— SpaceX has a new deal to launch internet-beaming satellites for its chief competitor in the satellite business — British company OneWeb. The somewhat awkward pairing, announced by OneWeb on Monday, comes after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine effectively brought a halt to Russian launches of commercial Western satellites. A launch deal between OneWeb and Russia that was brokered through an intermediary fell through, with the Russian space agency essentially holding the company’s satellites hostage, as they sat loaded on board a Russian Soyuz rocket at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. A OneWeb satellite on the opening day of the Story of a Satellite summer exhibition at Spaceport Cornwall on Aug 2, 2021 in Newquay, England. Hugh Hastings/Getty Images The new deal puts SpaceX, the world’s most prolific commercial launch provider, in the unique position of launching satellites that could compete with its own Starlink satellites in the space-based internet business. OneWeb is, however, currently marketing its services to businesses rather than directly to consumers, as SpaceX does with Starlink. OneWeb, which is partially owned by the British government, was set to launch a batch of 36 internet satellites in early March. But Dmitry Rogozin, Director General of Roscosmos and a former Deputy Prime Minister of Russia with a flair for inflammatory rhetoric, then announced Russia would refuse to go ahead with what should be a routine launch in response to UK sanctions on Russia following the invasion of Ukraine. The agency demanded that the UK government sell its stake in OneWeb, and that the company guarantee the satellites would not be used for military purposes, according to an ultimatum spelled out on Twitter from Roscosmos’ offical account. Roscosmos stressed the demands are “due to the UK’s hostile stance towards Russia” on Wednesday. “The Board of OneWeb has voted to suspend all launches from Baikonur,” the UK firm said in a statement responding to Rogozin’s tweets. In this handout photo provided by NASA, Expedition 44 flight engineer and NASA astronaut Scott Kelly is seen inside the Cupola, a special module which provides a 360-degree viewing of the Earth and the International Space Station July 12, 2015 in space. Kelly is one of two crew members spending an entire year in space. NASA/Getty Images