Amazon’s Kuiper Enters Orbit – Trailing SpaceX’s Starlink By Years

Amazon’s Kuiper officially entered the space communications race on Monday evening, with its first 27 satellites launched into orbit aboard a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

These satellites will deliver high-speed, low-latency broadband internet to customers worldwide and form the foundation of a much larger planned constellation of 3,200 satellites in low Earth orbit, expected to be rolled out in the coming years.

Nominal start to our KA-01 mission. We’ve already established contact with all 27 Kuiper satellites in orbit, and initial deployment and activation sequences are proceeding as planned. Thanks to @ULAlaunch for a successful launch – the first of many missions together. pic.twitter.com/XyG0UCgjuX

— Project Kuiper (@ProjectKuiper) April 29, 2025

Monday’s milestone marks a long-awaited step for Jeff Bezos’ Kuiper, which now enters the race six years behind Elon Musk’s Starlink, operated by SpaceX.

Notably, it wasn’t Blue Origin—Bezos’ rocket company—that launched the 27 satellites. Instead, it was ULA doing the heavy lifting, while Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket has so far been better known for celebrity suborbital joyrides than serious work. 

US Gov’t: Katy Perry “Doesn’t Meet FAA Astronaut Criteria” https://t.co/vDzQkCOJEI

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) April 19, 2025

Meanwhile, SpaceX has already launched over 8,000 Starlink satellites into orbit and offers service in more than 125 countries. With more than 5 million users worldwide, Starlink remains the dominant player in the global space-based communications market.

SpaceX’s space dominance has turned Goldman analysts into believers. Earlier this year, analysts provided clients with a list of Starlink’s suppliers to capitalize on, as tens of thousands of these satellites will be catapulted into low Earth orbit by the decade’s end. 

Goldman Turns Bullish On Starlink Satellite Parts Supplier As Space Race Accelerates https://t.co/GyooFrcg0x

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) February 18, 2025

Just last night…

Falcon 9 launches back-to-back @Starlink missions from California and Florida and completes our 50th mission of 2025! pic.twitter.com/t2tYvM6ctD

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) April 29, 2025

Democrats have waged war against the guy who is catching skyscraper-sized rocket boosters. 

Super Heavy catch on Starship’s eighth flight test pic.twitter.com/oC80r7CZ4L

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) March 8, 2025

Talk about efficiency: 

Summary:
Over $250B spent with no new domestic human launch system until SpaceX delivered one.
Meanwhile, SpaceX built Falcon 1, Falcon 9, Falcon Heavy, Dragon, and Starship — all for less than 3% of NASA’s total spend. pic.twitter.com/rraK1yPccX

— Sam (@futurenomics) April 22, 2025

Bezos uses Starlink terminals on his very own yacht. 

The hope is that competition will innovate the space communications race, yet Starlink doesn’t really have strong competitors – not Bezos, not China, not Russia. Just wait until SpaceX’s mega-rocket begins launching Starlink satellites.