ULA’s most powerful variant of its long-serving Atlas family, featuring five solid rocket boosters and the reliable Centaur upper stage. It has played a key role in the early build-out of Amazon Leo’s constellation, being one of several launch providers under contract — including SpaceX, Blue Origin, and Arianespace — as Amazon works through its ambitious deployment schedule.
During Tuesday’s mission, the Atlas V climbed onto a northeast trajectory carrying its Leo payload to an orbit at an altitude around 630 kilometers with an inclination of approximately 51.9 degrees — typical for internet broadband constellations.
Context and Competition
Amazon’s satellite broadband initiative enters a competitive sector currently dominated by SpaceX’s Starlink network, which already operates more than 9,000 satellites and has delivered service to millions of users globally. Amazon, however, aims to leverage its vast manufacturing and logistics capabilities to deploy and support its growing constellation.
In addition to expanding coverage, Amazon Leo has begun rolling out enterprise-grade hardware, including high-performance phased-array antennas capable of gigabit-level speeds, and has started preview programs for select business customers ahead of broader service launches expected in 2026.
Looking Ahead
The Leo 4 mission is part of a larger cadence of over 80 planned launches that will rocket Amazon’s broadband fleet into orbit over the next few years. Upcoming launch campaigns include additional Atlas V missions and future flights on ULA’s new Vulcan Centaur as well as Ariane 6 and Blue Origin’s New Glenn vehicles.
With this successful launch, Amazon Leo continues its steady march toward a global satellite internet service that promises broad coverage and improved connectivity for regions where traditional infrastructure is limited or unavailable.
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