CAPE CANAVERAL SPACE FORCE STATION, Fla. (WHNT) — United Launch Alliance announced that the Kuiper 2 mission has a new launch date.
ULA was originally meant to send Amazon satellites to space in the Kuiper 2 mission on June 16. The launch was set to be from Cape Canaveral, Florida.
Play-by-play status reports from Launch Control announced that the launch of the Atlas V 551 was delayed “due to an engineering observation of an elevated purge temperature within the booster engine.”
On Saturday, ULA said the Atlas V 551 rocket will send the second Kuiper mission into Low Earth Orbit on Monday, June 23. The launch is scheduled for 6:54 a.m. EDT at the opening of a 30-minute window.
Its mission is to provide fast, reliable internet to customers around the world, including those in unserved and underserved communities, using a constellation of more than 3,200 LEO satellites.
“United Launch Alliance is preparing to launch the Kuiper 2 mission for Amazon’s Project Kuiper on Monday, June 23. This launch continues a new chapter in the commercial launch industry as Amazon partners with ULA to deliver the majority of its advanced satellites to low Earth orbit,” ULA said.
The rocket used in this mission was manufactured here in North Alabama. ULA in Decatur began preparations for the Kuiper 1 launch on Feb. 24 when the company stood up the Atlas V first stage aboard the mobile launch platform. In the days following, five side-mounted solid rocket boosters were fixed to the rocket to provide “maximum launch performance.”
Kuiper 1 launched into space on April 28.
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