CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – The deed is done. SpaceX successfully test-fired its Falcon Heavy rocket on the launchpad at NASA's Kennedy Space Center Wednesday after more than two weeks of delays, including one caused by the federal government shutdown.
The pad test was key to moving toward the rocket's first liftoff from Cape Canaveral.
With a ground-shaking rumble the commercial space company fired up all 27 Merlin engines on the 20-story-tall rocket on Launchpad 39A just after 12:30 p.m. for about 10 seconds.
"It was quite spectacular," CBS News space corespondent Bill Harwood said. "This is really a major milestone for SpaceX. We've watched them do this with single rockets before and you get a pretty good-sized plume of exhaust, but this was really something."
SpaceX teams have been running the rocket through a wet dress rehearsal of a launch on the pad for several weeks ahead of the much awaited static fire test.
The three-booster heavy-lift rocket can carry payloads that weigh as much as a 737 jetliner, with fuel, passengers, crew and their luggage. After launch, SpaceX plans to land two boosters back at Cape Canaveral Landing Zone 1 and one on a drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean.
Falcon Heavy's first launch could happen about two weeks after the static fire if all the data from the test fire comes back normal, placing the launch sometime in early February.
"This is going to be the most powerful rocket in the world," Harwood said. "Those 27 engines and those three core stages generate over five million pounds of thrust. It's going to be something to see when this thing finally takes off."
For Falcon Heavy's test flight payload, the rocket will launch a cherry red Tesla Roadster toward Mars. The car will be playing David Bowie's "Space Oddity" during launch, according to SpaceX CEO Elon Musk.
"Falcon Heavy hold-down firing this morning was good," Musk tweeted after the crucial test. "Generated quite a thunderhead of steam. Launching in a week or so."
Musk has also warned that the rocket could fail and explode.