Amazon has deployed the first pair of prototype satellites for its global internet service into space on Friday, from the southern US state of Florida.
This marks the big tech company’s first step before launching thousands of such satellites into space to enable Project Kuiper — the rival to SpaceX’s Starlink.
The Atlas V rocket with Amazon’s logo lifted off from Cape Canaveral at 2:06 pm Eastern time (1800 GMT), with the two prototypes.
The launch was carried out by United Launch Alliance which is a joint venture between Boeing and Lockheed Martin.
“We’ve done extensive testing here in our lab and have a high degree of confidence in our satellite design, but there’s no substitute for on-orbit testing,” said Rajeev Badyal, Project Kuiper’s vice president of technology.
The liftoff was live streamed shortly and ended before it showed the deployment of the satellites.
Amazon, however, announced that the prototypes had been successfully deployed in orbit and were in contact with the company’s mission center.
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