Falcon 9 lifts off carrying Intelsat 35e. Photo: SpaceX.

After two last-minute aborts over the holiday weekend, SpaceX successfully orbited a satellite for operator Intelsat on Wednesday evening, July 5. At 7:38 p.m. EDT, a Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center and delivered the Intelsat 35e satellite into Geostationary Transfer Orbit (GTO).

Intelsat 35e, the fourth addition to Intelsat’s Epic High-Throughput Satellite (HTS) constellation, carries a C- and Ku-band payload, and will meet demand for wireless backhaul, mobility services, Direct-to-Home (DTH) transmissions, and government applications in the Caribbean, Europe and Africa.

Intelsat 35e was originally scheduled to fly on July 2, but due to a computer-triggered abnormality SpaceX was forced to scrub the launch just 9 seconds before liftoff. Engineers from the company spent the Fourth of July holiday conducting a full review of the rocket and pad systems.

This launch marks SpaceX’s third in less than two weeks — the first was for BulgariaSat, the second for Iridium, and now Intelsat — which is a notable uptick in its launch rate compared to last year. Already the company has conducted more successful launches in 2017 than it has in any previous year, outpacing both United Launch Alliance (ULA) and Arianespace.

SpaceX still has at least 10 launches left in its manifest for 2017, including the first demonstration flight of its larger heavy-lift rocket Falcon Heavy in the third quarter.