SpaceX’s powerful Falcon Heavy rocket will fly this week, if all goes in keeping with plan.
SpaceX is officially targeting Wednesday (July 26) for the Falcon Heavy’s next liftoff, the corporate announced via Twitter — sorry, via X — today (July 24). That launch will happen from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida.
“Teams accomplished the launch readiness review, and we’re targeting Wednesday, July 26 for Falcon Heavy’s launch of the @HughesConnects JUPITER 3/@EchoStar XXIV satellite from Launch Complex 39A in Florida,” SpaceX wrote.
SpaceX is aiming for a liftoff time of 11:04 p.m. EDT (0304 GMT on July 25), in keeping with EverydayAstronaut.com. You’ll be able to watch it here at Space.com, courtesy of SpaceX, when the time comes.
The approaching mission will likely be the seventh for the Falcon Heavy, which was the world’s strongest operational rocket until NASA’s Space Launch System debuted on the Artemis 1 mission last November.
SpaceX is working to get that title back with its next-gen Starship vehicle, which will likely be essentially the most powerful rocket ever when it’s up and running. (Starship has flown once thus far, on an April 20 test flight that ended with a commanded destruction 4 minutes after liftoff.)
The Falcon Heavy consists of three strapped-together first stages of the corporate’s workhorse Falcon 9 rocket. The central booster is topped with an upper stage and the payload(s).
Those three first stages are designed to be reusable. If all goes in keeping with plan, the 2 side boosters will come back to Earth about eight minutes after liftoff, touching down at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, which is round the corner to KSC, SpaceX said via X today.
The central booster will apparently not be recovered, as a result of the Jupiter 3 satellite’s heft. At 10.1 tons (9.2 metric tons), it’s going to be the heaviest payload ever launched toward geostationary orbit, which lies about 22,200 miles (35,700 kilometers) above Earth.
The Falcon Heavy debuted in February 2018, on a highly anticipated test flight that sent Elon Musk’s red Tesla Roadster into orbit with a mannequin nicknamed Starman behind the wheel.
Falcon Heavy has now launched a complete of six times, including twice in 2023. The relatively low launch cadence thus far is due largely to delays in the event of the satellites slated to fly on the powerful rocket, experts have said.