SpaceX Launches Falcon Heavy Rocket After Three-Year Hiatus

SpaceX’s powerful Falcon Heavy rocket launched from Kennedy Space Center on Tuesday, lofting classified payloads for the US Space Force. The launch returned the Falcon Heavy to flight after a more than three-year hiatus.

The rocket lifted off in dense fog at 9:41 a.m. local time. It is part of a mission called USSF 44 and is the first operational national security space mission for the Falcon Heavy.

Following takeoff, the two side boosters of the Falcon Heavy separated and landed on two of SpaceX’s landing pads off the Florida coast. The lower portion of the center core booster fell back to Earth as planned and SpaceX did not attempt to recover it.

The upper portion of the center core booster is expected to climb deeper into space and place the Space Force payloads into their intended orbit roughly 22,000 miles above Earth. Due to the classified nature of the mission, SpaceX ended the broadcast before completion of the flight and separation of the payloads.

The successful launch is good news for SpaceX, though the Falcon Heavy rocket has flown infrequently since its debut and only has a handful of customers.

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When things go wrong for Elon, he always has scientists to do some performative distractions