SpaceX launches its Falcon Heavy for the first time in THREE YEARS: The world’s most powerful operational rocket unleashes 5 MILLION pounds of thrust during its fourth mission into space, carrying US military satellites
- SpaceX launched its Falcon Heavy for the first time in three years, marking its fourth flight into space
- The 229-foot tall took off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 9:41 a.m. ET
- Due to its 28 Merlin engines, it is considered the most powerful operational rocket in the world
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SpaceX has successfully launched its Falcon Heavy – the world’s most powerful operational rocket – on a mission carrying US military satellites into space for the first time in three years.
This rocket is 229 feet tall, which is the equivalent of three Falcon 9 rockets stacked on top of each other, and has 28 Merlin engines, while Falcon 9 only has nine.
The launch pad was shrouded in a thick layer of fog, making it nearly impossible to see the rocket, but the Falcon Heavy illuminated the area as it fired its engines, unleashing about five million pounds of thrust before launching at around 9:41 a.m. ET from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
The rocket’s two side boosters landed synchronously on adjacent concrete pads along Florida’s east coast about eight minutes after liftoff – and a sonic boom was heard as the pair touched down.
SpaceX plans to use this massive rocket to send a lander to the moon in 2023, ahead of the epic 2025 moon landing, which will see the first woman and person of color walk the surface – the first time humans have walked back in 50 years are.
A thick blanket of fog shrouded the launch pad Tuesday morning as SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy stood upright, waiting for the countdown clock to hit zero
The Falcon Heavy fired its 28 engines and flew into space at 9:41 am ET to deliver satellites for the US military
The joint SpaceX and Space Force teams began refueling the rocket with more than 1,400 tons of propellant at 8:48 a.m. ET. It burns about more than seven tons per second.
The missile hit Max Q, the moment of highest mechanical stress on a missile, at one minute and 11 seconds in flight and then at two minutes and 24 seconds, the side booster engine shutting down.
Approximately four seconds later, the side boosters separated from the core stage and the fairing deployed as the mission reached four minutes and 18 seconds.
And both boosters were back on the ground eight minutes and eleven seconds after take-off.
Falcon Heavy’s boosters are reusable, but the central core splashed into the ocean and is lost forever – but this is the standard for rockets according to the Space Force’s high performance requirements for this mission.
The rocket’s maiden voyage in 2018 launched CEO Elon Musk’s cherry-red Tesla Roadster — and it’s still floating around to this day.
The other two missions were conducted in 2019, but these saw satellites packed inside the capsule.
The first launched a telecommunications satellite for Saudi Arabia’s Arabsat and the other provided a number of experimental satellites for the US Department of Defense.
The rocket launched toward space with a camera attached to the launch vehicle, allowing the world to take the journey with it
The missile hit Max Q, the moment of highest mechanical stress on a missile, at one minute and 11 seconds in flight and then at two minutes and 24 seconds, the side booster engine shutting down
The rocket has three reusable cores, each containing nine Merlin engines for a total of 28, and while not as powerful as NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS), it still holds the title for the most powerful in service – the American space agency has yet to launch the SLS.