We can admit, we are dazzled by the controlled fury of the Falcon Heavy.

Sometimes, you just have to pause for a moment to enjoy the great feats of engineering.

On Thursday, before it took off, the Falcon Heavy rocket was on a launch pad in Florida and contained the energy equivalent of a tactical nuclear weapon. Then, during the launch, all that energy came from 27 engines during a meticulously controlled explosion in order to send a 6-tonne satellite into a geostationary orbit.

The only image below, of these 27 burning engines at sunset on the Florida coast, could to some extent put this performance in perspective.

What is even more surprising in this engineering effort is that the largest rocket in the world does not launch into space. On Thursday, all three boosters made a safe return to Earth. As in the first Falcon Heavy mission in February 2018, the two side cores landed side by side along the Florida coast. However, this time, the core has also landed on a drone ship at sea, which means that SpaceX has recovered the entirety of its first leg.

It was still a surprise to have. Hours after Thursday's launch, SpaceX founder Elon Musk sharing two photos of the half fairings encapsulating the Arabsat-6A satellite. These were recovered in the ocean, he said, and will be reused later this year at the launch of the company's Starlink satellites.

Both fairing halves have recovered. Will fly on Starlink mission later this year. pic.twitter.com/ouz1aqW3Mm

– Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 12, 2019

This was an intriguing development because it suggests that SpaceX may have, at least temporarily, abandoned the idea of ​​"capturing" the half fairings before they reach the water. Instead, they seem to be convinced that fairings that land softly in the ocean can be refurbished despite seawater problems. By launching used fairings on their own Starlink, SpaceX missions can effectively demonstrate their validity for future customers.

Trevor Mahlmann's picture for Ars