Monday, February 6, 2023

On This Day in 2018: Falcon Heavy Launches for the First Time...

SpaceX's Falcon Heavy rocket lifts off on its maiden flight from Launch Complex 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida...on February 6, 2018.
SpaceX

It was 5 years ago today that SpaceX successfully launched its first Falcon Heavy rocket from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Since then, this powerful launch vehicle—comprised of three Falcon 9 core stage boosters strapped together—has successfully lifted off from Kennedy Space Center's Pad 39A five times...the most recent flight being last month for the U.S. Space Force's USSF-67 mission. That launch took place on January 15.

While SpaceX doesn't intend on human-rating Falcon Heavy (as the company's much-larger and more-capable Starship vehicle will embark on its first orbital test flight as early as next month), this rocket will play a big role in NASA's Artemis Program. It will be as soon as late November of 2024 that Falcon Heavy lifts off with the first components for NASA's Gateway lunar space station: The Power and Propulsion Element and Habitation and Logistics Outpost!

Stay tuned.

An artist's concept of the Power and Propulsion Element and Habitation and Logistics Outpost for NASA's lunar Gateway cruising through space.
NASA / Maxar Technologies

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