MERRITT ISLAND, Fla. – SpaceX successfully launched its Falcon Heavy rocket from Kennedy Space Center Sunday evening from Launch Complex 39A.
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Liftoff! pic.twitter.com/oMFOyojOqj
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) January 15, 2023
The Falcon Heavy will be launching on a mission for the U.S. military, carrying a pair of communications satellites into orbit.
Falcon Heavy’s side boosters have landed pic.twitter.com/jzxIbHSfFR
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) January 15, 2023
The Falcon Heavy, which is SpaceX’s most powerful rocket, was last launched in November. The same side boosters used in that mission will be reused in Sunday’s launch.
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Falcon Heavy’s two side boosters will land on Landing Zone 1 and Landing Zone 2 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, and the core stage will be expended, according to KSC. During the double landing, you may be able to hear a double sonic boom from the boosters’ reentry.
This year, SpaceX plans an even busier launch schedule than its record-breaking 2022. After 61 successful missions, Elon Musk said 100 launches is the goal this year, an average of nearly two launches every week.
CBS News space consultant Bill Harwood said SpaceX’s launch pace is unprecedented in recent memory.
“Back in the very early days of the space program there were lots of launches out of the Cape as they were testing rocketry from the very beginning, but in the last two decades nothing has equaled this record,” Harwood said.
And after years of anticipation, Musk tweeted Thursday it’s also almost time for what could be the pinnacle of SpaceX launches this year.
New photos were shared of a fully stacked Starship, the rocket designed to one day colonize Mars, at its launch tower in Texas ahead of attempting its first launch to orbit.
Until Starship is ready, Falcon Heavy is still SpaceX’s most powerful rocket in operation.
ClickOrlando will stream the launch live when it happens.
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