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- The launch was the second for the Falcon Heavy.
- The rocket has 5 million pounds of thrust.
- SpaceX and other companies are focusing on the return of humans in space.
SpaceX launched its Falcon Heavy rocket and landing three thrusters on Thursday, marking a historic milestone for the company and the space industry as a whole.
The Falcon Heavy, with 27 engines and 5 million pounds of thrust, is twice as powerful as any other rocket currently in operation and could be used to send astronauts back to the moon. It also paves the way for a new rocket, the Falcon Superwhich, according to SpaceX, could someday carry out missions to Mars.
The launch was the second for the Falcon Heavy, taking place a little over a year after last year 's maiden voyage, which launched a Tesla in orbit to test the rocket' s capabilities.
"Congratulations to @SpaceX for the successful launch and landing of the Falcon Heavy rocket today! From our iconic launch platform at @NASAKennedy, we will continue to support the commercial space economy by full growth, "tweeted NASA Thursday night.
(MORE: An Israeli Lunar crushes on the surface of the moon)
The rocket took off at 18:35. from the iconic 39A Launchpad at the Kennedy Space Center, the same place that launched the Apollo 11 mission on the Moon 50 years ago in July. Thousands of tourists and locals huddled on beaches, shorelines and parking lots to watch the Falcon Heavy rise through a clear blue sky over the Atlantic Ocean.
Two of the thrusters blocked their landing eight minutes later at nearby Cape Canaveral Air Force Base, sending four sonic booms vibrating across the Space Coast. The third landed as planned on SpaceX's "Of Course I Love You" drone, floating several thousand miles off the coast.
SpaceX regularly lands propellers of its Falcon 9 rocket on land or aboard the ship, but it was the first time that three propellers landed successfully. The boosters will likely be reused in other launches, features of SpaceX rocket technology.
At the first launch of the Falcon Heavy last year, two thrusters landed at the air force station, but the third missed its mark on the ship and landed in the air. 39; Atlantic.
SpaceX has also recovered the fairings – or nose cone. SpaceX founder Elon Musk said the nose cone would be reused next month at the company's first Starlink mission. launch an extensive network of communication satellites.
The Falcon Heavy carried the ArabSat 6A, a Saudi communications satellite and the very first commercial payload of the rocket.
At 13,000 pounds, the satellite is modest compared to 141,000 pounds payload that the Falcon Heavy can handle. Or, as SpaceX says: the Heavy can carry a higher mass than a 737 airliner loaded with passengers, crew, luggage and fuel.
Kennedy Space Center Transformed by NASA into a Multi-User Spaceport with private tenants fueled a race in the modern space between private companies such as SpaceX, Blue Origin, Boeing and others who are fighting over the construction of the first rockets or crew caps likely to propel man in space for the first time since the last Space Shuttle Mission in 2011.
From eight launches tentatively scheduled for the rest of the year at the space center, at least five of them involve rocket tests or capsules designed to carry crews. In addition to efforts on the Moon and beyond, manned rockets could transport astronauts to and from the International Space Center, a mission formerly entrusted to the Space Shuttle. Currently, the United States relies on Russia to fly American astronauts, while SpaceX has a lucrative contract that allows it to organize several replenishment missions each year.
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