MERRITT ISLAND, Fla. – SpaceX sent two spacecraft payloads to geosynchronous orbit on behalf of the U.S. Space Force, treating Floridians to their first Falcon Heavy launch in more than three years on Tuesday.
Heavy fog surrounded the rocket that launched from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center.
[TRENDING: Worker runs over 10-foot Burmese python at Kennedy Space Center | FEMA hiring workers to help with Hurricane Ian recovery, agency says | Become a News 6 Insider]
The rocket’s two side boosters landed at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, producing two sonic booms.
Liftoff! pic.twitter.com/gcLtIWizoF
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) November 1, 2022
The mission, USSF-44, was originally to be launched in late June, on a date which would have fallen around three years to the month since the last Falcon Heavy took off from KSC on June 25, 2019.
Joining TETRA-1, a microsatellite developed by Millennium Space Systems for the U.S. Military, the USSF-44 mission includes a classified payload.
A photo shared this week by SpaceX shows the rocket’s boosters at LC-39A. In no particular order related to the photo, the boosters B1064, B1065 and B1066 will all be making their first flight. While SpaceX will attempt to recover two of the boosters, it considers B1066 expendable, according to Next Spaceflight.
You can watch the launch again by clicking on the video in the media player below.
Get today’s headlines in minutes with Your Florida Daily: