The towering three-pronged vehicle that is the world’s most powerful operational rocket returned to the skies on Tuesday for the first time since mid-2019. The rocket lifted off at 9:41 a.m. ET from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, carrying satellites into space for the U.S. military in a secret mission called USSF-44. The Falcon Heavy debuted to much fanfare in 2018 when SpaceX CEO Elon Musk decided to launch his personal Tesla Roadster as a test payload at launch. The car is still in space, moving along an elongated path around the Sun that deviates to the orbital path of Mars.
Since that first test mission, SpaceX has launched only two more Falcon Heavy missions, both in 2019. One sent a huge satellite for TV and telephone services into orbit for Saudi Arabia-based Arabsat, and the other delivered a batch of experimental satellites for the US. Department of Defense. However, the rocket has not launched since 2019 because the vast majority of SpaceX missions do not require the increased performance of the Falcon Heavy. SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket, on the other hand, has launched almost 50 missions this year alone. With each Falcon Heavy launch, the rocket makes a dramatic display back to Earth.
After Tuesday’s mission, the company only tried to recover the Falcon Heavy’s two first-stage boosters the tall white rods that are attached together to give the rocket its boost at launch. As planned, the center booster was allowed to dive into the ocean, where it will remain, because it did not have enough fuel left to lead the way home, according to a news release from the U.S. Army Space Systems Command. However, the two side boosters made their typical synchronized landings on ground pads near the coast of Florida.
In the past, SpaceX has attempted to land all three rocket boosters back on landing pads on land and at sea so they can be refurbished and reused for future missions. He does this to reduce the cost of the missions. So far, the company has not been able to get all three, although it has come dramatically close. The two side boosters made precise, synchronized landings on ground pads after the mission in April 2019, and the rocket’s central booster landed on the sea platform. But then he was overturned by the turbulent waves at sea.
All about this rocket
Although the Falcon Heavy is the world’s most powerful operational rocket, there are two massive rockets waiting in the wings to claim that title. NASA’s Space Launch System, or SLS, rocket, currently scheduled to attempt its inaugural launch later in November to send the uncrewed Artemis 1 mission around the moon, is housed in the Kennedy Space Center’s Vehicle Assembly Building, just a few miles from the launch pad. ramps where the Falcon Heavy will fly.
While the Falcon Heavy puts out about five million pounds of thrust, the SLS is expected to put down up to 8.8 million pounds 15% more thrust than the Saturn V rockets that powered the moon landings in the mid-20th century. And just across the Gulf Coast, at SpaceX’s experimental facilities in South Texas, the company is in the final stages of preparations for the first orbital launch attempt of its Starship spacecraft and Super Heavy rocket. Although the test flight is still awaiting final approval from federal regulators, it could take off by the end of the year.
The Starship system is expected to outperform both SLS and Falcon Heavy by a wide margin. The upcoming Super Heavy booster, which is designed to carry the Starship spacecraft into space, is expected to put down only about 17 million pounds of thrust. Both the SLS rocket and the SpaceX spacecraft are integral to NASA’s plans to return astronauts to the surface of the Moon for the first time in half a century. SpaceX also has its own ambitious vision for the starship: to carry people and cargo to Mars in hopes of one day establishing a permanent human settlement there.
All about this mission
There is not much publicly available information about the USSF-44 mission. The U.S. Army’s Space Systems Command said in a press release only that the launch will put into orbit several satellites called the Space Systems Command’s Innovation and Prototyping Delta, which focuses on the rapid development of space technology when it comes to tracking objects in space. and also a number of other activities. Space System Command declined to provide additional information about the mission when contacted by email. She turned to the Office of the Minister of Aviation with questions, which also refused to comment.
