SpaceX’s most powerful rocket launched on a landmark mission at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center.
It marked the fourth takeoff of the Falcon Heavy, For the first time in more than three yearsand saw that it was equipped with three Falcon 9 boosters.
Booster, self-launched at regular intervals to carry SpaceXStarlink satellites are in orbit and need to give their big brother the thrust needed to reach the star.
Rocket before takeoff…
…and head to the track
Among the payloads of the USSF-44 mission in Cape Canaveral, Florida, are two U.S. Space Force craft, including a tiny satellite called TETRA-1, which was created for “various prototype missions.” created.
The other ship being carried is classified.
Issues with getting the payload ready have delayed the launch – originally scheduled for 2020 – several times.
SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket rolls to launch pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center
How the launch works
The launch began at 9.41am local time (1.41pm UK).
Conditions were favorable ahead of the rescheduled takeoff date, and blue skies greeted the rocket as it rolled toward launch pad 39A on Monday.
Just over a minute after launch, the moment the mechanical stress on the rocket peaked, the reaction occurred – shortly after, the engines of its side boosters were cut off and separated from the main rocket.
About eight minutes after launch, both landed on SpaceX’s landing site at Cape Canaveral.
The main rocket had already left Earth’s atmosphere before the payload separated.
SpaceX boss Elon Musk Ahead of the company’s most important launch, retweeted a photo of the rocket being ready for the planned Starship mission next month.
The company hopes to put a large rocket system into orbit for the first time in December — a key demonstration as it aims to send NASA astronauts to the moon in the next few years.
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