Ariane 6 launching 32 Amazon Leo satellites
April 30, 2026
By Chris Forrester
Europe’s most powerful rocket, an Ariane 6, will roar into action early on April 30th.
The Ariane 6 heavy rocket is carrying 32 Amazon Leo satellites is scheduled to launch from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana during a 49-minute window that opens at 4:08am EDT.
Amazon Leo, previously known as Project Kuiper, is Amazon’s answer to SpaceX’s Starlink broadband megaconstellation. Amazon Leo will eventually consist of about 3,200 satellites, whereas Starlink has more than 10,000 spacecraft already in orbit and serving users around the world.
The Ariane 6 rocket follows on in very quick succession from the April 27th launch of an Atlas V rocket which carried 29 Amazon Leo satellites into orbit.
This latest mission, which Arianespace is numbering VA268, will be the seventh-ever flight of the Ariane 6 and the second of its most powerful variant, known as the 64, because it features four strap-on solid rocket boosters.