SpaceX Falcon Heavy Gets Its First Launch In Years
SpaceX launched the world's most powerful rocket for its first flight in quite some time, and the Falcon Heavy carried some precious cargo into orbit. Falcon Heavy launches come with big implications, and not just because of their impressive physical magnitude. Its capability of carrying 140,000 pounds of cargo had only been rivaled by NASA's retired Saturn V rocket, which helped carry astronauts to the moon in the Apollo missions (via National Geographic). Despite its first successful launch dating all the way back to 2018, SpaceX's rocket had only undergone three launches in total since then, with its most recent one occurring in 2019.
It did show some promising results during its handful of missions though, including a historic commercial launch that ended in success. Earth's most powerful operational rocket also did missions for NASA, aiding in the advancement of space technology and future Mars exploration expeditions in the process (via NASA). Now, SpaceX utilized its Falcon Heavy to bring vital payloads into high Earth orbit courtesy of America's military division in space — the U.S. Space Force. So, what was the result of Falcon Heavy's first mission in more than three years?
SpaceX's Falcon Heavy went on an extra spatial mission
SpaceX's rocket was tasked with deploying vital payloads for the U.S. Space Force, in a joint operation referred to as the USSF-44 mission. The Falcon Heavy carried "a variety of payloads" that is said to "promote and accelerate the advancement of space technology," according to the U.S. Space Force. These multi-layered payloads-within-payloads reportedly contain numerous microsatellites and CubeSats, among others (via Spaceflight Now). Tasked with testing high-Earth-orbit environmental conditions and demonstrating tech capabilities, this equipment will be used to pave the way for future space tech and missions to come.
Though it was fairly foggy on the launch pad this morning, today's mission launched on schedule. Even better, it seems that the launch went off without a hitch. Though we didn't get to see payload deployment at the request of SpaceX's client (in this case the U.S. Space Force), we did get to watch as both Falcon Heavy side rockets landed back on Earth successfully. For a rocket that hasn't launched in 40 months, SpaceX has to be pretty pleased with today's launch.