Launch window opens at 2 p.m. ET
ABOVE VIDEO: A United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V 501 rocket is launching the Protoflight mission for Amazon’s Project Kuiper. Liftoff will occur from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida. ULA’s Atlas V rocket will deliver two prototype satellites into low Earth orbit (LEO) for Project Kuiper, a LEO satellite network that will provide fast, affordable broadband to unserved and underserved communities around the world.
BREVARD COUNTY • CAPE CANAVERAL, FLORIDA – A United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V 501 rocket will launch the Protoflight mission for Amazon’s Project Kuiper on Friday, October 6, from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
Launch window opens at 2 p.m. ET.
ULA’s Atlas V rocket will deliver two prototype satellites into low Earth orbit (LEO) for Project Kuiper, a LEO satellite network that will provide fast, affordable broadband to unserved and underserved communities around the world.
The satellites are encapsulated in a 17.7-ft (5.4-m) diameter short payload fairing produced in the advanced Out-of-Autoclave manufacturing process. The 5-m PLF is a sandwich composite structure made with a vented aluminum-honeycomb core and graphite-epoxy face sheets.
The bisector (two-piece shell) PLF encapsulates both the Centaur and the spacecraft. The vehicle’s height with the 5-meter short PLF is approximately 196 ft (59.7 m).
Prototypes for #Amazon‘s #ProjectKuiper are now atop the #AtlasV rocket for launch! The satellite network will provide fast, affordable broadband to unserved and underserved communities around the world.
Read the latest on the #Protoflight launch preps: https://t.co/gbEHRwIRuk pic.twitter.com/EzttTQEJ0z
— ULA (@ulalaunch) September 29, 2023
About Space Launch Complex-41
Space Launch Complex-41, the East Coast home of the Atlas V rocket at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, employs a “clean pad” concept of operations to ready launch vehicles and payloads for ascent into space.
The rocket elements are assembled atop a Mobile Launch Platform inside the Vertical Integration Facility (VIF) located adjacent to the launch pad.
The platform and fully stacked Atlas V then travel by rail approximately 1,800 feet northward from the VIF to the pad for the final countdown, fueling and liftoff. Complex 41 was constructed by the U.S. Air Force in the 1960s for the Titan rocket program.
The site was rejuvenated in support of the Atlas V starting in the late 1990s.
Coverage of the launch can be seen on Space Coast Daily TV.
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