Overview
- A United Launch Alliance Atlas V 551 launched 29 Amazon Leo satellites on July 2, 2026, bringing the constellation to roughly 390–396 spacecraft in low Earth orbit.
- Amazon says that count is enough to begin initial commercial service once the new satellites are raised to their assigned altitudes and complete on‑orbit checkouts.
- The mission was the last Atlas V flight carrying Amazon satellites as the rocket is retiring and six remaining Atlas V vehicles are reserved for Boeing’s Starliner program.
- Amazon’s plan to scale now depends on heavier rockets that are currently constrained because ULA’s Vulcan and Blue Origin’s New Glenn are grounded for anomaly investigations, creating a near‑term launch bottleneck.
- The FCC granted a conditional waiver to a July 30 deployment milestone but imposed temporary spectrum processing limits, which increases urgency for Amazon to accelerate launches and restore full regulatory priority while it grows toward the 3,232‑satellite target.