Falcon Heavy, reusable super heavy-lift launch vehicle, SpaceX, Hawthorne, California, USA

Falcon Heavy is the world’s most powerful rocket, a launch vehicle of scale and capability unequaled by any other currently flying.

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On Wednesday, Jan. 24th, 2018 SpaceX completed the first static fire test of the Falcon Heavy launch vehicle. When Falcon Heavy lifts off, it will be the most powerful operational rocket in the world by a factor of two.

Its first stage is composed of three Falcon 9 nine-engine cores whose 27 Merlin engines together generate more than 5 million pounds of thrust, equal to approximately eighteen 747 aircraft. Only the Saturn V moon rocket, last flown in 1973, delivered more payload to orbit. Falcon Heavy was designed from the outset to carry humans into space and restores the possibility of flying missions with crew to the Moon or Mars.

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Facts about the SpaceX rocket that could one day send astronauts to the Moon and Mars. A demonstration flight is scheduled for Feb. 6, 2018 and will attempt to launch Elon Musk's Tesla Roadster and a SpaceX spacesuit-wearing mannequin into Mars orbit.

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After successfully launching a Tesla Roadster and a mannequin wearing a spacesuit (called Starman) on Falcon Heavy's maiden voyage, the three first stage boosters flew back to Earth. Two of the boosters landed at SpaceX landing zones in Florida, while the status of the third was still pending at sea.

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SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket took off from Cape Canaveral, Florida yesterday carrying its first payload -- a red Tesla roadster -- into orbit. Loren Grush spoke to CEO Elon Musk about the launch and what this means for the future of space travel, as well as Planetary Society CEO Bill Nye. The Falcon Heavy now holds the title for the world’s most powerful rocket, and its launch marks the first time a vehicle this massive has ever been sent up by a commercial company.

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Gianluca Masi (Virtual Telescope Project) and Michael Schwartz (Tenagra Observatory) joined forces to capture imagery of the Tesla Roadster that was launched into space by SpaceX's Falcon Heavy rocket. Video features the song "Here to Mars" by Coheed and Cambria

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The TechCrunch team arrived at Kennedy Space Center to see SpaceX's historic Falcon Heavy launch. Here's what it was like to be there.

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When Falcon Heavy lifted off, it became the most powerful operational rocket in the world by a factor of two. With the ability to lift into orbit nearly 64 metric tons (141,000 lb)---a mass greater than a 737 jetliner loaded with passengers, crew, luggage and fuel--Falcon Heavy can lift more than twice the payload of the next closest operational vehicle, the Delta IV Heavy, at one-third the cost.

Following liftoff, the two side boosters separated from the center core and returned to landing site for future reuse.

Falcon Heavy put a Tesla Roadster and its passenger, Starman, into orbit around the sun. At max velocity Starman and the Roadster will travel 11 km/s (7mi/s) and travel 400 million km (250 million mi) from Earth.

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SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy Demonstration Mission launched from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A), Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on 6 February 2018, at 20:45 UTC (15:45 ET). Falcon Heavy’s center core attempted to land on the “Of Course I Still Love You” droneship, stationed in the Atlantic Ocean, but failed to light two of the three engines during the landing burn and crashed into the ocean.

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On its second flight, the SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket launched the ArabSat-6 mission on April 11, 2019.

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For SpaceX’s Arabsat-6A mission, a Falcon Heavy rocket launched the Arabsat-6A telecommunications satellite from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A), at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on 11 April 2019, at 22:35 UTC (18:35 EDT). Following booster separation, Falcon Heavy’s two side boosters (Block 5 B1052 and B1053) landed at SpaceX’s Landing Zones 1 and 2 (LZ-1 and LZ-2) at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. Falcon Heavy’s center core (Block 5 B1055) landed on the “Of Course I Still Love You” droneship, stationed in the Atlantic Ocean.

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A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket launched the Space Test Program 2 (STP-2) mission on Jun 25, 2019.

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A SpaceX's Falcon Heavy rocket launched the STP-2 mission on June 25, 2019. During the return flight of the side boosters landed successfully on the ground but the center core failed to land on the "Of Course I Still Love You" droneship in the Atlantic Ocean.

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A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket launched the USSF-44 mission to a geosynchronous Earth orbit from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A), at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on 1 November 2022, at 13:41 UTC (09:41 EDT). Following booster separation, Falcon Heavy’s two side boosters (B1064 and B1065) landed at SpaceX’s Landing Zones 1 and 2 (LZ-1 and LZ-2) at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. Due to mission requirements, Falcon Heavy’s center core (B1066) was not planned to be recovered.

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A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket launched the USSF-67 mission to a geosynchronous Earth orbit from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A), at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on 15 January 2023, at 22:56 UTC (17:56 EST). Following booster separation, Falcon Heavy’s two side boosters (B1064 and B1065) landed at SpaceX’s Landing Zones 1 and 2 (LZ-1 and LZ-2) at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. Due to mission requirements, Falcon Heavy’s center core (B1070) was not planned to be recovered. As secondary payload, Falcon Heavy launched the Northrop Grumman-built LDPE-3A.

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A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket launched the ViaSat-3 Americas mission to geostationary Earth orbit from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A), at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on 1 May 2023, at 00:26 UTC (30 April, at 20:26 EDT). As secondary payload, Falcon Heavy launched Astranis’s first MicroGEO satellite and Gravity Space’s GS-1 satellite. One side booster (B1052) previously supported Arabsat-6A, STP-2, COSMO-SkyMed Second Generation FM2, KPLO, and three Starlink missions. The other side booster (B1053) previously supported the Arabsat-6A and STP-2 missions. The core booster (B1068) was not previously launched. Due to mission requirements, none of the boosters were planned to be recovered.

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A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket launched the JUPITER 3 (EchoStar XXIV/ EchoStar 24) communications satellite to a geosynchronous transfer orbit from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, on 29 July 2023, at 03:04 UTC (28 July, at 23:04 EDT).
Following booster separation, Falcon Heavy’s two side boosters (B1064 and B1065) landed at SpaceX’s Landing Zones 1 and 2 (LZ-1 and LZ-2) at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, having previously supported USSF-44 and USSF-67. Due to mission requirements, the core booster (B1079) was not planned to be recovered.

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A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket launched NASA’s Psyche spacecraft from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, on 13 October 2023, at 14:19 UTC (10:19 EDT).
Following booster separation, Falcon Heavy’s two side boosters (B1064 and B1065) landed at SpaceX’s Landing Zones 1 and 2 (LZ-1 and LZ-2) at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, having previously supported USSF-44, USSF-67 and JUPITER 3. Due to mission requirements, the core booster (B1079) was not planned to be recovered. NASA’s Psyche spacecraft will study a metal-rich asteroid with the same name, located in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.

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