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United Launch Alliance (ULA) scrubbed the June 16, 2025, attempt to launch Amazon’s second full-scale Project Kuiper mission after detecting an elevated purge temperature in the Atlas V booster engine. The 27-satellite mission was not canceled: it launched successfully one week later, on June 23. The public explanation points to a launch-vehicle observation, not a failure of Amazon’s satellites.
What happened to the Kuiper launch?
The mission, designated KA-02 or Kuiper 2, was scheduled to fly on a ULA Atlas V 551 from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. It carried 27 operational broadband satellites. About 30 minutes before the planned liftoff on June 16, ULA stopped the countdown to evaluate an elevated purge-temperature reading within the booster engine. Contemporaneous launch coverage reported the scrub and the temperature observation.
The wording matters. The reported issue was an elevated purge temperature; the available public information does not establish that the engine overheated, failed, or suffered permanent damage. ULA did not publicly identify the precise component, provide the measured temperature, or explain whether hardware was replaced.
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Weather and the technical scrub were separate events
The June 16 attempt followed an earlier postponement on June 13 because of unfavorable weather, according to contemporaneous reporting. That weather delay and the later technical scrub were distinct: the June 16 countdown was halted because of the booster-engine temperature observation, not because of the earlier weather concern.
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The mission flew a week later
ULA rescheduled the launch, and Atlas V lifted off at 6:54 a.m. EDT on June 23, 2025. The rocket deployed all 27 satellites into their intended orbit, according to ULA’s mission release. In practical terms, the June 16 scrub moved this mission by seven days; it did not cancel the payload or prevent the launch from taking place.
Why “second launch” needs context
Kuiper 2 was Amazon’s second full-scale operational satellite launch, not the program’s second spaceflight. Amazon launched two prototype satellites, KuiperSat-1 and KuiperSat-2, in October 2023. The first full-scale production mission, KA-01, followed on April 28, 2025, carrying 27 satellites. KA-02 was the next operational batch. Amazon’s account of the KA-01 launch and its mission history distinguish those stages.
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What the delay meant for Amazon’s rollout
KA-02 mattered because it added another batch to a large constellation that Amazon was beginning to deploy. Amazon has described plans for an initial network of more than 3,200 low-Earth-orbit satellites and had arranged launches with multiple providers. The company’s launch-investment announcement described that diversified launch strategy, which is intended to support deployment at scale.
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At the time of the 2025 launch, Amazon said it expected to begin delivering service later that year. That was the company’s expectation, not a guarantee that service would be available everywhere on a fixed date. Launching satellites is only one part of making a broadband network available to customers.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Project Kuiper is now Amazon Leo
The launch took place under the name Project Kuiper. Amazon renamed the program Amazon Leo on November 13, 2025, according to its program updates. The historical mission is still commonly identified as Project Kuiper’s KA-02; the newer name does not change what happened in June 2025.
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