SpaceX Falcon Heavy Rocket Test Firing Goes Off Without A Hitch
SpaceX is working on a very large rocket that will be able to push massive payloads and perhaps eventually people into space. The rocket is called the Falcon Heavy and it had a successful test firing. The test was a static fire test and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has said that the test firing went off without a hitch.
If the testing pans out, when the Falcon Heavy lifts off for the first time it will mark the most powerful rocket to take to the skies since the Saturn V rocket that took Apollo mission into space decades ago. The massive rocket has 27 engines and can generate a maximum thrust of 5.1 million pounds.
That is thrust equal to 18 747 airliners. The successful test firing of the rocket is a big deal, back in 2016 a similar static fire test resulted in an explosion on the launch pad and the loss of a multi-million-dollar satellite.
Falcon Heavy hold-down firing this morning was good. Generated quite a thunderhead of steam. Launching in a week or so. pic.twitter.com/npaqatbNir
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 24, 2018
Musk said in a tweet that with the static firing a success, the rocket was ready to launch in a week or so. The payload in this first flight is Musk's own Tesla Roadster tucked neatly into the nose cone.
Musk has said that if the first launch means the Falcon Heavy rocket makes it far enough off the launch pad to avoid damaging the pad in an explosion, he would consider that a success. An explosion will mean midnight cherry red Tesla Roadster parts all over the place.
SOURCE: New Atlas