Two launches this morning
In the last six hours two different American companies successfully completed launches from the same spaceport.
First, SpaceX placed another 28 Starlink satellites in orbit, its Falcon 9 rocket lifting off from Cape Canaveral in Florida, with the first stage completing its 22nd flight by landing on a drone ship in the Atlantic.
The company also has another Starlink launch for this evening.
Next, ULA placed 27 more of Amazon’s Kuiper satellites into orbit, its Atlas-5 rocket also lifting off from Cape Canaveral in Florida.
Amazon now has 129 Kuiper satellites in orbit. It needs to get another 1,471 in orbit by July 2026 in order to meet its licence requirements by the FCC. While ULA appears to be ramping up regular launches for Amazon, having a contract for 46 launches (having so far completed three in 2025), the contracts for Blue Origin’s New Glenn (27 launches), and ArianeGroup’s Ariane-6 (18 launches) are more uncertain. Neither company has achieved any launches on their contracts, and it is not clear when either company, especially Blue Origin, will ever begin regular launches.
This was ULA’s fourth launch in 2025, so it does not yet qualify for the leader board in the 2025 launch race. The company says it hopes to launch about eight more times this year, but based on its present launch pace of about one launch every three months, that seems unlikely. As for the Atlas-5 rocket, ULA now has twelve rockets in left in stock before the rocket is retired for good. Most I think are reserved for Kuiper launches.
The leaders in the 2025 launch race:
124 SpaceX
55 China
13 Russia
12 Rocket Lab
SpaceX now leads the rest of the world in successful launches, 124 to 95.
In the last six hours two different American companies successfully completed launches from the same spaceport.
First, SpaceX placed another 28 Starlink satellites in orbit, its Falcon 9 rocket lifting off from Cape Canaveral in Florida, with the first stage completing its 22nd flight by landing on a drone ship in the Atlantic.
The company also has another Starlink launch for this evening.
Next, ULA placed 27 more of Amazon’s Kuiper satellites into orbit, its Atlas-5 rocket also lifting off from Cape Canaveral in Florida.
Amazon now has 129 Kuiper satellites in orbit. It needs to get another 1,471 in orbit by July 2026 in order to meet its licence requirements by the FCC. While ULA appears to be ramping up regular launches for Amazon, having a contract for 46 launches (having so far completed three in 2025), the contracts for Blue Origin’s New Glenn (27 launches), and ArianeGroup’s Ariane-6 (18 launches) are more uncertain. Neither company has achieved any launches on their contracts, and it is not clear when either company, especially Blue Origin, will ever begin regular launches.
This was ULA’s fourth launch in 2025, so it does not yet qualify for the leader board in the 2025 launch race. The company says it hopes to launch about eight more times this year, but based on its present launch pace of about one launch every three months, that seems unlikely. As for the Atlas-5 rocket, ULA now has twelve rockets in left in stock before the rocket is retired for good. Most I think are reserved for Kuiper launches.
The leaders in the 2025 launch race:
124 SpaceX
55 China
13 Russia
12 Rocket Lab
SpaceX now leads the rest of the world in successful launches, 124 to 95.