United Launch Alliance back to try 1st launch of year with Amazon satellites
It’s been nearly seven months since United Launch Alliance had its last rocket launch, but the company’s first flight of 2025 could come to fruition on Monday night.
A ULA Atlas V on the Kuiper 1 mission carrying 27 of Amazon’s satellites for its Project Kuiper broadband internet constellation is targeting liftoff at 7 p.m. at the opening of a two-hour launch window from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 41.
Space Launch Delta 45’s weather squadron forecasts a 75% chance for good launch conditions, which increases to 90% if the attempt is delayed to Tuesday night.
The launch attempt comes more than two weeks since a first tryt that was stymied by weather forcing a scrub.
The launch would be the first since ULA’s Cert-2 mission of its new Vulcan rocket that flew on Oct. 4, 2024. ULA had been hoping to get a quick certification of the Vulcan from the Space Force that would open up the door for the company to begin using it to start knocking out a backlog of national security missions. The certification process, though, stretched for months, only coming on March 26.