SpaceX launches 21 Starlink satellites from Florida after delays

Feb. 26 (UPI) -- SpaceX successfully launched a new round of Starlink satellites into orbit on Wednesday night after scrubbing the flights and a little more than three hours after the private company launched another mission in Florida.

The Falcon 9, with 21 Starlink satellites, lifted off at 10:34 p.m. EST from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station's Launch Complex 40 in Florida.

Nearby from Kennedy Space Center pad 39A, SpaceX launched the Intuitive Machines mission to the moon for NASA at 7:16 p.m.

The private company had planned for a 2:26 a.m. launch of the satellites. The same mission was postponed twice on Tuesday.

The first stage returned about eight minutes after takeoff and landed on the drone ship Just Read the Instructions floating in the Atlantic Ocean.

Eight of the satellites have direct-to-cell capabilities.

SpaceX employed a new first-stage Falcon 9 rocket booster with the flight. The space company has honed the reuse of first-stage rocket boosters, which return to Earth for future flights.

SpaceX has not publicly said why the missions have been scrubbed.

The private company began launching Starlink satellites in 2019 and is now up to 7,000.

Starlink provides internet to areas where traditional broadband is unavailable with speeds up to 300 Mbps.

That includes planes.

Qatar Airways officials announced Wednesday more than half of its Boeing 777 fleet has been equipped with Starlink equipment since October.

Other airlines, including United, Air France, Hawaiian Airlines and Air New Zealand, have the system on some of their planes.