SpaceX's Falcon Heavy rocket successfully took its second flight ever on Thursday afternoon, when it lifted off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida carrying Lockheed Martin's Arabsat 6A communications satellite.

As if that weren't exciting enough, SpaceX also managed to make history by landing three boosters back on Earth for the first time.

Just minutes into the launch, the giant rocket's central core landed safely on SpaceX's offshore barge in the Atlantic Ocean, dubbed 'Of Course I Still Love You,' while the two side boosters landed back on pads at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station's Landing Zone 1 and 2.

'We have landed the center core for the first time,' a SpaceX announcer said. 'Three for three boosters today for the Falcon Heavy.'

The megarocket took off in a cloud of smoke and fire at 6:35 p.m. (ET) carrying the high-capacity communications satellite, marking its first commercial mission.

'Falcon Heavy is headed to space,' a SpaceX announcer confirmed on the livestream shortly after lift-off. 'Vehicle is supersonic.'

In a smooth launch and flight that lasted just a matter of minutes, Falcon Heavy successfully carried its first commercial payload to space.

The firm confirmed its accomplishment roughly 30 minutes after takeoff, revealing the Arabsat-6A satellite made it where it needed to go.

'Successful deployment of Arabsat-6A to geosynchronous transfer orbit confirmed—completing Falcon Heavy’s first commercial mission!' SpaceX tweeted.

SpaceX was forced to push back the Falcon Heavy launch several times due to uncooperative weather.

A last-minute decision to delay it yet again on Wednesday night was made because of high upper-level winds and a poor forecast that made for unsafe launch conditions.

But, Elon Musk's rocket company confirmed in a tweet at 4:46 p.m. Thursday that 'all systems and weather are currently go,' for launch later that day.

It’s been fourteen months since Falcon Heavy's maiden launch, when it blasted off to become the most powerful rocket in use today.

The latest launch marked the first time Falcon Heavy flies using the new Block 5 hardware, which is designed to last longer than previous versions without the need for refurbishment.

Because of this, SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk said they were being ‘extra cautious,’ and previously noted that the schedule could shift.

After its first launch last February, SpaceX managed to successfully land the two side boosters back on Earth in a remarkable, synchronized feat.

The center core, however, missed its mark and crashed into the ocean.

But this time around, all went according to plan.

The current iteration of Falcon Heavy is even more powerful than the first, with a maximum thrust of 2,550 tons, according to Musk – or about 10 percent higher than last year’s demo.

Falcon Heavy launched for the first time last year, on February 6 following roughly five years of setbacks.

The rocket boasts three reusable cores, each containing nine Merlin engines for a whopping total of 27.

This gave it a total thrust of 2,500 tons – or the equivalent of 18 Boeing 747 aircraft at full throttle.

While it isn’t more powerful than NASA’s Saturn V rocket, which took its last flight in 1973, SpaceX’s heavy-lift rocket is the most powerful currently in operation. </s> SpaceX launched its second supersized rocket and for the first time landed all three boosters Thursday, a year after sending up a sports car on the initial test flight.

The new and improved Falcon Heavy thundered into the early evening sky with a communication satellite called Arabsat, the rocket's first paying customer. The Falcon Heavy is the most powerful rocket in use today, with 27 engines firing at liftoff — nine per booster.

Eight minutes after liftoff, SpaceX landed two of the first-stage boosters back at Cape Canaveral, side by side, just like it did for the rocket's debut last year. The core booster landed two minutes later on an ocean platform hundreds of miles offshore. That's the only part of the first mission that missed.

"What an amazing day," a SpaceX flight commentator exclaimed. "Three for three boosters today on Falcon Heavy, what an amazing accomplishment."

The Falcon Heavy soared from NASA's Kennedy Space Center, using the same pad that shot Apollo astronauts to the moon a half-century ago and later space shuttle crews.

A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket carrying a communication satellite lifts off from pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Thursday, April 11, 2019. (AP Photo/John Raoux)

Nearby beaches and other prime viewing spots were packed with tourists and locals eager to catch not just the launch but the rare and dramatic return of twin boosters, accompanied by sonic booms. The roads were also jammed for Wednesday night's launch attempt, which was scuttled by high wind.

Because this was an upgraded version of the rocket with unproven changes, SpaceX chief Elon Musk cautioned in advance things might go wrong. But everything went exceedingly well and the satellite ended up in the proper orbit. SpaceX employees at company headquarters in Southern California cheered every launch milestone and especially the three touchdowns.

Eight minutes after liftoff, SpaceX lands two of the first-stage boosters side by side at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Thursday, April 11, 2019. (AP Photo/John Raoux)

"The Falcons have landed," Musk said in a tweet that included pictures of all three boosters.

NASA offered swift congratulations. "From our iconic launch pads at @NASAKennedy, we will continue to support the growing commercial space economy," NASA tweeted. Musk replied with three red hearts.

Musk put his own Tesla convertible on last year's demo. The red Roadster — with a mannequin, dubbed Starman, likely still at the wheel — remains in a solar orbit stretching just past Mars.

The Roadster is thought to be on the other side of the sun from us right now, about three-quarters of the way around its first solar orbit, said Jon Giorgini, a senior analyst at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.

A couple dozen ground telescopes kept tabs on the car during its first several days in space, but it gradually faded from view as it headed out toward the orbit of Mars, Giorgini noted.

The Roadster could still look much the same as it did for the Feb. 6, 2018, launch, just not as shiny with perhaps some chips and flakes from the extreme temperature swings, according to Giorgini. It will take decades if not centuries for solar radiation to cause it to decompose, he said.

SpaceX plans to launch its next Falcon Heavy later this year on a mission for the U.S. Air Force. The boosters for that flight may be recycled from this one.

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine last month suggested possibly using a Falcon Heavy — and another company's big rocket — to get the space agency's Orion capsule around the moon, minus a crew, in 2020. But the preferred method remains NASA's own Space Launch System mega rocket — if it can be ready by then.

Bridenstine said everything is on the space table as NASA strives to meet the White House's goal of landing astronauts back on the moon by 2024.

NASA's Saturn V rockets, used for the Apollo moon shots, are the all-time launch leaders so far in size and might.

SpaceX typically launches Falcon 9 rockets. The Falcon Heavy is essentially three of those single rockets strapped together.

Until SpaceX came along, boosters were discarded in the ocean after satellite launches. The company is intent on driving down launch costs by recycling rocket parts. </s> Miami, USA, Apr 11 (EFE).- The powerful Falcon Heavy rocket, by US company SpaceX, took off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, Thursday and successfully completed its first commercial mission by deploying the communications satellite Arabsat-6A into an geosynchronous orbit.



The most powerful operational rocket on the planet took off at 6.35 pm local time (22.35 GMT) from the historic 39A launch pad at the Kennedy Space Center, the same platform that the Moon missions of the Apollo program were launched from, and then managed to recover for the first time the three Falcon 9 rocket parts that make up the device.

Less than eight minutes after takeoff, the two boosters landed side by side on Cape Canaveral US Air Force station, while the central core stage landed itself one minute later on the drone ship called “Of Course I Still Love You” in the Atlantic Ocean.

This successful landing of the three rocket parts represents a new step in the trajectory of the company, owned by tycoon Elon Musk, whose policy is to reuse rockets in order to reduce the cost of space travel.



Thursday’s launch, which had to be postponed from the day before due to weather conditions, is the second since the initial trip in Feb. 2018, when Falcon Heavy made a test flight with as dummy payload a Tesla electric roadster sent into deep space with a mannequin dressed in a space suit, which they called ‘Starman’, in the driver’s seat.



On that first voyage, however, the core stage failed to land on the Atlantic landing platform and instead plunged into the sea at a speed of more than 480 kilometers per hour.



More than a year later, SpaceX has now launched the 70-meter-high Falcon Heavy, designed to carry more than 64 metric tonnes of cargo, with the Arabsat-6A on board. The Arabsat 6A is a modern communications satellite developed by Lockheed Martin for Arabsat, an organization founded by the Arab League in 1976 to provide telecommunications services to the region.



The modern and innovative satellite, weighing more than 5,900 kilograms, will provide television, radio, internet and mobile communication services throughout Europe, the Middle East and Africa, according to SpaceX.



Nearly half an hour after taking off from Cape Canaveral aboard the Falcon Heavy, the satellite separated from the rocket and was placed in a geosynchronous orbit where it will remain for years.



With this deployment the Falcon Heavy, created with the goal of sending manned missions to the Moon and Mars, has successfully completed its first commercial mission. </s> HAWTHORNE — Hawthorne-based SpaceX will try again Thursday to make the first commercial launch of its Falcon Heavy, billed as the most powerful rocket ever assembled.

The Arabsat-6A mission from Cape Canaveral in Florida was originally scheduled for Tuesday, then pushed to Wednesday due to bad weather. On Wednesday, the launch was first delayed by 90 minutes due to upper-level winds, then scrubbed altogether when the windy conditions persisted.

When the rocket launches, it will be the second flight for Falcon Heavy. The massive rocket, which is actually an array of three rockets, made its debut in February 2018 when it launched a cherry-red Tesla roadster with a “Starman” space-suited driver propped behind the wheel on a test mission.

The next launch, however, will be the first commercial use of the Falcon Heavy. The rocket is scheduled to carry the 13,200-pound Arabsat-6A satellite into orbit, providing communications services to areas of Africa, Europe and the Middle East.

The 230-feet-tall, 27-engine Falcon Heavy is essentially triple the size of SpaceX’s traditional Falcon 9 rockets. According SpaceX, the liftoff thrust of Falcon Heavy is roughly equivalent to 18 full-powered 747 jetliners.

SpaceX founder Elon Musk has called Falcon Heavy “the most powerful rocket in the world by a factor of two and the highest payload launch vehicle to reach orbit after the Saturn V moon rocket.”

The Falcon Heavy includes a massive center rocket booster, coupled with two side rocket boosters. The most visually spectacular part of last year’s Falcon Heavy mission occurred when SpaceX successfully landed the two Falcon 9 side rockets simultaneously back on land at Cape Canaveral following the launch. The company attempted, but failed, to recover the center booster rocket on a barge floating in the Atlantic Ocean.

SpaceX has become known for recovering its rockets for reuse in future missions. The company will again attempt to recover all three of the rockets in the array on Thursday — two on land and one at sea. </s> CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket launched from Kennedy Space Center early Tuesday morning in the program's most challenging mission to date.

The rocket's main engines illuminated the dark sky at 2:30 a.m. The three-and-a-half hour Department of Defense mission featured 24 spacecraft deployments, three orbit insertions, and 20 individual separation events.

There was one hiccup: The rocket's center core failed to land on the Of Course I Still Love You drone ship stationed hundreds of miles off the coast, as planned. The core was lost as it approached the ship.

Famous science educator Bill Nye attended the launch. Nye acts as CEO of an organization aiming to use photons from the sun as a way to propel spacecraft.

Here are 16 shots that capture the launch.

The launch of SpaceX Falcon Heavy Launched from Pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center 2:30 a.m. Tuesday morning. With 24 satellites onboard the heavy-lift rocket, the Falcon Heavy will generate four separate burns during its second stage and deploy the dozens of spacecraft into three separate orbits, making this one of SpaceX's most challenging launches. Two of the boosters landed back at the lading zone at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station but the center core booster failed to land on the drone ship stationed in the Atlantic Ocean. Approximate 518 second time exposure off the launch and landing viewed from Washington Ave. in Cape Canaveral. (Photo: MALCOLM DENEMARK/FLORIDA TODAY) </s> On Tuesday afternoon—a little more than 12 hours after the launch of a Falcon Heavy rocket from Kennedy Space Center in Florida—the US Air Force's Space & Missile Systems Center declared that all had gone well with the complicated mission. "All satellites are on orbit and have made contact," the Air Force unit tweeted.

SpaceX had a lot on its plate with Tuesday morning's launch, which occurred at 2:30am ET (06:30 UTC). Once again, the company recovered the two side-mounted Falcon 9 first stage boosters at a landing site along the Florida coast. But for the second time out of three Falcon Heavy launches, SpaceX was unable to land the center core on a drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean. This is perhaps understandable because, due to mission requirements, the center core used in Tuesday's launch had to shed more energy than any previous launch—its attending drone ship was positioned more than 1,200km away from the launch site.

More favorably for SpaceX, the company succeeded in catching one half of a payload fairing for the first time. SpaceX did so with its rebranded Ms. Tree ship, which sports a large catcher's mitt-like netting. "Ms. Tree caught the Falcon fairing!!" company founder Elon Musk shared on Twitter. For a few years, the company has been experimenting with various approaches to capturing the payload fairing halves, which split apart after a rocket reaches orbit to allow the payload access to space.

Each fairing half has some onboard capacity to control its descent through Earth's atmosphere, and a complete payload fairing is valued at about $6 million. SpaceX has said it intends to fly "used" payload fairings on a Falcon 9 launch later this year. But for all of the progress SpaceX continues to make with reusable launch, the biggest news from Tuesday morning's Falcon Heavy mission is that the Air Force has apparently come away satisfied with the performance of SpaceX and its heavy-lift rocket.

For its first payload to fly on the Falcon Heavy rocket, the armed service did not choose one of its ultra-expensive, classified satellites used for observation or military communications. Rather, it flew a rideshare mission that included 24 different satellites that entailed military, NASA, and NOAA-sponsored military and civil experiments. The Falcon Heavy rocket's upper stage had to place the satellites into three different orbits, completing a complicated sequence of four Merlin vacuum engine firings over the course of three hours.

Additionally, the Falcon Heavy's side-mounted boosters flying Tuesday were Falcon 9 rocket first stages that had each flown once before. In a previous life (April), they had been side boosters on the Falcon Heavy Arabsat-6A mission. Air Force officials said Tuesday's launch (known as Space Test Program-2) would provide insight into the SpaceX booster recovery and refurbishing process, potentially allowing future National Security Space missions to fly on previously flown rockets.

"This was a momentous launch for NASA, NOAA, and the DOD," said Col. Dennis Bythewood, program executive officer for Space Development. "The SpaceX Falcon Heavy allows the Air Force to begin using previously flown rocket technology to further reduce the cost of launch. This mission demonstrated SMC's continuing commitment to leverage the most innovative technologies to deliver cost-effective space capabilities."

All of this bodes well for SpaceX as the Air Force works through bids from SpaceX, United Launch Alliance, Blue Origin, and Northrop Grumman to win lucrative launch contracts from 2022 to 2026. The Air Force is only expected to pick two winners, and SpaceX has just shown that it can do the kinds of missions the Air Force wants to do, for a lower price, with a rocket that exists today. </s> In the space travel battle, there’s no margin for error. And when SpaceX launches its Falcon Heavy for the second time on Wednesday, that fact will perhaps be clearer than ever.

Barring unforeseen weather issues or other problems, SpaceX will launch its Falcon Heavy rocket with an onboard Arabsat-6A communications satellite at 6:35 p.m. ET on Wednesday. For Elon Musk’s space transportation company, this is a chance to prove that its most important rocket is capable of helping it fulfill its most important missions.

It will also be SpaceX’s second ever Falcon Heavy launch, and the first time the rocket will be used for commercial purposes. Then, when the ascension is over, it will also be an opportunity for SpaceX to successfully land the Falcon Heavy’s two side boosters and center core back on Earth—something that evaded the first launch after the core missed its target.

Launching and landing a rocket aside, the Falcon Heavy event represents several make-or-break matters for SpaceX. Here are the three biggest reasons why this launch will be the company’s most critical mission yet:

Its Falcon Heavy’s audition to be a money-maker

The stakes were high when the Falcon Heavy lifted off for the first time in February 2018. The Falcon Heavy is the most powerful rocket in the world, a necessity for bringing payloads to space successfully.

At the time of its launch, SpaceX chief Elon Musk said he wasn’t sure how the start would go or whether it would be successful. All eyes were on the sky. Luckily for Musk and SpaceX, almost everything went off without a hitch.

The Falcon Heavy took off, brought a Tesla to space, and despite the core stage missing its target on its way back to Earth, the mission was a success. Soon after, lucrative government contracts rushed to SpaceX.

However, in the space game, you’re only as good as your last launch. Moreover, thanks to the Arabsat-6A, which will be used to beam communications services to the Middle East, Africa, and Europe, this is the first time that SpaceX will have Falcon Heavy’s commercial chops on display.

If the launch goes well, there’s a good chance other companies and governments will be lining up to hitch a ride on a future Falcon Heavy launch. If the launch goes poorly, it could be a significant setback to SpaceX’s fledgling Falcon Heavy business.

The issue with traditional rocket launches is that they’re very costly. That’s due in large part to their lack of reusable components.

SpaceX has built its business around reusing the boosters and center core that help to propel the Falcon Heavy into space. The boosters and the core go up with Falcon Heavy but float back down to Earth at specific points during the launch. The components are supposed to land intact to be reused in future launches, in order to keep costs down.

And keep costs down the parts do.

According to Space.com, Falcon Heavy flights cost SpaceX customers between $90 million and $150 million. Falcon Heavy’s closest competitor, the United Launch Alliance’s Delta IV Heavy rocket, costs $350 million, according to CEO Tony Bruno.

Pricing for space transport on Falcon Heavy are in part predicated on successfully landing reusable components. Now, all eyes will be on Wednesday’s launch to see if SpaceX can successfully land those boosters and core—and prove its business model.

If successful, Falcon Heavy could take SpaceX to Mars

As lovely as government contracts might be, SpaceX’s ultimate goal is Mars. The company hopes to get there on the back of the Falcon Heavy. But before that can happen, plenty more work needs to be done. Most importantly, SpaceX needs to have more successful launches.

Any glitch in the Falcon Heavy’s track record could cause a wrinkle in SpaceX’s Mars plans. Also, depending on how big of a hiccup Falcon heavy potentially suffers, it could call into question whether a human flight to Mars is even possible.

None of this means you shouldn’t bet on SpaceX. The company did not respond to ‘s request for comment, but the truth is it has been successful at exceeding expectations at nearly every stage. The stakes are high and the risks great. A single misstep could be a problem for SpaceX. Then again, that’s no different from every other launch. </s> SpaceX launched its first commercial mission Thursday featuring its Falcon Heavy rocket and accomplished something they've never done before.

The Falcon Heavy is currently the world's most powerful rocket and is carrying a communications satellite into space.

After liftoff, SpaceX successfully landed two side-boosters back at Cape Canaveral and the rocket's core on a droneship stationed in the Atlantic Ocean. It was the first time all three landed successfully.

During last year's test flight, the side-boosters landed, but the rocket's core missed its mark.

SpaceX chief Elon Musk celebrated the news on twitter, declaring the "Falcons have landed."

The Falcon Heavy was poised to blast off Wednesday night, but SpaceX chief Elon Musk said upper-level wind shear was extremely high.

Last year's Falcon Heavy test flight put a sports car — Musk's own Tesla convertible — into space.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

A Falcon Heavy SpaceX rocket sits on pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., after the launch was scrubbed Wednesday, April 10, 2019. </s> ORLANDO – Twenty-four satellites, including four NASA science missions, a tiny sail that may one day visit another solar system and the ashes of 152 dead loved ones — all contained in the bowels of the world’s most powerful rocket — streaked to space early Tuesday morning.

The third successful launch of SpaceX’s mighty Falcon Heavy, and its first at night, took off from Kennedy Space Center’s launch complex 39A at 2:30 a.m., marking one of the most complex and technically challenging missions in the company’s history.

The mission was pushed back from an 11:30 p.m. takeoff time Monday while the teams worked to complete additional ground system checkouts.

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk tweeted late Monday night as he waited for liftoff that “waiting for Falcon Heavy to launch means high cortisol levels,” adding that the mission was SpaceX’s “toughest rocket launch ever.”

For one, there were the logistics: The three-booster Falcon Heavy had to perform four upper-stage engine burns to get the diverse payload into three separate orbits, depending on the requirements of each satellite.

Then it had to land its two side boosters at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station’s Landing Zones 1 and 2, which it did successfully about eight minutes after launch. The boosters were reused from a previous mission in April, making it the first time that a Falcon Heavy had flown with refurbished parts.

The center core booster zipped back down to Earth 11 minutes after takeoff at a speed four “times faster than a rifle bullet,” Musk tweeted. 

 Prior to the launch, he put the odds of the core landing at about 50% because of the speed at which it was coming in.

Musk’s warnings turned out to be right: The core missed its mark, landing in the Atlantic Ocean just off SpaceX’s drone ship, Of Course I Still Love You, which was stationed more than 700 miles off the coast of Florida, about twice the typical distance.

On the payload side, SpaceX was delivering to space a diverse set of spacecraft, from Department of Defense military satellites to crafts containing some of the ashes of deceased family members.

The ride-sharing mission, put together by the Air Force’s Space and Missile Systems Center, included advanced research and development satellites from multiple DoD research labs, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NASA and several universities.

Among the most notable missions for NASA included a Deep Space Atomic Clock, a first-of-its kind device that could help spacecraft travelling in deep space perform their own navigation without the lag time of waiting for instructions from Earth, and a new green propellant that would be less toxic, easier to handle and more efficient than the current hydrazine propellant used on rockets.

Also hitching a ride was the Planetary Society’s crowdfunded LightSail 2, a small spacecraft powered by sunlight that may hold the key to missions to other solar systems.

The Bill Nye-led Planetary Society will test out the sail in Earth orbit to prove whether it could be viably propelled by solar power, offering a solution to interstellar travel.

“If someone really decides it’s worth doing and sends spacecraft to another star system, the solar sails are really the only way to go,” Nye told Florida Today.

For the 152 people whose cremated remains flew aboard Falcon Heavy Tuesday morning, a cosmic send-off was the only way to go, too.

 The remains flew to space through a service provided by private company Celestis, which offers the unique spaceflight-themed memorials.

They run from $2,495 to $12,500 depending on the trajectory of the ashes, whether they return to Earth or go into Earth orbit, lunar orbit or deep space. The ashes are placed in coin-sized capsules and packed together inside the spacecraft.

Tuesday’s mission was Celestis’ 16th to space, known as the “Heritage Flight.”

It sent a number of space enthusiasts into the cosmos, some well-known in the space community – including NASA astronaut William Pogue, “Star Trek” actor James Doohan, and planetary scientists Eugene Shoemaker and Eric De JonG – as well as fans from other backgrounds, including sculptor and painter Luise Kaish, a key figure in the New York art scene of the late 20th century.

Like the others whose remains flew to space Tuesday, it was Kaish’s “wish that her ashes travel into space,” her obituary reads. “Not simply into orbit, or to the moon. But into deep space. The realm of infinity.”
SpaceX's Falcon Heavy launches successfully from Kennedy Space Center carrying Arabsat-6A to orbit. All three boosters landed successfully, marking the first time that all three boosters of a Falcon Heavy landed without failure.