SpaceX has done it yet again by successfully launching the world’s most powerful operational rocket. The Falcon Heavy was launched for the first time on Tuesday at around 3:45 P.M., ET from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Elon Musk’s company has made a game changing launch. Musk was thrilled with the results and said, “I’m still trying to absorb everything that happened because it’s still kind of surreal to me.”
Before the launch it was uncertain if this would be a successful rocket launch and an amazing display of fireworks. But the rocket made a smooth takeoff which was not the only surprising thing about this launch. For the first time SpaceX managed to guide two of the rocket’s boosters back upright on Earth.
SpaceX planned to get the third booster to land on a sea faring platform but the booster crashed. The Falcon Heavy rocket is carrying Musk’s personal Tesla roadster. A dummy in a spacesuit is strapped to the front seat of the car. According to Musk, the song Space Oddity by David Bowie will play on repeat. Elon Musk plans to send the car to orbit around the Sun.
Last year Musk said he would put his car in the Falcon Heavy rocket. When asked about it he said, “I love the thought of a car drifting apparently endlessly through space and perhaps being discovered by an alien race millions of years in the future.”
Bringing the boosters back is a tactic Space X uses to reduce the cost of each launch. In fact, two of the boosters attached to the Falcon Heavy were previously used to launch the Falcon 9 rocket.
Note the Falcon Heavy is the world’s powerful rocket but not the most powerful in history. The honor of the most powerful rocket goes to NASA for the Saturn V rocket. This rocket was used for the Apollo Moon landing but was retired after 1970.
