Amazon on Wednesday said it plans to launch this month the first 27 satellites for its Project Kuiper internet network, a long-awaited moment for a budding constellation that will pose the biggest challenge yet to Elon Musk's massive Starlink system.

"No matter how the mission unfolds, this is just the start of our journey, and we have all the pieces in place to learn and adapt as we prepare to launch again and again over the coming years."

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched from NASA's space center in Florida on Monday, carrying private astronauts on the Fram-9 mission for the first orbit around Earth's poles. The rocket launched on Monday from Kennedy Space Center on Cape Canaveral as planned and,