SpaceX’s powerful Falcon Heavy rocket will fly again before the top of the yr, if all goes in keeping with plan.
SpaceX is now targeting Dec. 28 for the launch of the U.S. Space Force’s X-37B space plane, which can fly atop a Falcon Heavy from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
You’ll be able to watch the motion here at Space.com, courtesy of SpaceX, when the time comes.
Related: The Space Force’s secretive X-37B space plane: 10 surprising facts
SpaceX had originally planned to launch the robotic X-37B on Dec. 11. But about half-hour before the scheduled liftoff time that day, the corporate called things off, citing a difficulty with ground equipment. The resulting delay will now extend for 17 days, if the Heavy flies on Dec. 28 as currently planned.
The approaching launch will probably be the seventh overall for the 29-foot-long (8.8 meters) X-37B, which military officials say is primarily an orbital testbed for brand spanking new space tech.
It’s unclear how long the X-37B mission will last; most details of the space plane’s flights, including the identity and purpose of most of its payloads, are classified. But it surely’s secure to assume the flight will probably be lengthy. Each X-37B mission to this point has been longer than its predecessors, and probably the most recent one stayed aloft for 908 days before coming home in November 2022.
The Falcon Heavy has launched eight times to this point, including 4 times in 2023 already.
The Heavy — the second-most powerful rocket currently in operation, after NASA’s Space Launch System — last flew this past October, when it launched NASA’s Psyche probe toward the asteroid belt.