Overview
- ULA’s Atlas 5 551, which lifted off Saturday at 1:46 a.m. Eastern from Cape Canaveral, deployed 29 Amazon Leo broadband satellites to low Earth orbit in about 38 minutes.
- ULA said the flight carried the most satellites and the heaviest payload ever flown on an Atlas 5.
- Engineers added two satellites by using a higher‑performing RL10C‑1‑1 engine on the Centaur upper stage and by stacking a fourth layer on the dispenser that holds the spacecraft.
- Amazon now has 241 satellites in orbit out of a planned 3,232, short of the 1,616 required by July, and it has asked the FCC for a two‑year extension or waiver.
- Next steps call for another Atlas 5 launch no earlier than April 27 and an Ariane 6 on April 28, with Vulcan missions on hold after a Feb. 12 solid‑rocket booster problem.