A United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V 551 rocket launched the Amazon Leo (LA-08) mission at 0430 UTC on Thursday (July 2) from Space Launch Complex-41 (SLC-41) at Florida's Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, carrying 29 spacecraft for Amazon Leo broadband megaconstellation. All of the satellites were successfully deployed in low Earth orbit (LEO) as planned, ULA announced 70 minutes after liftoff.

Leo is the Amazon's broadband constellation in LEO (hence the name), which will eventually consist of about 3,236 satellites. It will compete with SpaceX's Starlink network, which has nearly 11,000 satellites currently and growing.

About 396 Amazon Leo satellites have reached orbit on a total of 15 missions to date, atop three different rockets -- the Atlas V, SpaceX's Falcon 9 and Arianespace's Ariane 6 -- making it the third-largest constellation currently active. With this milestone, Amazon Leo announced that the constellation has enough satellites to support continuous service across initial latitudes, preparing for an initial service rollout later in 2026.

LA-08 also represented the final flight in ULA’s Leo Atlas campaign, with the company having launched 224 satellites with a 100% success rate across eight Atlas V missions.

The 29 Amazon Leo satellites on Thursday's mission weighed a total of about 18 tons, tying the record for the heaviest load ever launched by an Atlas V. That mark was set on the Amazon Leo 5 mission in early April and has been equaled multiple times since.

Thursday's launch marks a strategic transition for Amazon Leo’s deployment strategy, shifting from the Atlas V to ULA’s newer, heavy-lift Vulcan rocket. Future Leo missions with ULA will utilize Vulcan, which is designed to carry larger payloads (over 40 satellites per launch) to accelerate deployment rates.

Amazon has secured more than 100 launches across multiple providers, including Arianespace, SpaceX, and Blue Origin (New Glenn), to meet its Federal Communications Commission (FCC) deadline of deploying 50% of the planned 3,236-satellite constellation by July 2026.

Open Standard, an independent entity governed by a consortium of over 140 companies announced the upcoming launch of a new dollar-pegged stablecoin called Open USD ($OUSD). Backed by a coalition of major players including Visa, Mastercard, BlackRock, Coinbase, Stripe and Google, Open USD is a direct enterprise-grade challenge to the long-standing duopoly of Tether (USDT) and Circle (USDC).

OUSD will launch natively on Solana, Stellar, Base, and Polygon simultaneously to capture fragmented liquidity and high-speed payment networks. Stripe plans to make OUSD the default stablecoin for its platform, while Coinbase will integrate it into its Base layer-2 network.

Unlike incumbents that keep reserve earnings, OUSD plans to distribute nearly all interest generated by its backing assets (cash and US Treasuries) to its partner companies after a small management fee. The stablecoin offers fee-free minting and redemption with no volume caps, incentivizing partners to drive adoption.

If all goes as planned, this is the ultimate selling point for enterprises. Instead of the issuer hoarding the interest generated by the multi-billion dollar reserve backing the stablecoin, Open Standard will distribute almost all reserve yield back to the network partners who adopt, distribute, and hold the coin (minus a nominal operational management fee). This transforms giant businesses from mere users into co-owners of the economic model.

For large corporations moving billions of dollars, the existing costs and artificial volume limits associated with creating or destroying tokens are a bottleneck. OUSD's zero-fee minting and redemption at institutional scale is another potential selling point.

Zach Abrams, the CEO of Bridge (the stablecoin infrastructure platform acquired by Stripe for $1.1 billion), is serving as the founding CEO of Open Standard. It will be controlled by a board of partner representatives rather than a single issuer, addressing enterprise concerns about counterparty dependence.

The consortium explicitly welcomes financial institutions, PSPs, card issuers, merchants, fintechs, exchanges, DeFi protocols, platforms, and marketplaces.

Tether and Circle combined control roughly 80% of the $300B+ stablecoin market. However, their business models are centralized: they collect user cash, invest it into yield-bearing assets like US Treasuries, and keep almost 100% of the interest profits for themselves.

Analysts note thar consortium-led networks like Open Standard's, are historically plagued by slow decision-making and friction when navigating fragmented global regulations. If Open Standard executes smoothly, OUSD could become the "SWIFT network" of programmable enterprise money; if not, it risks becoming an over-hyped corporate experiment.

Open USD is slated to go live later in 2026, meaning its liquidity and peg-stability are still untested.

Circle’s shares fell between 13% and 17% within hours of the announcement. Investors reacted to the realization that major partners like BlackRock and BNY (who historically support Circle's ecosystem) are now backing a direct economic competitor.

In a long X post, Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire publicly welcomed the competition but reiterated USDC's status as the most trusted asset, hinting at future enterprise-revenue-share changes. Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino wrote: "Welcome OUSD. Player 2 has entered the game." (a diss on USDC?).

Stablecoins like USDT and USDC have grown explosively because they offer fast, borderless, 24/7 dollar liquidity on blockchains.

USDT leads due to early adoption and liquidity (especially on Tron), while USDC gained traction through better transparency, regulatory compliance, and institutional trust. Both benefit from interest earned on reserves (mostly short-term U.S. Treasuries), which historically flowed mostly to the issuers.

Regulatory clarity accelerated corporate involvement. The upcoming OUSD launch aligns with the GENIUS Act, signed into law in 2025, by President Donald Trump which has opened the market for new, compliant stablecoin infrastructure.

Members of the Expedition 74 crew, NASA astronauts Chris Williams and Jessica Meir on Tuesday (June 30), completed US Spacewalk 95, a seven-hour and 20-minute extravehicular activity (EVA) outside the International Space Station (ISS) to repair the Canadarm2 remote manipulator system (RMS).

The spacewalkers replaced a malfunctioning 90-kilogram wrist joint that had failed during routine operations on May 27 due to a seized motor-gearbox assembly.

Canadarm2 is ~18 meters when fully extended, about 1,800 kg (or 1,497 kg to 1,960 kg depending on specific configuration and source). It features seven motorized joints, providing a range of motion similar to a human arm but with the ability to rotate joints 270 degrees. The arm can handle payloads up to 116,000 kg and is capable of "cosmic catches," such as grappling visiting cargo spacecraft.

The repair was critical as Canadarm2, the station’s primary tool for capturing cargo vehicles like SpaceX Dragon and Cygnus, is essential for station operations through its planned decommissioning in 2030. Canadarm2, a space station workhorse, has been in regular use since it was installed on the orbiting outpost in April 2001.

Williams (EV1) and Meir (EV2), each wearing a NASA extravehicular mobility unit (EMU), floated outside the Quest airlock soon after switching the spacesuits to battery power at 1220 UTC. They made quick work of transitioning to their work station, where they retrieved a spare wrist joint by using a power tool (pistol grip unit) to unbolt it from an exterior equipment panel.

The pair were supported from inside the station, by Jack Hathaway (SpaceX Crew-12) and Sophie Adenot (ESA), who operated Canadarm2’s remaining functional joints to position the arm for the repair, guided by mission control from Jenny Gibbons (Canadian Space Agency).

Working meticulously, Williams and Meir removed the old unit and installed the new joint (no. 5), bolting it in place. The astronauts completed their work on the arm by reattaching its latching end effector, or hand, which the arm uses to grapple objects and inchworm across the exterior of the station. Mission Control confirmed that the arm had good power connections after the astronauts' work. They brought the faulty joint back into the space station to be returned to Earth for analysis and possible refurbishment.

The successful repair restored the arm’s full range of motion, clearing the path for the upcoming Soyuz MS-29 crew launch scheduled for July 14. Although designed for a 15-year lifespan, the 25-year-old arm was engineered with modular, replaceable components to allow for in-orbit maintenance. The spare joint was already stored aboard the ISS.

"For over 25 years, the Canadarm2 has been a crucial part of the International Space Station. The arm was key to our orbiting laboratory and continues to be a workhorse that we rely on. Whether it is performing maintenance or replacing equipment, moving and operating payloads, catching cargo vehicles or helping us out during spacewalks, the arm has played and will continue to play an essential role in our work on orbit," Williams said as the spacewalk ended. "It is also a testament to international cooperation. Canada, the U.S. and the world have come together to make this program a success. We are honored … that we were able to give the arm a helping hand."

Tuesday's EVA marked the fourth time in history that spacewalkers have worked to service the Canadarm2. Previously, another wrist joint was replaced and both of the arm's end effectors were swapped out for spares.

Williams and Meir returned to the Quest airlock and began its depressurization at 1940 UTC, marking an end to the spacewalk, Tuesday. "We are thrilled to have repaired the mighty Canadarm2 just in time for Canada Day tomorrow! We hope that all in Canada and everyone around the globe can celebrate this achievement," Meir said.

Today's EVA was the 280th spacewalk in ISS history and marked Williams’ second and Meir’s fifth career spacewalk. Williams has now logged 14 hours and 22 minutes, including a previous EVA with Meir. Meir has totaled 36 hours and 6 minutes, including the first all-female EVA in 2019.