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Watch SpaceX Launch a Falcon Heavy on Its First Real Mission

Watch SpaceX Launch a Falcon Heavy on Its First Real Mission

5 years ago
Anonymous $syBn1NGQOq

https://www.wired.com/story/watch-spacex-launch-a-falcon-heavy-on-its-first-real-mission/

A little over a year ago, SpaceX pulled off a showy first launch for its new rocket, the Falcon Heavy. The flight dispatched founder Elon Musk’s cherry-red Tesla convertible, with an empty spacesuit dubbed Starman in the driver’s seat, on a multimillion-year journey around the solar system. After the launch, the rocket’s three first-stage boosters returned to Earth to attempt an unprecedented synchronized landing.

Now that rocket is getting ready to fly again. The Falcon Heavy represents SpaceX’s ambition of competing for lucrative heavy-launch commercial and government contracts, which would require transporting payloads weighing more than 40,000 pounds into geosynchronous orbit. If this second flight is successful, the Falcon Heavy will be much closer to satisfying the military’s strict requirements and landing those deals.