Arianespace to launch their first Amazon LEO sats

Not the first ever Amazon sats but Arianespace's first batch of 32 of Amazon's LEO satellites (formerly called the Kuiper constellation).  The reason this gets a story and not just mention is that this will be the first launch of what they're calling the Ariane 64, which is an Ariane 6 with four strap on solid rocket boosters. 

The Ariane 6 is fairly well-established for a new launch vehicle, with five launches, including its debut flight in July 2024. All of the launches were considered a success, although the first flight failed to relight the upper stage in order to make a controlled reentry. I'm guessing declaring it a success was the payload achieved the desired orbit.  Given that they had a full year instead of roughly half a year (first launch in July '24), Arianespace went from one/year to four launches last year and has set the goal to eight for this year.

Arianespace has sold 18 Ariane 6 launches to Amazon; this mission, called VA267, will be the first of them. The launch has a preliminary date of NET February 12th, three weeks from yesterday, January 15, with no time assigned. The launch will be from Arianespace's launch facility in French Guiana. 

Artist's rendering of Ariane 64 in operation. Image credit: Arianespace

VA267 will be the first flight of Ariane 6 in its full-power Ariane 64 configuration, capable of carrying payloads of more than 20 metric tons to orbit. The 32 Amazon Leo satellites will be accommodated under a 20-meter-long fairing and delivered by the Ariane 64 rocket to a Low Earth Orbit.

The Arianespace website adds:

The VA267 launch at a glance:

• 359th launch by Arianespace, 1st Arianespace launch in 2026
• 6th Ariane 6 launch and 1st launch of Ariane 64, its most powerful configuration, and 1st use of Ariane 6's long fairing configuration
• 1st Arianespace launch for Amazon Leo, within a series of 18
• 1st Ariane 6 launch for a commercial customer