Vulcan rocket fails on Amazon mission, destroying 40 satellites bound for orbit
Anomaly disrupts the flight
ULA said the Vulcan rocket encountered an anomaly roughly 10 minutes after lifting off from Space Launch Complex 41. The company confirmed that the Amazon payload did not reach orbit.
ULA has not identified what caused the problem. It said it would investigate and provide transparency as the work continues.
A setback for Amazon Leo
The 40 satellites were intended for Amazon Leo, the company’s competitor to SpaceX’s Starlink. The service has struggled to deploy enough satellites to challenge Starlink. This launch was the first of 38 flights Amazon purchased from ULA. The failed delivery leaves the satellites from this mission out of orbit.
Companies respond to failure
ULA described the event as an anomaly in a statement on X, saying the vehicle had failed to deliver the mission to orbit. The failure is reportedly the first in ULA’s 20-year history.
Amazon said launches carry risk, particularly on inaugural missions such as LV-01. The company called ULA a trusted partner and said it believed the launch provider would learn from the mission and carry out its longer-term Vulcan plans.
Key points
- ULA’s Vulcan rocket failed to deliver 40 Amazon Leo satellites to orbit.
- The anomaly occurred about 10 minutes into the flight from Space Launch Complex 41.
- Amazon had purchased 38 flights from ULA, and this was the first.
- Amazon Leo has placed only a small portion of the satellites needed to challenge Starlink.