April 9 (UPI) -- United Launch Alliance on Wednesday night scrubbed the night launch of the first 27 satellites owned by Amazon because of inclement weather in Florida.
A new date wasn't announced by the private company.
The liftoff had a window of 7-9 p.m. from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The time was continually pushed because cumulus clouds were violating the eastern portion of the 10-mile ring around the launch site. Also, winds remain elevated above the safe liftoff limit.
An issue with the Atlas 5 rocket's liquid hydrogen system forced a 15-minute hold on the launch at about 6:30 p.m. but did not scrub the launch.
The liquid hydrogen issue pushed the scheduled launch time to 7:40 p.m.
ULA is prepping its first of dozens of anticipated launch missions on behalf of its biggest commercial customer, Amazon, on its Atlas 551 rocket that will transport 27 "Project Kuiper" satellites into low Earth orbit.
The project's ultimate goal is to provide end-to-end connectivity that will deliver Internet service to virtually any location on Earth.
ULA has dubbed it Kuiper 1 and Kuiper Atlas 1 by Amazon.
Amazon's first batch of Project Kuiper satellites will be part of the company's constellation of more than 3,200 Internet satellites designed to rival other companies like Eutelsat's OneWeb and Elon Musk's Starlink via SpaceX.
Amazon officials say the global company will begin customer service once its initial 578 satellites are operational, according to the U.S. Federal Communications Commission.
On Monday, ULA President and CEO Tony Bruno said the company is shooting for late spring or early summer for its next Kuiper Atlas mission prior to transitioning their operations to its first national security mission via a Vulcan rocket.
"We have set out to design the most advanced satellite network ever built and we have created the whole thing in-house at Amazon," Rajeev Badyal, vice president of Technology for the Kuiper Satellite Network, said in an Amazon-produced video.
Bruno added he expects ULA to launch anywhere from 11 to 14 missions before the end of 2025.
"You need just about every technology area to contribute to build the satellite, the propulsion system, the solar arrays, the silicon, the phased array antennas, the optical inter-satellite links," added Badyal.
