Project Kuiper (KF-02) launch thread
Project Kuiper (KF-02) launch thread
| Scheduled for (UTC) | 2025-08-11, 12:35 |
|---|---|
| Scheduled for (local) | 2025-08-11, 08:35 (EDT) |
| Launch site | SLC-40, Cape Canaveral SFS, Florida, USA |
| Booster | B1091-1 (new booster!) |
| Landing | A Shortfall of Gravitas |
| Payload | 24 Kuiper Satellites |
| Payload mass | unknown |
| Customer | Amazon Kuiper Systems |
| Target orbit | LEO |
Webcasts
| Stream | Link |
|---|---|
| Space Affairs | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmLgVD_vLdI (scrub 3, scrub 2) |
| Spaceflight Now | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5El5bejreo (scrub 3, scrub 2, scrub 1) |
| NASASpaceflight | https://youtube.com/watch?v=a4F4vPUNjqI (scrub 3, scrub 2, scrub 1) |
| The Launch Pad | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0cvb-uQSyI (scrub 3, scrub 2, scrub 1) |
| SpaceX | https://x.com/SpaceX/status/1954881017334161506 (scrub 3, scrub 2) |
| The Space Devs | https://youtube.com/watch?v=b8B_vApZq2g |
Stats
Sourced from NextSpaceflight and r/SpaceX:
☑️ First launch of B1091
☑️ 47th launch from SLC-40 this year
☑️ 7 days, 4:37:10 turnaround for this pad
☑️ 120th landing on ASOG
☑️ 490th Falcon family booster landing, 503rd Falcon recovery attempt
☑️ 97th Falcon 9 mission of 2025, 515th Falcon 9 mission overall
☑️ 100th SpaceX mission of 2025, 540th overall (excluding Starship hops)
☑️ 100th SpaceX launch of 2025, 549th overall (including Starship hops)
First use of B1091, the first Falcon Heavy center core capable of flying in a single-stick configuration supporting Falcon 9 launches, a configuration in which it will remain for a handful of launches before it will be reconfigured and support Falcon Heavy.
Mission info
Project Kuiper is a mega constellation of satellites in Low Earth Orbit that will offer broadband internet access managed by Kuiper Systems LLC, a subsidiary of Amazon. This constellation is planned to be composed of 3,236 satellites. The satellites are projected to be placed in 98 orbital planes in three orbital layers, one at 590 km, 610 km, and 630 km altitude.
Interesting tidbit:
They've converted single-stick Falcon 9 boosters to Falcon Heavy side boosters, but I don't recall them doing single-stick to Falcon Heavy core conversions before.
Sources: 1, 2
Jon Edwards is VP of Falcon and Dragon at SpaceX.
I'm slightly surprised they don't always use Starlink sats as the payload on a booster's 1st flight, these days.
And I'm slightly more surprised they didn't do so in this case, as they were trying something new (using a FH centre core in a single-stick config).
Yeah, that seems like it would be an obvious low-risk payload to fly on each new booster. Though in this case, they used a Starlink competitor's payload, which is... an interesting decision? I presume Amazon must have given them the OK?