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> 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.” </s> SpaceX launched its heftiest rocket with 24 research satellites Tuesday, a middle-of-the-night rideshare featuring a deep space atomic clock, solar sail, a clean and green rocket fuel testbed, and even human ashes. It was the third flight of a Falcon Heavy rocket, but the first ordered by the military. The Defense Department mission is expected to provide data to certify the Falcon Heavy _ and reused boosters _ for future national security launches. It marked the military’s first ride on a recycled rocket.

Both side boosters landed back at Cape Canaveral several minutes after liftoff, just as they did after launching in April. But the new core booster missed an ocean platform, not unexpected for this especially difficult mission, SpaceX noted.

Also read: Mega clean-up drive in pacific ocean! Initiative to clear 1.8 trillion pieces of plastic relaunched



“It was a long shot,” tweeted SpaceX founder and chief executive Elon Musk. SpaceX did manage for the first time to catch the fairing, or nose cone, in a giant net on an offshore boat. The California-based company is trying to recover and reuse as many rocket parts as possible _ rather than letting the pieces sink in the ocean _ to drive down launch costs.

NASA signed up for a spot on this Falcon Heavy, along with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Air Force Research Laboratory, the Planetary Society and Celestis Inc., which offers memorial flights into space.

An astronaut who flew on NASA’s first space station back in the 1970s, Skylab’s Bill Pogue, had a bit of his ashes on board, along with more than 150 other deceased people. Pogue died in 2014.

Musk said it was “our toughest rocket launch ever.” The satellites needed to be placed in three different orbits, requiring multiple upper-stage engine firings. It took several hours to release them all.

The Deep Space Atomic Clock by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory is a technology demo aimed at self-flying spacecraft. Barely the size of a toaster oven, the clock is meant to help spacecraft navigate by themselves when far from Earth. NASA also was testing a clean and green alternative to toxic rocket and satellite fuel.

The Planetary Society’s LightSail crowd-funded spacecraft will attempt to become the first orbiting spacecraft to be propelled solely by sunlight. It will be released next week from its temporary perch on a spacecraft and opened a week later.

“Our #LightSail2 is up and on its way,” tweeted Bill Nye, the society’s chief executive officer.

It’s the society’s third crack at solar sailing: The first was lost in a Russian rocket failure in 2005, while the second had a successful test flight in 2015.

The Air Force Research Laboratory had space weather experiments aboard, while NOAA had six small atmospheric experimental satellites for weather forecasting.

The Falcon Heavy is the most powerful rocket in use today. Each first-stage booster has nine engines, for a total of 27 firing simultaneously at liftoff from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center.

The first Falcon Heavy launch was in February 2018. That test flight put Musk’s red Tesla convertible into an orbit stretching past Mars. </s> CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - SpaceX CEO Elon Musk is calling Monday night’s launch at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station of its Falcon Heavy rocket the most "difficult launch ever," and one of the company's most challenging missions to date.

This will be the third mission and first nighttime launch of a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket, which is the largest operational rocket in use today.

"Onboard autonomous navigation; you can think of a self-driving spacecraft. It's one of the top technologies we need to send humans to places like Mars," a NASA official said.

READ MORE: Aboard Falcon Heavy: Six 'weather eyes' to close gap in weather, climate data

The four-hour launch window starts at 11:30 p.m. and goes until 3:30 a.m. Tuesday.
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After the launch, the rocket’s center core will attempt to land on a drone ship on the Atlantic and side boosters will attempt to land back at the Cape, producing a sonic boom.

NASA officials explained that in addition to Department of Defense satellites on board, there will be four NASA payloads, which are part of the Space Test Program 2 mission.

The payloads include new technologies to improve how spacecraft propel and navigate.

The first is NASA’s Deep Space Atomic Clock, which works like a GPS for orbiting satellites.

Currently, spacecraft flying beyond Earth don't have a GPS system, and DSAC will help spacecraft navigate autonomously.

There will also be NASA science missions to help better understand the nature of space and how it impacts technology on spacecraft and the ground.

Officials are predicting a 70% chance of favorable weather for liftoff.

Not near a TV? Click here to watch WFTV newscasts live </s> WASHINGTON - SpaceX launched its Falcon Heavy rocket on Tuesday from Kennedy Space Center in Florida, carrying 24 experimental satellites in what Elon Musk’s rocket company called one of the most difficult launches it has attempted.

The craft blasted off to cheers from onlookers at 2:30 a.m. (0630 GMT) after a three-hour delay from the original launch time late Monday.

The boosters separated safely as the craft began its six-hour mission to deploy the satellites.

The two-side booster rockets returned safely to Earth, landing on adjacent Air Force landing pads, but the rocket’s center booster missed its mark, crashing in the Atlantic ocean.

Musk, who predicted trouble with landing the center booster on SpaceX’s drone ship in the Atlantic, said on Twitter early Tuesday, “It was a long shot.”

The mission, dubbed Space Test Program 2 (STP-2), is the third for the Falcon Heavy rocket, which SpaceX describes as the most powerful launch system in the world.

It was commissioned by the US Department of Defense, the key contractor for commercial space companies such as SpaceX.

The company is putting satellites into orbit for agencies including NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), defense department laboratories, universities and a non-profit organization, SpaceX said.

The mission is one of the most challenging in SpaceX history, with four separate upper-stage engine burns and three separate orbits to deploy satellites, the company said on its website.

The payloads on the satellites Falcon Heavy is putting into orbit include an atomic clock NASA is testing for space navigation, another testing new telescope technologies, and a solar sail project part-funded by the Planetary Society, a non-profit organisation headed by Bill Nye, “The Science Guy” on television presentations.

The LightSail is a crowdfunded project that aims to become the first spacecraft in earth orbit propelled solely by sunlight, the society, which has championed solar propulsion for decades, says on its website.

Falcon Heavy is the most powerful operational rocket in the world “by a factor of two,” SpaceX says on its website. It has the ability to lift into orbit nearly 64 metric tons - more than a 737 jetliner loaded with passengers, crew, luggage and fuel.

Only the Saturn V moon rocket, last flown in 1973 from the same launch pad, delivered more payload to orbit, it says. </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> SpaceX has blasted off a payload of three Tesla Roadster-sized satellites for the Canadian government, marking its seventh successful launch this year.

Through a thick haze of fog, the white Falcon 9 rocket took flight from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California at 10:17 am (ET).

About ten minutes after launch, the recycled rocket touched down without a hitch back on the landing pad.

'Falcon has landed back at landing zone four at Vandenberg Air Force Base,' a SpaceX announcer said during a livestream of the launch.

The launch made use of the same Falcon 9 rocket that flew a mission just a few months earlier in March, when it delivered the Crew Dragon capsule to the International Space Station.

The 'RADARSAT Constellation' mission also represents SpaceX's second successful launch and re-landing on the west coast.

Roughly 55 minutes into the launch, SpaceX successfully deployed the first of the trio of satellites.

The satellites, which will orbit roughly 370 miles above the Earth, are approximately the size of a Tesla Roadster, measuring about 23ft wide and 11.8ft tall.

Once all three are deployed, the satellites will map Canada's waters, as well as provide readings of the Arctic, to help ships navigate.

To do this, they're equipped with radar and ship-identification technology, according to the Canadian Space Agency.

About ten minutes after launch, the recycled rocket touched down without a hitch back on the landing pad. Pictured is the Falcon 9 returning to Earth through a haze of fog

'The three-satellite configuration of the RCM will provide daily revisits of Canada's vast territory and maritime approaches, including the Arctic up to 4 times a day, as well as daily access to any point of 90% of the world's surface,' SpaceX said in a statement.

'The RCM help create precise sea ice maps of Canada’s oceans and the Great Lakes to facilitate navigation and commercial maritime transportation.'

Following this mission, SapceX will launch the Falcon Heavy megarocket for the third time on June 24th.

That event, dubbed the STP-2 mission, will deploy several satellites into orbit for the Department of Defense.

It'll also be carrying the Planetary Society's Lightsail 2, a 'solar sail' that resembles a kite and is capable of guiding satellites by harnessing solar energy.

The first Lightsail launch took place in 2015 and now the team is hoping to test it further.

After Lightsail 2 is deployed, it will fly around the Earth for the first time, in order to test its maneuverability. </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> SpaceX marked another milestone early this morning as the company's Falcon Heavy megarocket successfully lofted two dozen research satellites into orbit. This was the Falcon Heavy's The stunning #SpaceX Falcon Heavy STP-2 launch 'nebula' captured from the roof of #NASA's Vehicle Assembly Building––525ft up. 



From @erikkuna for @SuperclusterHQ 



Congrats to @SpaceX & @elonmusk on a thrilling launch#spaceisforeveryone pic.twitter.com/wnNssxRyvV — Supercluster (@SuperclusterHQ) June 25, 2019 With the successful launch of the Department of Defense research satellites, the Air Force is expected to provide data to certify the Falcon Heavy—and reused boosters—for future national security launches. This launch also marked the first time the military hitched a ride on a recycled rocket. Both side boosters landed successfully back at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, right next door to KSC, while the center core booster just missed its landing on the SpaceX drone ship, Of Course I Still Love You, stationed in the Atlantic Ocean hundreds of miles from the launch site, according to The center core booster missing its landing on the drone ship was not that much of a surprise for SpaceX engineers because the mission required higher-than-normal speeds due to the payload. As it was, the drone ship was twice as far from shore as it would normally be in the launch of a Falcon 9 rocket. In another milestone for the commercial space company, SpaceX caught half of the fairing or nose cone using the Mr. Steven is stationed in the Pacific, as SpaceX will attempt to catch and recover the fairing this mission. pic.twitter.com/A7aBSJoFfc — SpaceX (@SpaceX) December 3, 2018 The fairing halves each have a set of guidance systems and parachutes, as they re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere at multiple times the speed of sound. In the December 2018 video, SpaceX showed what the fairing-catching boat looked like and explained its purpose. As SpaceX explained last week, this launch was particularly difficult due to the satellites onboard needing to be injected into three distinct orbits. This meant the expulsion of the satellites had to be precisely timed. The maneuvers required that the rocket's second-stage booster fire four times, with the final deployment scheduled to occur about 3.5 hours after launch. The rocket blasted off from Launch Pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center in Florida three hours into its launch window, taking to the night sky at 2:30 a.m. EDT on June 25 (0630 GMT).This was the Falcon Heavy's first night launch and third launch, overall. The mission was part of the U.S. Air Force's Space Test Program (STP-2) and carried payloads for universities, NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and the nonprofit organization The Planetary Society.With the successful launch of the Department of Defense research satellites, the Air Force is expected to provide data to certify the Falcon Heavy—and reused boosters—for future national security launches. This launch also marked the first time the military hitched a ride on a recycled rocket.Both side boosters landed successfully back at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, right next door to KSC, while the center core booster just missed its landing on the SpaceX drone ship, Of Course I Still Love You, stationed in the Atlantic Ocean hundreds of miles from the launch site, according to Space.com. The center core booster missing its landing on the drone ship was not that much of a surprise for SpaceX engineers because the mission required higher-than-normal speeds due to the payload. As it was, the drone ship was twice as far from shore as it would normally be in the launch of a Falcon 9 rocket.In another milestone for the commercial space company, SpaceX caught half of the fairing or nose cone using the high-speed boat, Miss Tee. The boat is equipped with a huge "catchers mitt" net and was successful in snaring the fairing half in a net strung up above the boat’s deck, CEO Elon Musk confirmed in a tweet. The fairing is the bulbous nose cone on top of the rocket.The fairing halves each have a set of guidance systems and parachutes, as they re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere at multiple times the speed of sound. In the December 2018 video, SpaceX showed what the fairing-catching boat looked like and explained its purpose.As SpaceX explained last week, this launch was particularly difficult due to the satellites onboard needing to be injected into three distinct orbits. This meant the expulsion of the satellites had to be precisely timed. The maneuvers required that the rocket's second-stage booster fire four times, with the final deployment scheduled to occur about 3.5 hours after launch.
SpaceX successfully launches and deploys 24 satellites, including LightSail 2, Green Propellant Infusion Mission, and the Deep Space Atomic Clock, into orbit via its Falcon Heavy rocket. Falcon Heavy's sideboosters both returned safely to their landing pads at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, while the rocket's center booster failed to land on a droneship in the Atlantic Ocean, exploding in the sea.